Green Mango Prawn Curry

A North Malabar curry I had learned from my mum's aunt Cheriyanjamma. A wonderful little lady who spent all her time in the kitchen making tasty food.......

Both my grandparents came from North Malabar from a place called Cherukunnu .However they both settled outside Kerala.This is how we landed in Udupi -Karnataka.




Ingredients:
1 kg. of fresh or frozen prawns
1 coconut grated or 1 large cup of desiccated coconut soaked in boiling water for half hour.
1/2 tbsp hot chilly powder

1 tbsp cumin powder
1/4 tbsp turmeric powder
2 green mangoes cut into small pieces
2 to 3 split green chillies
1/2 tbsp Mustard seeds
3 to 4 (large cloves) thinly sliced
A handful of fresh curry leaves
3 tbsp of coconut oil (if not available use sun flower oil)




Method:
Clean and devein the prawns & keep aside. Prawns need to be washed in a few changes of water to get rid of the sand in them.


Grate the coconut


Chop the green mangoes into small pieces and save the seeds to add to curry


Dry roast the coconut, cumin powder & the red chilly powder for a few minutes until you begin to get the roasted smell of the coconut.


Grind this to a fine paste adding half a cup of water & keep aside.
Add another cup of water to the grinder and use this to cook the mangoes with turmeric powder the slit green chillies and salt to taste. When the mangoes are cooked soft, add the prawns and cook for another 5 minutes on high flame.


Now add the coconut paste and let it simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes and then add the seasoning.

Take a small sauce pan and heat 3 tbsp of coconut oil. Once the oil is hot, switch off the flame and immediately add the mustardseeds and close the pan with a lid preventing the mustard seeds from popping (to pop) out of the pan.

When the mustard seeds stop spluttering, add the thinly sliced flakes of garlic and the curry leaves to it and bring it back to a medium flame. Fry until garlic turns golden brown. Now pour this on the prawn curry and stir well.


DONE! Serve with rice.

Tips:
This curry should be hot & sour & spicy.If you are not able to find green mangoes add juice of tamarind(the size of a lemon)Of course the taste will be different.
This recipe was chosen & published way back in 1981 in Eve's weekly



Enjoy!