Jhinga Caldeen (Goan Prawn Curry)
This curry is fairly quick and easy to make – if you want to be super organised, you can make up the sauce in advance and then just heat the sauce and drop the prawns in when you want to serve it. Make sure that you use raw prawns – they are readily available in supermarkets or your local fish market. Make sure that you remove the shells if you buy them shell-on, and the black gut (as it will be bitter). If you want to make your prawns go further you can slice them lengthways or chop them up. You can also use fish or crab in this curry. The curry is light and coconutty, and you can add as much chilli as you want
depending on your ability to cope with chilli. If you are allergic to garlic like my friend Kara, just replace the garlic with half a small red onion, and season a little more (i.e. add extra salt and garam masala at the end when you are tasting it).
This recipe serves 4 people.
Recipe
400g fresh or thawed raw prawns, gut removed (prawns are ‘jhinga’ – it’s fun to learn the Indian names)
Half a teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons white wine or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin (jeera)
2 teaspoons ground coriander (dhania)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric (haldi)
A quarter teaspoon chilli powder (mirch) you can double this amount if you like a hotter curry
Half a teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorns (gol mirch)
1 small onion finely chopped
2.5 cm fresh ginger peeled and grated
4 large cloves garlic peeled and crushed
2 fresh green chillies seeded and sliced (you can ad extra at the end if the curry is not hot enough)
1 tin of coconut milk (approx 400ml)
2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves chopped
1. Put the prawns in a mixing bowl with the salt and white wine or cider vinegar – leave to marinate for approx 15 minutes.
2. Mix the dry spices together in a bowl and set aside – this is the cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilli and black pepper.
3. Heat 3 tablespoons oil (sunflower, peanut or similar non-flavoured oil) over a medium heat and fry the onions gently until they are golden – this will take about 8 minutes, don’t burn them.
4. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for a minute.
5. Add the little bowl of ground spices and fry for another minute.
6. Add the coconut milk and the fresh green chillies. After warming this through, taste and add more salt and chilli if required.
7. Add the prawns and cook until they are just opaque – don’t overdo them or they will be tough. Garnish with the fresh coriander.
8. Serve with rice and veggies (e.g. aloo gobi, bombay aloo, mushroom bhajee)
Truly Scrumptious 
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