Prawn masala/ Eral Thokku

Prawn masala is a simple but very delicious recipe which is made by cooking raw prawns in a mild masala. Masala is generally onion, tomato, garlic. Adding mint to the recipe gives an awesome flavour which can be served with rice, tiffins like idli, dosa.

It is my all time favorite breakfast recipe. Nowadays I am having this as lunch. Recipes like omelette, gravy, biryani, fritters, fried rice, noodles, grills etc can be prepared from prawns. Very small shrimps can be dried and used as pickle, crushed with salt and used as gunpowder for idli and dosa. I am sharing a very basic mom's recipe in this post.

Prawn Curry

Recipe:

• Prep time - 15 mins ( for deveined prawns. For fresh prawns, it will 30 mins to 45 mins)
• Cooking time - 30 mins
• Serves - 2

Ingredients:

• Prawns - 1.5 pound (680 gms) fresh or frozen 
• Onion - 1 medium ( finely chopped)
• Tomato - 1 medium (finely chopped)
• Garlic - 1 medium ( crushed)
• Red chilli powder - 1 and half tablespoon
• Coriander powder - 1 and half tablespoon

Note: The above 2 ingredients can be replaced if home chilli powder is used.

• Salt to taste
• Ground turmeric - a pinch
• Oil - 2 tablespoon
• Mint leaves - few (fresh or dried)
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method:

• Devein the prawns and clean completely.

Cleaned prawns

Adding spices to marinate

Marinated prawns

Onion, tomato needed

Crushed garlic

Sauteing onion

Crushed garlic is added

Nice and saucy masala

After adding the prawns in along with litte water

• Add ground turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt to the prawns. Marinate for 15 mins.
• In a saucepan, heat oil and add the onion. Saute well.
• Add in the crushed garlic. Saute till the onion turns translucent.
• Now add the tomatoes. Once the onion, tomato forms a masala mixture, add the prawns in.
• Mix well and add 160 ml water to the prawns. Cover it.
• Cook it for 7 to 8 mins in closed pan. Open the pan and check if the prawns are cooked. If it's not done, close it for few more minutes. If its cut through softly, cook in open pan and add the mint leaves ( fresh or dry). 
• Allow it for reduction till the oil gets separated and add the curry leaves.
• Serve hot.

This dish can be improvised by adding some vegetables to the dish like Valor beans ( Avaraikkaai), bottle gourd, etc., Hope you liked this recipe. I will share another interesting recipe in my next post. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome.