Prawns in Spice Laden Coconut Sauce
Submitted by JenR
Prawns in spice-laden coconut sauce: a South Indian-style prawn curry in a rich coconut sauce built from a freshly ground chile-and-spice paste, cooked until the oil separates. Fragrant, creamy, and warming.
YIELD
2 servingsPREP
25 minCOOK
35 minREADY
60 minA fragrant Indian-style prawn curry where a rich, spiced coconut sauce is the whole point, layered with chile, cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, and garlic. Sweet shrimp simmer in it just long enough to cook through, soaking up all that warmth.
The sauce is built with real technique. Whole dried chiles and spices are ground fresh, blended with coconut milk, then cooked down with golden onions until the liquid evaporates and the oil separates from the paste, the classic Indian sign that the spices are properly bloomed and the raw edge cooked out.
Thinning that toasted paste with more coconut milk turns it into a creamy, deeply spiced sauce. The recipe even shows you how to extract thick and thin coconut milk from a fresh coconut, though canned works perfectly.
The golden rule: add the prawns last and pull them off the heat the moment they turn opaque, since overcooked shrimp go rubbery. Serve over steamed rice.
Chef Tips
- Cook the spice paste until the oil separates out; that is the cue the spices are bloomed and the raw taste is gone.
- Grind the whole spices fresh for the most fragrant, vibrant flavor.
- Add the prawns at the very end and cook just until opaque; overcooking makes them tough.
- Brown the onions slowly to deep golden for a sweeter, richer sauce base.
Variations
- Use canned coconut milk to skip the fresh-extraction step.
- Adjust the dried chiles to control the heat.
- Swap the prawns for firm white fish, chicken, or chickpeas.
Ingredients
Directions
Process the grated fresh coconut or the desiccated coconut with 3½ cups hot water in a food processor.
Drape a piece of folded cheesecloth over a bowl and pour the coconut mixture into the cheesecloth.
Strain the liquid, squeezing the pulp to extract as much milk as possible.
This is thick coconut milk; set aside.
Pour 3½ cups hot water over the coconut in the cheesecloth and squeeze to extract more milk into another bowl.
This second extract is thin coconut milk.
Set aside.
If you are using canned coconut milk, skip this step and proceed with the recipe.
Grind the chile peppers, cumin and coriander seeds in a spice grinder and set aside.
Process the thick coconut milk (or canned coconut milk) with the ground spices, turmeric, ginger and garlic; set aside.
Heat the oil in a heavy, shallow pan.
Add the onions and cook until the edges begin to turn almost reddish brown (about 15 minutes), stirring frequently.
Add the coconut-spice mixture and cook until the liquid evaporates and oil separates from the paste.
Cook this paste for 10 more minutes, stirring constantly.
Stir in the reserved thin coconut milk (or 2 cups water, if you have used canned coconut milk) and let simmer until reduced to a creamy sauce.
Add salt to taste.
Stir the prawns into the sauce and cook a few minutes until the prawns are just cooked.
(Be careful not to overcook).
Serve with steamed rice.
Grated fresh coconut: Pierce the eyes of a fresh coconut and drain off the liquid.
Put the coconut in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 20 minutes.
Break it open with a hammer and separate the meat from the hard shell in large pieces.
Break the pieces into smaller ones and, using a vegetable peeler, peel the brown skin off the meat.
Grate the coconut meat in a food processor.
Desiccated coconut: May be found in Indian or Chinese stores.
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