Monday 21 February 2011

Prawn Theeyal (prawns cooked in a spicy coconut based gravy)

The first time I've ever made theeyal, and I loved it...maybe not the tedious procedure...but the taste was to die for. Every time I get back from India I go into these sudden bursts of love for mallu-land. I mean I stream lame mallu movies on youtube, I have intense cravings for mallu food and I even want to go Indian grocery shopping at that time (something we very rarely do and avoid to be precise). Like I'd mentioned in one of my previous posts..I decided to go easy on food and was actually living on salads and avoided carbs mostly. But last week it all went wrong when a friend of mine posted a recipe for a spicy red fish curry and I had to have it. Me, who was not even a fish fan had to have it...that too with rice. Sadly for me, King/ Sear fish is not available anywhere nearby and so I just had to sit and stare at the pic and curse her for putting it up on a day I could easily be manipulated (food-wise, I mean).

The next day, I went ahead and picked up prawns and decided to make the same curry using prawns. Was searching around for a recipe and stumbled upon a prawn theeyal recipe by Yummy O Yummy. I skipped it thinking I had to roast the coconut and then grind it and all that jazz. But then again, I got bored searching aimlessly for prawn curry recipes and nothing really caught my fancy. I was almost ready to give up on the curry when I received a parcel that afternoon and it was the mill extension for my Kenwood Chef free standing mixer. Oh and I don't understand why everyone makes such a hoo ha about Kitchenaid mixers when this awesome Kenwood one lets you do a whole lotta other things than just whipping and whisking and mixing??? According to various sources, Kitchenaid does the same too...but still, i think its highly overrated and I heart it :) (no Kenwood didn't pay me to say all this)
So what I was trying to say was..I got the mill attachment and I had to use it..So theeyal it was..decision made! Paired it with some basmati rice and I absolutely loved it. I think its gonna make its way through to my kitchen again and again, now that I have the mill in tow. And thanks N for the inspiration.

Recipe adapted from here with a few tweaks
Prawns- 2 cups, cleaned and deveined
Onion- 1 medium, cubed
Green chillies- 2, slit
Tomato- 1, cubed
Kokum- 3 to 4 small pieces, soaked in 1/2 cup warm water
Water- 1 cup or as required
Salt- to taste
Coconut oil- as required (I used normal vegetable oil)

To dry roast and grind to a fine paste:
Grated coconut- 1 1/2 cups
Coriander powder- 3 tsp
Chilly powder- 2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

To temper:
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- a sprig
Dry red chillies- 2
Oil- 1 tsp
Heat a frying pan and dry roast the grated coconut till they turn reddish brown (this step just took ages).
Add the coriander, chilly and turmeric powders, mix well and take it off the flame. Keep aside to cool.
Transfer the mixture to a mixer/ grinder and grind to a fine paste.
In the same frying pan (yes I'm super lazy to even load the dish washer), heat the oil and sauté the onions till they become transparent.
Add the ground paste, kokum water and green chillies and stir well, making sure the paste dissolves well.
Throw in the tomatoes and mix well.
Add another cup of water, season with salt and bring to a boil.
Add the prawns at this stage and cover and cook till the prawns are done.
One done, temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry chillies and pour over the curry just before you serve.
Notes:  The prawns I use are semi-cooked. So I made sure the gravy was nice and thick before adding the prawns in order to not over cook them.
The original recipe calls for coconut cuts and drumsticks, both of which I didn't have. It tasted just as good without it as well.
The trick is not to get the coconut burnt (something I'm very capable of doing), need patience for this (yes I'm working on it!).

Since this curry reminded me of mallu land so much, I thought I'd send it over to the Kerala Kitchen event hosted by Ria this month.

44 comments:

Umm Mymoonah said...

Hmmm, this is my favourite. I would love to have this for all my three meals.

dl.blogspot said...

This dish makes me realy hungry, i'm definitely gonna try this out soon.

Unknown said...

Nisha,
That telugu website (frm where u adapted this recipe) copied the pictures and recipe from our website a few months back. Heres the original one.. http://www.yummyoyummy.com/2010/06/chemmeenprawn-theeyal.html

They had copied few of our recipes (plus lots of other bloggers' recipes)and even removed our watermark from the pictures. I tried to comment in their website but they didnt even publish it. As I was busy with my India trip I forgot abt it later. Anyways your prawn theeyal looks absolutely delicious..Superb pics!!

Foodie Ann said...

I have only tasted a vegetable theeyal curries... Never knew these are made with prawns also... Will be trying this out pretty soon...:)

Reva said...

OOOOhhhhhh....!!! lovely prawn curry... now I've got the craving...
Reva

divya said...

What a lovely recipe,It looks absolutely delicious..

schmetterlingwords said...

Theeyal with prawns... looks absolutely delicious... the fragrance of spices with coconut... yumm yumm... makes me drool :-)

Suja Manoj said...

Perfect theeyal,makes me hungry..love it.

Vimitha Durai said...

A lovely dish and a lovely blog...
First time hear and happy to follow you..

My culinary Trial room

Asha said...

One of my favorites... Looks really good...

Priyanka said...

Lovely one :)

Namitha said...

Kitchenaid would do the same things too, with attachments ;-)
Prawn theeyal looks terrific :-)

e had very nice weather the whole last week, but more snow in a couple of days !

Priya Suresh said...

Slurp,fingerlicking and mouthwatering theeyal,delicious!

Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) said...

thts indeed a treat to the eyes ...yummy n full of flavors...

Swathi said...

Prawn theeyal adipoli looks delicious.

PJ said...

Sounds like you are still shuttling back and forth between back-home and here.. happens to me all the time after an overdue trip :) prawns curry looks delicious. yes, the roast-grind is also the big inertia-maker for me!

Satrupa said...

Looks delicious ....

Rekha shoban said...

adipoli theeyal....nice click!!

Tanvi said...

looks tasty

Sushma Mallya said...

looks yummy!

Unknown said...

Delicious looking curry...luv it with hot steamed rice

Sunitha said...

Awesome theeyal! I haven't been to Kerala for a long time but I have this love for everything mal sometimes and crave the movies, food. My mal-phase and then I move on.

Suji said...

Adipoli theeyal, one thing i crave all the time, I can never make a good one myself, be it any theeyal..Ethu adipoli tto,

Oriyarasoi said...

Yummy prawn curry!!!
Looks somewhat time consuming but m sure its worth the effort!!

Finla said...

It is the grinding that makes me put off too to make curies like this. Wish you could parcel me some, but i am sure it is all finished ther etoo :-)

Unknown said...

Thanks Nisha :) We already brought that to their attention but they didnt respond :(

JishasKitchen said...

wow..theeyal looks so delicious...love to have it with rice...and pics are also awesome!!

Lawyer Loves Lunch said...

I heart curry leaves (and shrimp) but have such a hard time finding 'em here (the curry leaves, not the shrimp). I'll keep my eyes peeled in case I come upon 'em so I can give this recipe a go :)

Lena Jayadev said...

wowww.. adipoli theeyal..i never could make a theeyal.. burns always/.. :) this looks awesome

Reflections said...

I make it almost the same way except tht I add lots of ginger with the onions and tamarind instead of kokum.

Good to see u back:-)!!!!!

aipi said...

Loved the color n the texture of the gravy!

US Masala

Sarah Naveen said...

Nice pics Nisha...
I have one sitting in my drafts for some time..
Looks so yumm!!!

Treat and Trick said...

It looks tempting and delicious! Wish I can taste them now....

Monet said...

Such a beautiful dish. I'm sure it tastes even better than it looks. Thank you for sharing such a tempting and spice-filled meal! I hope you are doing well. Stay warm and enjoy the end of your week!

arthi said...

my husband is gonna love this..thanks for sharing..

Sweet Artichoke said...

It was a pleasure reading your post, not only because the prawn theeyal looks awesome, but also, because I am so happy to find another Kenwood fan around!! Until now,I thought I was a kind of stone-age survivor among all the kitchen Aid users! I am going to order the mill asap ;-)

Malar Gandhi said...

Wow, I love prawns in any form...this one luks incredible, perfect theeyal, makes one really hungry.

Reshmi said...

itz really beautiful...ente amma indakkum ithu..itz a common dish of my home bc z my brother love this so much..

Cool Lassi(e) said...

That curry looks fabulous!Hey, I have never used Kokum in cooking before. What's that?

Binys Recipes said...

hey lovely chemmeen theeyal....
hey dear u have some surprises waitg in my space
biny

Pete said...

Mmmmm,prawn curry, sweet and tasty! Goes well with rice!

Renee said...

oh this is amazing...my mom makes a similar one but with unakku chemmeen (dried small ones)...And your photography is amazing. Each photo makes me wanna read more!
ANd yes..the same surprise that Biny's talking about is there on my page too...for you!

Jaisy James said...

mmouthwatering prawns theeyal wow. i misd ur 2-3 posts will check soon.

ambili said...

nish,

u amaze me..such mouth-watering dishes! nvr tgt u wud ve the patience for roasting the coconut!! wow!!! :-)

and the grilled chicken look yum...

good going!