recipe: Dry Curried Prawns

Alrighty, so some friends have asked for the recipe for the dry curry prawns. Yes. I've been shamelessly making everyone read my new blog. Well. Its my baby! why not?? proud mother syndrome here obviously.

For 1 kilo of prawns

2 tablespoon - finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoon - finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon - finely chopped garlic
1 big handful - washed curry leaves, removed from stem
2 tablespoon - meat curry powder
1/2 tablespoon - salt (If using saltwater prawns, you can actually omit the salt.
or use half this quantity.
1 tablespoon - sugar


heat big pan, kwali, or if in a pinch, a big pot.

add oil, you'll need a little more oil than you feel comfortable with, i believe in old school, you need oil to bring out the flavour and fragrance of the spices in the curry. So for one kilo of prawns, about 4 tablespoons of oil, more if you feel like it.

once its smoking a little, add ginger, shallots and garlic, and stir around.

when fragrant, add curry leaves, and fry a little, stirring around.

Then add prawns. remember to keep heat high, you don't want the heat levels to drop too dramatically, else the cooking of the prawns will be uneven, especially since most people, like me, would use the prawns from the fridge. Overcooking will totally kill this dish.

When prawns are half cooked, i.e. prawns are half grey and half pink, toss in curry powder, salt and sugar. Stir ard.

Please don't cover the pot when you're cooking this. Too much steam will accumulate in the pot. The prawns will lack that glistening bright look.

When its done, pour onto a nice dish and serve :D


Ok. This question will definitely come up, and people are going to wonder if they can use shelled prawns. Sure thing, just make sure the prawns are drained well of water before cooking, and reduce the oil by 1 tblsp. and use half the salt and sugar. without the shells the prawns will absorb too much flavour. The idea is not to overwhelm the sweet prawn flavour.