Aida Khan's prawn curry for the whole family
Food to Aida is love, it's a way of coming together! This is one of her traditional dishes from their home.
Prawn curry
Serves 6
Prep 15 minutes
Cook 1 to 1 ½ hours
Ingredients
For the curry base
500g fresh tomatoes, chopped
400g tinned tomatoes
400g passata (sieved tomatoes)
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
½ tsp dried red chilli flakes
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander
200g roughly chopped coriander leaves
1 small green chilli, chopped
For the prawns
800g raw king prawns, peeled and deveined
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
For the Tarka
200ml sunflower oil
3-4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp nigella seeds
15-20 curry leaves (approximately)
2 dried round red chillies (or use long dried red chillies)
To serveBasmati rice, sliced onions fried until golden brown, extra coriander sprigs
Method
1. For the curry base: Add the fresh tomatoes, tinned tomatoes, passata, garlic paste, ginger paste, dried red chilli flakes, turmeric, salt, ground coriander, coriander leaves and green chilli to a large pot and slow cook on low-medium heat for to 1 ½ hours or until the tomatoes are reduced.
2. For the prawns: While the tomatoes are cooking, in a bowl add the garlic and ginger pastes to the prawns and set aside.
3. Add the prawns to the curry base and stir for no more than 5 minutes on a medium to low heat. Careful because prawns can get over cooked very quickly.
4. For the Tarka: In a frying pan, heat the oil, garlic, nigella seeds, curry leaves and red chillies until fragrant and bubbling.
5. Pour the Tarka onto the curry.
6. Cover and switch off the heat, leaving the flavours to infuse for 5 minutes.
7. Stir through and serve with basmati rice topped with sliced onions fried until golden brown, garnish with a sprig of coriander.
Tips
Curry leaves are available from some supermarkets fresh or dried. Alternatively, they are available online.
Tarka is simply a method of seasoning food by cooking spices and other ingredients in oil.
Swap fish for prawns and add to the curry base, or use a combination of both.