Chemmeen Theeyal/Prawns Curry

This is a nadan dish which goes good with rice and chapathi. I slightly varied the recipe from my mom's usual recipe. This is too yummy..

Ingredients:

Chemmeen/Prawns	1/2 kg
Grated Coconut	1&1/2 cup
Shallots/Small Onion	15
Garlic	4 cloves(chopped)
Ginger	1 inch piece(chopped)
Green Chilly	5(chopped)
Dry red Chilly	2 to 3
Turmeric Powder	1/2 tspoon
Fenugreek Powder	1 pinch
Coriander Powder	1 tspoon
Tamarind	1 gooseberry size(Soak in hot water and extract the juice)
Oil	1+1 tbl spoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Salt	to taste

For Seasoning:

Oil	1 tspoon
Dry red chilly	2
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean the prawns. Those i bought were without heads and for that, you have to deshell it and remove the black vein like thing from its back. Rinse in water with a pinch of turmeric powder. Keep it aside.

(2) Heat oil in a pan. Add grated coconut and saute for some seconds. To this add 4 peeled shallots and dry red chilly. Saute till the color of coconut changes brownish. Switch off the flame and add coriander powder. Saute well and remove the pan from stove. Let it cool.

(3) Once it is cooled down grind the ingredients in a mixer by adding 2 tbl spoon of water. Make a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

(4) Mean while heat oil in a pan and add curry leaves. To this add ginger and garlic pieces. Saute till the raw smell goes off. To this add remaining shallots along with little salt and green chilly. Saute for some seconds. 

(5) Now add turmeric powder and fenugreek powder. Saute once. To this add prawns and saute for a minute. Now pour around 1/2 cup of water to it. Once it starts boiling pour tamarind juice and add little salt. Close the vessel with a lid. Let it boil for another 15 minutes so that prawns will be cooked well(make sure it is cooked).

(6) Retain remaining water in the vessel and switch off the flame. To this add ground paste and mix well. If you want the curry to be more watery add little water. Also make a salt test here. Add salt or tamarind juice to your taste. Again allow it to heat for another 5 minutes in low flame.

(7) Mean while temper with the ingredients shown under "for seasoning" heading. Pour it to the curry. Switch off the flame and close the vessel with a lid for 10 minutes before serving so that flavor sets well.Your chemmeen theeyal/Prawns curry is now ready.

Have it with your rice/chapathi/appam/dosa/idly...

Tips:

• It is better to use earthen clay pot/manchatti for cooking (i don't have it).
• While you are stir-frying the coconut make sure not to burn. Always cook coconut on medium heat. Ensure to stir constantly and scrape the coconut from bottom of pan/vessel while stirring. If coconut got burnt your curry will be a flop.
• Always add small amount of tamarind water or tamarind pulp while cooking any prawn dishes. Better to use kudampuli/malabar tamarind (not used here).
• The bad way to cook prawns is to over cook them. If you over cook prawns, it will change rubbery and dry.