Prawns Pollichathu

We don't have prawns served at our place, very often. My lil one doesn't like it. But rarely, when we make it, we try different dishes with prawns to try it ourselves. Last time, we bought it, we thought of making this Prawns Pollichathu. It tasted awesome with some steaming rice.

Have you tried Meen Pollichathu that I had posted a long time back. It is one of the popular posts on blog. We love it anytime. We wanted to create something similar with prawns and it was not disappointing either. It was a great side to go with rice and buttermilk to make our lunch so finger licking good. Here is how we made it.

Ingredients

For the cleaning, marination and pan frying of prawns 

1. 1 tbsp of vinegar
2. 1 lb of medium sized prawns
3. 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
4. 1/2 tsp of pepper powder
5. Salt to taste
6. 1-2 tbsp of oil for frying the prawns (preferably coconut oil)

For the masala

1. 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp of oil (preferably coconut oil)
2. 1 cup of  finely sliced shallots
3. 1/2 tbsp of finely chopped ginger
4. 1/2 tbsp of finely chopped garlic
5. 2 green chillies finely chopped
6. 1 1/2 tsp of coriander powder
7. 1 1/4 tsp of kashmiri chilly powder
8. 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
9. 1 medium sized tomato, chopped
10. 1/2 tsp of lemon juice
11. Curry leaves
12. Salt to taste
13. 1/4 cup of thick coconut milk
14. Banana leaf/ aluminium foil

Method

Cleaning, marination and frying the prawns

• Clean the prawn thoroughly, removing the veins and peeling off the scales or shells. Rinse it in a bowl of water for 2-3 times. Finally, rinse in a bowl of water, vinegar and 1/2 tbsp of salt. Pat it dry using a paper towel. 
• Marinate the prawns with turmeric powder, pepper powder and salt. Keep it aside for about 15-20 minutes.
• Heat a pan and pour the oil. Fry both the sides of the prawns untill they turn pink. Frying each side for about 2 minutes should be good enough. Don't overcook the prawns else they turn rubbery. Remove it on to a plate lined with paper towel, to absorb extra fat or oil.

Preparing the masala

1. In the same pan, pour the oil for preparing the masala. Once hot, drop in the ginger, garlic and green chillies. Once they loose their rawness, add the sliced shallots, curry leaves and salt. Let the shallots turn soft. 
2. Add in the coriander powder, chilly powder and turmeric powder. Give it a stir and add the tomatoes. Cook it till the tomatoes turn tender and mashed up. Add the lemon juice and stir it in. Now add the coconut milk. Let it heat up untill it just starts to boil. The masala mixture should be more like a paste and not too runny. 
3. Spread the aluminium foil or banana leaf (which ever you are using to bake the fish in) on a baking sheet. Spread half of the masala on it and place the fried prawns on top of it. Now spread the remaining masala on top of the prawns. Fold the aluminium foil/banana leaf to wrap up the prawns mixture completely. If using the banana leaf, tie it up with a twine. 
4. Bake it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes @ 350 F.
5. You could also grill it on the stove, if using banana leaves. Just place the wrapped up prawns on a hot cast iron skillet and place another heavy pan on top of it. Grill it on medium high heat flipping it every 10 minutes to cook them evenly.
6. Serve it hot with some steamed rice. 

Tips

1. Do not over fry the prawns, else they turn rubbery.
2. If using banana leaf, wash the banana leaf and wipe off excess water from it. Heat up the stove and turn it on low. Place the banana leaf on the stove on low heat for just seconds just untill they start to change from bright green to dull green, so that it looses its stiffness and is flexible enough to wrap the fish in it, without tearing off the leaf. You need to be very careful doing it else you might just burn up the leaf.