Chingri Malai (Coconut Prawn Curry)

Herewith a great Prawn Curry from Rick Stein and the tried and tested Lila Dhania Baath (Green Coriander rice) from Prashad.

For refresher on the exquisite rice, Go to this link - Lila Dhania Baath

To the prawns then.....

Ingredients
4 medium onions - 2 roughly chopped, 2 finely sliced
25g ghee (or 20g unsalted butter and a splosh sunflower oil)
2 Indian Bay leaves (**!)
1/2 tsp Garam masala
3 cm root ginger, finely grated/ pounded to paste
3 cloves garlic, finely crushed in with above
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
lots of raw, peeled, large prawns :-)
1 can good quality coconut milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
50ml water

Couple of things to note:
1) Original recipe has 280ml coconut milk and 150ml water. My cans of coconut milk are 400ml and I didn't have plans for the remainder, so reduced water accordingly.
2) Indian bay leaves are different from the ones you get in UK supermarkets and are NOT interchangeable. If you don't have any, use a 3 cm piece of cinnamon instead

Method

Get the food processor out and blend the 2 roughly chopped onions to a fine paste - if you need to, add a splash of water to assist the process
Heat the ghee/ butter over medium heat, add the Indian bay leaves or cinnamon stick and fry for 1 min until fragrant. Add the sliced onions and fry for 10 mins until golden and soft, then stir in the garam masala. After 30 secs, stir in the onion paste, ginger, garlic, turmeric and chilli and fry for 5 mins, stirring often. Continue until th onion paste is golden and again, add a splash of water if necessary to prevent anything catching on the bottom of the pan
Stir in the prawns, cook for 1 min, add the coconut milk, salt, sugar and water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 mins or until the prawns are done and the sauce has reduced.

Sprinkle some chopped coriander to serve if you like, along with the Green coriander rice.

NOTE: have some chat masala to hand because it is simply great sprinkled on top of this curry!!