South Indian Delight: Prawns Curry and Appam

India is a land of diversity in all possible terms. Food, language, culture everything differs as you traverse cross India. South Indian cuisine is as rich ( if not more) as North Indian one. The reason all of us know more about the north Indian cuisine is predominantly due to tandoori dishes and other savory dishes made famous by TV shows. Hence, I also tried to balance out the dishes that I cook by preparing coconut milk based prawn curry with hot appams!! So let's start cooking.

Prawn Curry : There are many variations of prawn curry cooked in South India. You will find prawn gassi , prawn ghee roast and many others. I tried making a coconut milk based prawn curry and gave it a bit of Portuguese touch by adding white vinegar.

Ingredients: Onions ( thinly sliced) - 3 medium; Dry red chillies (whole) - 6; Black peppercorns - 12; Ginger ( finely chopped) - 1.5 inch; Garlic cloves ( finely chopped) - 5; Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon; Raw papaya ( small cubes) - 500 gms; Tomatoes ( medium chopped) - 1 medium; Coconut milk - 200 ml; White vinegar ( prefer using natural vinegar rather than synthetic one) - 1.5 tea spoons; Prawns ( peeled and deveined) - 250 gms; Oil - 2 tea spoons; Curry leaves - 10; Salt to taste

Steps:

i. If you are using frozen prawns then let them thaw while you start preparing the gravy.

ii. In a grinder make fine paste of the red chillies, ginger, garlic cloves and cumin. Add a little water if required.

iii. Put oil in a deep wide bottom pan ( handi) and let it heat a bit.

iv. Put curry leaves in the oil and after a minute add all the sliced onions.

v. Mix the mixture well and salt as per taste. Saute them for a while until onions start turning translucent.

vi. Pour the fine paste prepared in step ii and mix well.

vii. Once the ingredients have mixed well and you can't smell the raw flavor of ginger an garlic add the prawns and mix well for 2 minutes.

viii. Now add the raw papaya and tomatoes into the handi and mix well for 2 minutes.

ix. Once everything has been uniformly mixed pour in half of coconut milk and mix. If you feel that the gravy is too thick add some water.

x. Now cover the handi with a lid and let it cook at a medium flame for 8-10 minutes.

xi. Once done mix well and add the remaining coconut milk and let it coook for 2 minutes.

xii. Add the vinegar and mix well. Cook the dish for couple of more minutes.

Serve your prawn curry with steamed rice or appam and enjoy!!!

Appam: It is like a pancake made with rice, grated coconut batter fermented with yeast overnight. the dish is very simple to make but requires a bit of preparation due to fermentation process. Appam goes very well with any coconut based gravy or can be eaten alone.

Ingredients: Rice ( soaked for 4-5 hours) - 2 cups; Grated coconut or coconut milk - 1 cup; Sugar - 2 tea spoons; Dry active yeast - 2 gms; Water ( lukewarm) - 15 ml; Oil - 1 tea spoon

Steps :

i. Make a fine paste of soaked rice, coconut and sugar. Add water if required.

ii. Mix dry active yeast in lukewarm water and set it aside for 2 minutes.

iii. Mix yeast in the appam batter and let the mixture ferment overnight.

iv. Heat up an appam skillet or a non-stick pan with some oil.

v. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and let it cook until you see bubbles and the appam will automatically detach from the surface.

vi. Make sure that you cool the pan before putting appam batter. Use a damp cloth to wipe the pan or let it cool for some time.

Enjoy appam in breakfast or ,as I did, with some prawn curry.