Chemmeen Karivepila Ittuvechathu (Curry leaves Prawns)

I am from God's own country- Kerala and we use curry leaves in excess for every dish. Its tastes great in all meat dishes and seasonings we create in day to day life. But when it comes to a dish which has main ingredient as curry leaves, I was bit doubtful. I always had a feeling that curry leaves dishes will be strong in taste. So I decided to do an experiment with ready made curry leaves powder which I bought from Adayar Ananda Bhavan (A2B) recently. As I got fine ground powder, for that extra crunchiness I made coarse grind powder at home. So here is the recipe for a yummy Curry leaves Prawns. Adjust the spice level according to your taste buds :)

Ingrendients

Prawns                      - 500gms

Curry leaf powder - 2 1/2 tbsp (I used A2B curry leaves powder)

Onion                         - 2 (medium), sliced

Green Chilies             - 3 no's or more, finely chopped

Pepper corns             - 1 tsp or more (crushed)

Salt 

Oil

For grinding

Curry leaves             - 4 strands

Channa dal               - 1 tbsp

Urad dal                    - 1 tbsp

Cashew nuts            - 12 pieces (broken)

Corriander seeds     - 1 tbsp

For marination

Turmeric powder      - 1/2 tsp

Chili powder              - 3/4 tsp

Salt

For granishing

Red chilies                - 2-3 no's

Curry leaves              - 2 strands

 Preparation

 

1. In a bowl add the masalas (mentioned under marination) to the cleaned and deveined prawns. Keep it closed for 10 mins.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the ingredients listed under 'for grinding'. 
3. Once it starts browning, switch off the flame and add the sliced onions, crushed pepper corns and curry leaf powder. Mix well and in a blender make it into a coarsely ground masala.
4. Mix this coarsely ground masala to the marinated prawns.
5. Heat oil in a pan and fry the green chilies. To this add the marinated prawns and stir for 2-3 mins.
6. Close it with a lid, on a low-medium flame and cook for 3-5 mins.
7. Once water starts coming out, remove the lid from the pan and stir till masala gets well coated with prawns and oil starts appearing.
8. Once the curry leaves prawns is ready, garnish with fried red chilies and curry leaves. 
9. Serve hot with Indian bread or steamed rice. 

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