Spicy prawn soup in November is like winter haiku in a bowl. Just a few ingredients celebrating the season creating deep, warming harmony on your palate. The heat hums in this spicy prawn soup, never jarring, just right. I started the season of soups with one that’s not too hearty and heavy, yet it’s filling enough to be a meal by itself. Surf and turf This soup is spiced with…
Tandoori prawns are a surefire crowd pleaser; whether you’re cooking it for just for your family or for a large party. Seafood is delicate, yet the ground spices in the marinade for these tandoori prawns builds a savoury patina of flavour that complements the intrinsic sweetness of the prawns. Now, tandoori dishes – chicken, lamb and seafood must be grilled in a tandoor as the name suggests, but in the…
An everyday fish pulao is a wonderful dish to have in one’s repertoire. It makes a nice change from fried and curried fish. Like many if not most Indian home cooks, I cook from instinct, adding flavours and seasoning without always adhering to recipes and measurements. Cooking over time, one develops a sense of which ingredients complement each other and how much needs to be added to achieve a certain…
I ate the best crispy coconut prawns at The Green Turtle, a charming little restaurant on a white sand beach in Mozambique. Everything about that experience was magical – the spotless sand beside the turquoise Indian Ocean, the beautiful verandah-style restaurant, the delicious coconut water and rum cocktails and of course, golden, crispy and succulent coconut crusted prawns served in a coconut shell.. Crispy coconut prawns are a popular appetiser…
You can tell, blindfolded, when Kerala prawn masala is on the menu. First, you smell the curry leaves, then the pepper or maybe the cinnamon, cloves or fennel seed and don’t forget the prawns. …
A shrimp salad came to mind when I spotted a box of glistening green tomatoes at the vegetable store. Don’t know why, but the idea of fat, crispy shrimps nestling in a big bowl loaded with a tumble of fresh, emerald tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers and fragrant herbs set off my imagination. Then I thought, a big bowl of that doused with an Asian-style dressing, all salty and lemony would make…
Coconut palms line the sea shore, the countless lagoons and backwaters and populate the landscape of Kerala like a mammoth standing army. Is it any wonder then that the bounty they yield complements the delicious gifts that the sea bestows on this rich land. Seafood and coconuts – a match made in foodie heaven – inspired me to develop a pulao recipe that is as easy as it is…