Beerkaya Royyalu / Ridge Gourd Prawns Curry

Absolutely enjoying "Fall", specially when I jog my first grader to school in the morning. Trees with leaves changing colors, a blanket of fallen dried leaves on the ground, got to take the fullest of the season, before cold winter sets in.

Seasonal changes bring change in the way we cook food too. From outdoors BBQs to strict indoor dishes. Most of my indoor cooking is Desi style which requires preparation. Its not like you are hungry and you just sandwiched slices of buttered multi grain bread with a slice of ham, cheese with some lettuce. Your meal is ready to go. Indian cooking is all about intensity, flavour, spice, lots of ingredients and time to cook them up. But its worth the wait, because of the exceptional taste.

This is one Andhra preparation which puts all together with end result being irresistible. Its so strange that I have never tasted this dish whenever my mother cooked it growing up, in fact for some reason I was so averted towards it. but since its was known for its taste, after so many years I cooked it to see what comes of it..and honestly it lived up to its popularity. And this can just be eaten up with plain rice. But let me warn you for the temptation of over-eating here, which is why I don't cook this curry so often, it would disturb my diet of  keeping my serving of rice under one cup per day.

The ridge gourd (Beerakaya in Telugu) forms a creamy base for the curried shrimp. A real match that you are so tempted to call heavenly. Well, ridge gourd is such a versatile vegetable that it embraces any other ingredient, be it veg or non-veg to be subtle and yet give a wholesome lift to the dish. More delicacies of ridge gourd I would be blogging are with Kheema, mutton, Channa dhal..

Now lets is the making of Prawns with Ridge gourd.


Ingredients:
2 big - Beerakaya/ Ridge Gourd / Beerkankai (De-skinned and chopped into small cubes)
1 to 1.5 lb Prawns / Shrimp (De-shelled, De-veined)
2 tsp oil
2 medium Onions chopped
4-5 Green Chillies slit
A Few Curry leaves
1 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp Red chilly powder
A pinch of garam masala powder
Salt to taste
Finely chopped fresh coriander leaves to garnish

To marinate shrimp :
1 tsp red chilly powder
1/2 tsp each of cumin and coriander powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric
Little Salt
A splash of oil to put all together

Procedure :
Clean prawns and marinate with the marinade items..keep aside.

In a hot pan add oil and add the marinated prawns and stir fry them till all the water evaporates and a beautiful aroma comes out. Remove from pan and keep aside

In the same pan add some more oil, add chopped onions, slit green chillies, curry leaves, and cook till onions are translucent.

Add ginger garlic paste and cook till rawness is gone.

Add chopped ridge gourd pieces, salt mix together and cook covered, till ridge gourd is half done.

Then add the stir fried prawns, little water and cook covered till the gourd and prawns are fully done.

Add finely chopped coriander and remove from heat.

Serve it with plain cooked basmati, ponni or sona masoori rice.

Prawn Pakora or Shrimp Fritters

AKA Eraal Pakoda or Royyala Pakodi


With US OPEN and TIFF going around it sure is an interesting week so far. When it comes to weather the tables have turn from hot humid conditions to windy cool cloudy and sometimes rainy too. All the more reason to enjoy some spicy snacks..and this time its prawn pakora. We desi ppl tend to make fitters/pakoras with pretty much any ingredient..be it veggies or chicken, meat or seafood like fish or shrimp.

Growing up I never liked the idea of prawn pakodi. Desi prawns are so filled with flavour that I use to feel they overpowered the original taste of pakodi. But the frozen small shrimp that we get in our local Asian markets are much milder in flavour..perfect to prepare a quick starter or snack. Must add that kids like these too.



Ingredients:
1 pkt frozen shrimp - small size, defreezed
1 medium size Onion cut thinly length wise
Channa flour/besan/Channa maavu/Chenaga pindi- 1 Cup
Green Chillies - 2 ( cut into small pieces)
1/2 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a handful
Coriander leaves - A few chopped
Baking Soda - A pinch
Salt - to Taste
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Chat masala powder - 1/2 tsp ( for extra flavour)
Enough Water

Oil for deep frying


Method
Mix all the ingredients with enough water to make a mixture which is not too thick or too thin. Keep aside

Meanwhile heat oil in a deep wok/kadai/pot.

Drop small amounts of the mixed batter into the oil for deep frying.

Once the pakoras turn dark yellow or orange color remove them from oil onto a plate with issue paper to drain from excess oil.

Serve hot with ketchup or just by itself.

Spicy Shrimp or Prawn Curry - Andhra Style

Andhra is supposed to be the spiciest state in India. So most of the NV dishes are all spiced up to the core. Andhra style prawn/shrimp curry is no different. Usually the dry spices like cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, cloves are not accompanied with the Seafood varieties. But this prawn dish is an exception. It gets its unique spice flavour from the crushed cinnamon and cloves. Also a generous amount of ginger garlic paste makes this dish a real spice of Andhra.

Growing up mom never use to make it so spicy. she never added the garam masala powder and sometimes even omitted the GG paste. So I used to taste this special prawns curry sometimes in take outs or restaurants. I remember one such occasion where the taste of this prawn curry had left its memory with me..

Here I tried to duplicate that taste...
Ingredients:
2 lb shrimp or prawns - medium size, deshelled, deveined
2 Tbsp oil (Vegetable/Canola/Sunflower)
2 large tomatoes or 1 cup tomato puree
2 large onions finely chopped
5 -6 green chillies slit
12-15 curry leaves
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
2 tsp red chilly powder
1 tsp turmeric power
1 tsp finely crushed cinnamon + cloves or garam masala powder
1/2 cup finely chopped coriander leaves.
Salt to taste

Directions:
Place the cleaned shrimp/prawn in a bowl and add enough salt, turmeric and chilly powder.
Allow to marinate for 5 - 10 min.
In a Kadai/pot, heat oil add the seasoned prawns and saute till prawn smell is gone and a wonderful aroma starts to come, the prawns are almost cooked here...
Remove from the kadai and keep aside.
Add more oil to the kadai and after the oil heats ups, add the crushed cinnamon + cloves, saute' till nice aroma is smelled.
Add cut onions, green chillies, curry leaves, and saute' till onions are fried and cooked fully.
Add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell is gone.
Add crushed tomatoes and cook till smell changes.
Add red chilly powder, salt and cook till oil leaves the thick gravy.
Add the sauteed prawns and mix well to coat them with the masala evenly.
Add a bit of garam masala powder now.
Once the red color is achieved, and the gravy is very thick sticking the prawns add the finely chopped coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Serve with hot rice and sambar.

This prawn curry dry is best accompanied with sambar though you can just mix the thick gravy with plain hot rice.

Spicy Shrimp Dry - Asian Oriental Style

This is one easy way to cook up shrimp with spice and taste. The traditional shrimp/prawn curry takes time cause they use lots of onions for gravy or if it is cooked in kerala or Thai style the coconut milk forms the base for the gravy. But for weekday dinners when we want something quick yet not compromising taste...this could be one recipe for shrimp.

No need to cut a whole lot of onions or grind ginger garlic paste or extract fresh coconut milk(off course now most of us use canned). Though I named it spicy, we can reduce the chilly and make it less hot so kids could enjoy too.

Ingredients:
1 Pkt frozen jumbo shrimp(deveined, deshelled, tails intact)

Spices:
4 pods Garlic finely chopped
1 inch Ginger piece finely chopped
2 long Green Chillies finely chopped
2 Onion leeks chopped
1 tsp Red Chilly Flakes
A sprinkle of Pepper powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Sauces:
1 tsp Worcester sauce
1 tsp Teriyaki sauce
1 tsp Soya sauce
1 tsp Oyster sauce
1 tsp Chilly Coriander sauce

Others:
1 tbsp sesame or canola oil

Garnish :
Spring onions rounds
Coriander finely chopped

Procedure :
In a wok heat 1 tbsp of oil and add the shrimp along with turmeric and little salt...
Saute' for a 1 to 2 minutes and remove from the wok and keep aside.
This will possibly take off any raw shrimpy smell and lets out a nice aroma.
Now in the same wok add garlic and ginger, saute' a little, add green chillies and onion leeks saute' for a minute.
Transfer the sauteed shrimp to the wok, coat with the fried ingredients.
Add all the sauces. You can omit some sauces if you don't prefer them.
Add salt, red chilly flakes, and give it a nice mix to evenly coat the shrimp with the sauces and other ingredients.
Saute more till the raw smell of the sauces is gone and the shrimp are fully cooked.
Remove from heat and garnish with coriander and spring onions.
Serve with fried rice or even just as starters.

Deep Fried Breaded Shrimp

There is'nt any of us who visit the Chinese buffet or restaurant and wouldn't serve or order for deep fried breaded prawns/shrimp. Cause I'm not a restaurant freak, always wanted to try these at home... and finally made it, and got it right the first time.

Ingredients:
1 lb Jumbo Shrimp,Deshelled,tailed
1 cup Flour,
1 Egg beaten
1 Cup Japanese Bread Crumbs, (Avialable in Asian Stores)
(Please do not use the regular bread crumbs or should I say Bread powder)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Lemon Pepper (Optional)
Oil for deep frying.
Sauces (Optional)
1 Tbsp Soy Sause
1 Tbsp Oyster Sause
1 Tbsp Worcester Sause
1 Tbsp Teriyaki Sause

Procedure:
Make a marinade with the sauces if using. Keep aside
Add salt, Black pepper, Lemon Pepper (if using) to the shrimp to coat them well.
Now add shrimp to the marinade, keep aside for 10 minutes or so.



Heat oil in deep frying pan.
Now take each shrimp from the marinade, coat it first with Flour, then Egg, and finally with bread crumbs.
Deep fry in hot oil, for 5 minutes or so.
Drain from oil and serve with choice of your sauces.

What can be more comforting food than these breaded shrimps. Therefore I'm sending this to Meeta, who is hosting the Monthly Mingle - Comfort Foods.

This can be an Evening snack, Starter or even go with the main course with some seasoned rice. We enjoyed these with the Cabbage fried rice.

I'll post the Cabbage Fried Receipe next.

Curried Shrimp Noodles - for Click

This is one of most frequent method I follow to make noodles at home. It derived from the left over or kept aside curried shrimp. I don't like noodles if they retain there noodles smell(that raw vermicelli smell)in them. And those days when I didn't know to make any kind noodle dishes, the only way to take away the nooldes smell was to cook them with shrimp. So the aroma of shrimp would fill the dish and give it a real lift.

Infact I never ate noodles before I was married. Somehow I thought they don't taste good. Then came these days in India where very street was infested with the noodles fast food points. And my hubby who is a huge fan of noodles forced me one day to try them and I began to like them. But even now they have to be Indianized. The best style of noodles I enjoy is the "Indian Hakka style mixed noodles".

My recipe here is complete with seafood and vegies. A perfect meal by itself. Enjoyed by all at home. All the three boys at home like shrimp and noodles. So can't ask for anything better.

I usually add the shrimp which are curried alreadly. Check for the Curried Tomatoe Shrimp recipe by clicking the shrimp bowl down here.
Ingredients:
1 Packet Egg Noodles cooked
1 lb Shrimp Curry or even plain shrimp will do.
2 tsp oil
5 garlic pods
1 big onion cut into breath-wise thin slices
3-5 green chilles cut into thin strips
1 cup each thinly sliced carrots, beans, brocolli, peppers,( add more vegies if desried)
2 - tsp Soy sauce
2 tbp tomatoe ketchup
Salt to taste
Finely chopped coriander leaves - a few
Procecure:
Add the noodles in the boiling water to cook them and then stain the water and keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadai, add chopped garlic, saute, add green chillies saute a till and then add the onions.
Saute the onions to coat them with the oil and the flavour of garlic and chilly.
Before the onions loose their crunchiness add all the vegies and strir fry them adding required salt.
Now add the Tomatoe shrimp Curry and fry it well the vegies.
If you don't have the pre-cooked shrimp tomatoe curry, you can add the raw shrimp and add 3 tbps of tomatoe paste and 1/2 tsp of chilly powder to substitute.
Now add the cooked strained noodles, more salt for the noodles, soy souce, and mix well.
Add the tomatoe ketchup mix again and then garnish with finely chopped coriander before removing from heat.
Curried Shrimp Noodles is ready to be served hot.

This goes to Bee & Jai of Jugalbandi for the Event - Click Noodles.
Not to compete and win any badges but just to participate.

Hope you like my Shrimp round up.

Shrimp Tamatar Curry

This is my first NV dish after I started regular blogging. Though I posted some before this, I feel awkward to publish non-veg food posts that they may embrass my vegie foodies. But then I can't leave out my NV foodies too, right. Moreover these days most of the NV blogs have blogged about shrimp or prawns and its my turn now.

So here you go all my seafood lovers, especially who just drool for Shrimp, here is my version of Tamatar Shrimp Curry.
I really miss those fresh small prawns back home. Their flavour, taste absolutely adorable. Enough if I manage to buy fresh ones here they can't come upto that taste.

Its so amazing with shrimp/prawn or as a matter of fact any seafood, how the raw shrimpy/fishy smell turns into mind blowing oroma when they are cooked the right way.

Back home we pay these vendors to clean the shrimps. But here if we are not buying the cleaned frozen ones( they don't have the right texture for the curry recipe) we have to do it oursevles. Never in my life would I have dreamt of cleaning prawns. The look of them use to scare me before they are de-shelled. And here I'm all diligently cleaning them if I want to have a shrimp treat. Cause it takes patience to de-shell and more if we want to de-vein them. Although most of the time it is my D.Hubby filling this post for me. Cause he loves seafood, and not to mention "shrimp". So if he wants a treat this is part it.

Well this is what life is... we have to do things sometimes even though we don't like to do. And we eventually learn the lesson that is was not so difficult than we thought and also to receive we have to give.

Now coming to recipe, Shrimp can taste good even with the fewest spices added to them and just sauted. But this is one of the methods I use to make the taste excellent.
Ingredients:

1 lb deshelled shrimp/prawns (de-vein them if desired)
3 big - Tomatoes cut into small cubes
2 big - Onions finely cut
3 pods - Garlic finely chooped
4 medium - Green chilies Slit
1 reem - Curry leaves
1 tsp - Red chilly powder (increase if you want it spicy)
2 Tbp - Oil
Salt - to taste
Finely chopped - coriander leaves( keep the stem part seperate)

Procedure:
Heat up a kadai(pot) add oil, when oil is heated add garlic, saute and then add green chillies, saute and add the onions & curry leaves.
Fry the onions till translucent. Throw in the stems(cut into small) of the corainder leaves at this time.
This is my personal observation...Usually we put the Coriander leaves at the end, but in this recipe, if we add the stem part while frying the onions, it gives a very exotic oroma which is carried thru the finish of the dish. So this Shrimp carry is almost coriander flavoured along with tomatoes,
Now add the tomatoes and cook them well till they loose their shape and the mixture in the kadai almost looks like a paste.
Add in the red chilly powder and salt, mix well till all the masala goes into the mixture and the raw smell goes away.
Now add the cleaned shrimp and mix well to coat them evenly with the masala.
Add a bit of water if you want this dish to be on a gravy side.
Cover and cook for 7 - 10 minutes.
Once the shrimp is cooked and the gravy starts sticking to them, garnish with the coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Though this is a simple preparation, the taste is extremely commendable.

This goes good just with plain rice, or rice wiht rasam or sambar. The gravy is good to eat with Idilies, dosa or chapati, roti.

So this being such a versatile side dish, should be cherished for sure.