Curry in a Hurry

AT THE recent Sanctuary Cove Boat Show I took advantage of the cooler weather to show the patrons a couple of quick and easy seafood curries. There was an overwhelming response of "Yum!" to the flavour of these curries, and many requests for the recipes. I promised to put the recipes in my next ‘Cooking Corner’ and so here they are.

DRY MADRAS SEAFOOD CURRY

A ‘dry’ curry simply means that there is less liquid involved in the cooking process than you would normally associate with a curry. I prepared this curry using a Sunbeam Ellise stainless steel electric saucepan. What a great idea this saucepan is! Easy to use, versatile, and extremely easy to clean.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon ghee or butter
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon good quality curry powder
• 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
• generous squeeze lemon juice
• 500g green prawns

Preparation

- Peel and de-vein the prawns, leaving the tail intact.

- Heat the butter in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Stir fry the mixture in the pan until softened. Add the curry powder and continue to stir until the curry powder becomes aromatic.

- Add the chopped tomatoes and lemon juice, and bring to the boil before reducing the heat and simmering for a few minutes. Place the prawns into the pan with the tomato mixture and continue to cook until the prawns are just pink.

Serve Dry Madras Prawn Curry with heaps of steamed Basmati rice and either Naan Bread or pappadums.

CURRIED PRAWNS IN COCONUT

Simple and quick to cook, the flavour in this curry is absolutely fantastic. Sunbeam have a new stainless steel wok on the market which I used to prepare this recipe at the show. This is one of the best electric ‘driven’ woks that I have used. One of the great features is that the base has an easy lock-on removable system that makes cleaning the wok a breeze.

Ingredients

• 500g green prawns
• 1 tablespoon Bertolli white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 small green chilli, finely chopped
• 2 dried curry leaves, optional
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preparation

- Peel and de-vein the prawns, leaving the tail intact. Combine the prawns in a glass bowl with the white wine vinegar and the turmeric.

- Heat the oil in a wok and fry the mustard seeds until they start to pop. Add the onion, garlic, chilli and curry leaves to the wok and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

- Tip the prawns into the wok and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add the shredded coconut to the pan and continue to stir fry until the prawns are cooked and the coconut has turned golden brown.

I suggest serving these curries with Montana Avec with Seafood. This is a crisp dry white wine with a perfectly balanced acidity to match the flavours of seafood, but with enough strength not to be overwhelmed by the spicy flavours of the curries.