Ghee, this is good.

Hi Honies!!!  I'm home...

Sheesh, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted.  But cut me a break, my (probably few) remaining devoted readers: it's the holidays, which, even if you're a bigger grinch than the Grinch, really throw a wrench into the schedule of daily life.  Luckily I'm not a grinch, so I don't mind the alterations; I even like them, most of the time.  I even don't mind the several inches of snow we've been showered with over the last few days, though I certainly don't intend to include any photos of myself in my snow gear (hint: this outfit conceals any indication of my gender).

I have been cooking though, and am especially thrilled about the recipe I am posting today, "South Indian Prawns in Coconut."  Before I give you the details, let me plug its cookbook for a sec.  Don't let the Smarmy-Used-Car-Dealer title fool you; The Classic 1,000 Indian Recipes contains the recipes for utterly authentic Indian food, and I can tell this in two ways.  1. Last week I made two dishes from this book that rivaled some of the best Indian food I've eaten in restaurants.  2. The recipes contain ingredients that you're only going to find in either a really good American ethnic grocery store, or in a standard grocery store... in Bombay.  Black mustard seeds.  Asafoetida.  Black cardamom pods.  Gingelly oil.  Jaggery.  Luckily this recipe suffered not in the slightest from a few missing ingredients.

2 lb. cooked, peeled prawns (just get the frozen bagged kind; it still tastes great)

1 tsp. turmeric

5 Tbsp. coconut milk (I used about double this amount-- your call)

1 cup shredded coconut 

2 Tbsp. coriander seeds (I only had ground)

1 Tbsp. cumin seeds

1 large or 2 small dried red chilies 

1/4 tsp. black peppercorns (I pestled them)

1 Tbsp. black mustard seeds (if you can find them!!)

2 tsp. tamarind concentrate (ibid)

1 red onion, roughly chopped

5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped or crushed

1 inch ginger root, roughly chopped

3 Tbsp. water

3 Tbsp. oil

2 fresh curry leaves (if you can find them)

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Mix together the prawns, turmeric and salt and set aside for ten minutes.  Puree the cocunut milk, coconut, coriander and cumin seeds, chilies, peppercorns, mustard seeds, tamarind, onion, garlic and ginger to a paste, adding water if necessary.

Heat the oil and fry the puree for 10 minutes, stirring continuously.  Stir in the prawns and curry leaves and simmer for 10 minutes.  

Garnish with the cilantro and serve hot with rice.  

My revelation about this dish and another one I made from this book ("Chickpeas in Sauce"), is that the thick, fragrant sauce that most Indian dishes are composed of is made from pureed onions and garlic!  If that's your base then no wonder FLAVOR is the name of the game.