I don’t do much of prawn dishes at home as my husband is allergic to shell fish. But I love prawns. This recipe for Chettinad Prawn Masala is my favorite. More than a decade ago, we were on an Air India flight to Mauritius for our honey moon. They had just served prawn curry for in flight meals and we were just casually talking and eating. He ate the bread and then went on to have a big bite of rice and the curry. Suddenly he started coughing. Coughing really badly and his eyes were all red. He did not realize that it was prawn curry and he told me that he was allergic to prawns. He was suffering. I froze for a minute. That was the first time I was seeing someone react to food allergy. I am severely allergic to pollen etc.. myself and so I carry anti-histamines with me all the time. He had one of those and he kind of became OK after a couple of hours. Poor guy. I love prawns. My son is kind of getting to like prawns nowadays. So I do it at home once in a while when my husband is travelling. Little perks of things when husband is not home. Prawns cook very fast and this Chettinad Prawn Masala is so easy to make. This dish can be put together in less than 20 minutes.
Use only sesame oil for this recipe. Add the curry leaves lavishly. The aroma of curry leaves fried in sesame oil is to die for in this Chettinad Prawn Masala.
Heat sesame oil (gingely oil / nallennai ) in a pan and add in the fennel seeds (sombu), cardamom and curry leaves. Let it sizzle. Add in the finely chopped onions and fry for 5-6 minutes until the onions are brown.
Add in the chopped tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, spice powders and the salt. Saute for 5-6 minutes on medium flame until the tomatoes are cooked and the oil starts separating from the mixture. The mixture should be dry by now.
Add in the cleaned and de-veined prawns to the mixture. Prawns cook fast. Saute for 4-5 minutes until the prawns are fully cooked. Switch off the flame and garnish the prawn masala with coriander leaves.
Serve Chettinad Prawn Masala with some piping hot rice and a dollop of ghee. yum o yum!
This dish can also be served with thengai paal saadam or egg biryani.
Chettinad Prawn Masala is Ready.
Here is a printable recipe for Chettinad Prawn Masala.
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 cardamom
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu)
- 3 sprigs curry leaves
- 2 medium sized onions, finely chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 250 grams prawns, cleaned and de-veined
- 2 sprigs coriander leaves, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- Heat sesame oil in a pan and add in the fennel seeds, cardamom and curry leaves. Let it sizzle. Add in the finely chopped onions and fry for 5-6 minutes until the onions are brown.
- Add in the tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, spice powders and the salt. Saute for 5-6 minutes on medium flame until the tomatoes are cooked and the oil starts separating from the mixture. The mixture should be dry by now.
- Add in the cleaned and de-veined prawns to the mixture. Prawns cook fast. Saute for 4-5 minutes until the prawns are fully cooked. Switch off the flame and garnish the prawn masala with coriander leaves.
The post Spicy Chettinad Prawn Masala / Chettinad Eral Masala appeared first on Kannamma Cooks.