Kerala King Prawn & Coconut ? Curry

Luscious green mid week meal

Don’t be put off by the list of ingredients.  After the first time it’s actually super easy to do and you will then have the spices ready to go in your store cupboard.  I keep prawns and root ginger in the freezer and cans of coconut cream in the cupboard so it’s a ‘no fuss cooking from the store cupboard’ meal. Just get each part of recipe ready to go in a bowl before you start and it’s a cinch!

Chicken stock is an optional extra which adds depth to the curry, and I use homemade chicken stock which is very different from shop bought, so check my next post if you are wanting to make use of the chicken carcass after your next Sunday roast.

When cooking with oil I prefer to use rapeseed oil as it is healthier and retains it’s antioxidants when heated.  However I save the more expensive cold pressed rapeseed for salads and dressings and use ordinary every day vegetable oil when cooking.  If you look at the ingredients it is usually 100% rapeseed oil but much better value!

ingredients – serves 2 (the first few items grouped to easily prepare in bowls before you start)

• 1 large onion grated

• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 6-8 cardamom pods (seeds only, discard the shells)

• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3-4 garlic cloves grated
• a large piece of ginger root grated (as much as you like)

• 150g pack of prawns
• juice of half a lemon
• 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 150g frozen peas
• 160ml coconut cream
• large bunch of fresh coriander washed and drained
• 2-3 homemade chicken stock cubes* (optional – see post on homemade chicken stock, *don’t substitute with shop bought as will be much too salty)
• salt to taste

method

1. Once you have prepared the ingredients from the first three sections of the list above, marinate the prawns in a shallow dish with the lemon juice.
2. Roughly chop the coriander, including stalks, reserving some of the leaves for the garnish, and in a food processor (Nutribullet is ideal) blend together with the coconut cream and set to one side.
3. Heat a wok or heavy based pan to a medium heat and add half of the oil (2tbsp) and then the grated onion and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring continuously.
4. Add the turmeric, chilli powder and cardamom seeds and cook for another 2 minutes, then add the other 2tbsp of oil along with the cinnamon stick, grated garlic and ginger and cook for further 2 minutes.
5. Stir the coriander and coconut cream mixture into the pan and cook for a few minutes and then add the frozen peas and homemade chicken stock (if using) and continue to cook whilst you put on the rice and steam the broccoli.
6. Once the rice is cooked allow it to stand for a few minutes before serving, and in that time add in the prawns to the curry along with the lemon juice.  These will only need a few minutes to cook through so always leave this to the very last minute before you are ready to serve to avoid over cooking the prawns.

Divide the rice into two bowls, then spoon over the curry, garnish with the leftover coriander and serve with the steamed broccoli.

Tip – for SamK ❤️

If you prefer chicken you can simply substitute two diced chicken breasts for the prawns by adding it once you have cooked off the onion and before the spices and make sure you cook the chicken right through.