Prawn Masala | Prawn Semi-dry gravy Recipe | Eraal Pirattal

Protein-rich Prawns taste yummy when blended with Indian masala. They imbibe the marinated masala and release out tempting flavor when sauteed. A restaurant style recipe cooked in your kitchen with no magic ingredients or chemical taste makers.

My mom is a seafood cooking expert as she hails from a seashore city. This prawn gravy is my favourite recipe of hers. She cooked this and I just clicked 😉

Prawns are pregnancy-safe food, if cooked thoroughly. Dads-to-be can opt for prawns for proteins, selenium and zinc. Kids can eat prawns from 1 year of age or even bit earlier but depends upon how well they chew. I gave prawns to my kid only after 2 years of age. Make sure they chew it properly and do not swallow as such, causing choking hazards.

Preparation

1.If your prawns are not deveined, you have to remove the veins. You could see them prominently(a dark line) as shown below. Use a toothpick to pull a part of the vein to catch a hold.2.Once you caught hold of the vein, gently pull out the vein fully. Repeat this for each prawn. Then, wash the prawns twice or thrice and at last, soak it in turmeric powder mixed water for 5 mins. Give a last rinse and your prawns are now ready to get cooked.3.Take out 8 thin coconut pieces and grind it in mixie.4.Add lil water and grind to paste. Peel 5 large garlic cloves and smash it with knife handle or pestle.5.In a mixing bowl, add a tbsp of any gravy powder, a generous pinch of turmeric powder and crushed garlic.6.Add 1/2 tsp of pepper powder, ground coconut paste and required salt.7.Mix well, add prawns and marinate for half an hour.8.Chop onion and tomatoes. Heat oil, add Cinnamon(Pattai) and Aniseed(Sombu/Saunf). Then add onion and curry leaves.9.Once onions turn soft, add chopped tomato and fry well until oil separates.10.Add marinated prawns and lil water till prawns immerse(but should be visible). Keep covered and cook in high flame for 10-15 mins. Stir at every 5 mins.11.Once prawns are cooked, you can switch off at any of the below shown 3 stages. First stage is prawn gravy. Second stage is Prawn Masala with thick gravy. Third stage is Prawn semi-dry.

All the above 3 stages taste good. I love first stage with plain rice, second stage with dosa and third stage with sambar/rasam/curd rice. Try and let me know which is your favourite stage ?!

Tips/Tricks

• Do not over cook prawns. It becomes hard and chewy. Keep the flame in high as prawns should not be cooked for a longer time.
• Do not add more water. Just add until prawns immerse but still visible on top.
• Buy deveined raw prawns or else devein by yourself as instructed in this post.
• You can use any gravy powder/kuzhambu podi that doesn’t include dhal(Lentils/Paruppu) powder. Or just add 1/4 tbsp Dhaniya powder + 3/4 tbsp Plain Chilli powder + 1 pinch Jeera powder.
• Crushed garlic is preferred over ginger-garlic paste as the flavor is good.