Prawn and Pepper Curry

This is another of my favourite curries, inspired by a recipe taken from a book called An Indian Housewife’s Recipe Book by Laxmi Khurana. I first encountered this astonishing recipe book when I was visiting my girlfriend’s parents’ house, which is where I cooked this delightful meal. I am now, however, a proud owner of a kindle based copy, which set me back a mere £1.99 – an absolute bargain. I strongly recommend the purchase of this book, particularly on the kindle – it really is surprisingly good for recipes, seemingly making the entire experience even more clear than it would otherwise have been.

I have to admit that prawns will not make it onto this blog particularly often, as they are fairly expensive. Something Khurana suggests herself when she states, at the beginning of the recipe, that “Prawns are rare in Indian homes…” However, she justifies the recipe in the same way I do – it is simply too amazing to pass up. However, I am positive I can bring it in under budget – I think the key to making this dish delicious yet frugal is to include a relatively small amount of good prawns, as you don’t need many to really enjoy this dish. To compensate for this, and to add my own twist, I’ve altered the recipe slightly. Do not let its simplicity trick you, truly this is one of my favourite ever curries, and I believe it is my girlfriend’s favourite. No doubt I’ll be using this “book” a lot more in the future.

Prawn and Pepper Curry {recipe}

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 peppers, yellow or green works best, thinly chopped

• A very good splash of oil

• 2 medium onions, finely chopped

• 2 large ripe tomatoes, chopped

• ½ tsp turmeric

• ½ tsp chilli flakes, or 1 fresh chilli finely chopped

• 1 tsp garam masala

• 280g peeled prawns

• Handful of chopped fresh coriander, including the stalks

• Seasoning

Method:

1. Fry the onions until translucent in a large and fairly thin frying pan or wok. Add the tomatoes, turmeric, chilli and garam masala. Season and cook for 2 minutes.

2. Add the peppers and prawns, reduce the heat, cover and cook for a further 15 minutes. Take care not to let it catch.

3. Add the chopped coriander stalks. Serve with rice and a simple tomato and onion salsa, garnish with fresh coriander.

Cost:

The entire dish, for four, should cost no more than £5 to make – well below the target of no more than £2 per portion. I think, considering the use of prawns, that is fantastic. I guess that is the beautiful thing about Indian food – even if a dish includes an expensive ingredient the other constituents are cheap enough to make up for its use.