The Kingdom of a King Prawn

King Prawns Poached in oil with caramelized onion buttermilk sauce served with Lime Sabayon, poached garlic, preserved prawn roe in oil

Cooking king prawns is a challenge, they look fantastic in the fish market, giant body, big claws, hues of blue all over the body, it looks like an alien animal to me at times, inside the crust of this crustacean lays the tender soft flesh, which is a delicate protein. In India there are so many amazing recipes with prawns n king prawns and one of them is the timeless classic: Chingrir Malaicurry aka Prawn Malaicurry, some people say they are the best with king prawns, I don’t think so, they are just as good if not better with medium sized prawns, but if you are cooking with king prawns it will be a huge disappointment when you end up with solid hard prawns, literally overcooked. But then when I think of it, it has become an established texture in here when it comes to prawns, we do eat prawns when they are not very soft but a bit firm, a bit chewy and we enjoy it, but sometimes it’s goes a bit too much due to overcooking, I remember eating king prawns at house-parties where they have become so solid, eating that was a mess.

While creating this recipe I approached the king prawns softly, ha-ha, well I mean I cooked them, beginning at low temperature, because the prawn protein is delicate n overcooks easily at high temperatures, low temperature cooking gives a great result, I start with immersing the marinated prawns in cold oil and I let the oil go hot slowly but I never let the oil reach a very high temperature, for doing this first of all you need a thick bottom saucepan, if you don’t have that you can always layer a saucepan over another flat pan or over a heat diffuser, in that way the temperature will be consistent n never go high quickly. Cooked in this way the prawns will stay soft n moist even after hours.

I infused the oil with dry red chili n garlic n red onion; the infused oil delivers the flavor to the prawns submerged in them. I serve the prawns with white rice; the best combination possible with lime sabayon which is light, foamy n has the citrus flavor. The poached onions are further sautéed in the pan concentrating their flavor even more n I finish them with buttermilk which gives a slight tang.

You can fry the shells in hot oil until they go crispy and you can eat them! They will provide the crispy crunch in the dish. The prawn roe preserved in oil adds a unique flavor; it has that umami rich flavor which is still mellow n just wonderful. For a little sweetness I used red bell pepper jus but it is just optional. For freshness the use of fresh coriander leaves is unbeatable, I love the flavor that goes so well with this dish, the sesame micro herbs doesn’t provide a boost of flavor but adds a fresh crunch n nutrition to the whole thing.

I used cumin thyme salt in the final serving, I keep it at a place so that someone can eat it at their will, for preparing the salt you need to roast some cumin seed on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes until they becomes fragrant n then crush them to a coarse powder, mix sea salt along with dry thyme leaves with the cumin powder and you got thyme cumin salt.

So now I will take you to the recipe.

For The Recipe: You will need

For the Prawns:

King prawns- 200 gm take the vein out from the tail end but keep the shells on

Vegetable oil – 2 cups

Shallots or red onion- 1 medium, sliced

Garlic -6 medium cloves, cut into long thin slices

Buttermilk- 4 tbsp

Turmeric- ½ tsp

Dry red chili-1 medium, chopped roughly

Red chili powder- ¼ tsp

Cumin powder-1/4 tsp

Red chili flakes- ¼ tsp

Salt

For the Sabayon:

Egg yolk-2

Butter-30 gm, melted

Lime/lemon-1 tbsp

Water- 1 n 1/2 tbsp

White wine- 1 tbsp

Salt

Black pepper

For the prawn roe in oil:

Prawn roe, extracted from the belly of the prawns in any- as much as u get

Vegetable oil- 4 tbsp

Salt- some pinches

1. Begin by marinating the prawns with shells with turmeric n salt, sprinkle the turmeric n salt n leave them for about 15-25 minutes, after that time wash them well in water to remove the excess salt n turmeric n pat them dry. Take a saucepan which is narrow, in that way you can get a good height of oil to submerge the prawns in a little amount of oil, so pour the vegetable oil in a heavy bottom narrow saucepan n add the sliced onion n the garlic n chili slices, if you don’t have a heavy bottom saucepan, keep the saucepan on top of another frying pan, then put the heat on to low to medium, we are infusing the oil with the garlic n onion, you need to give it about 10-15 minutes like this, at the end of the time the garlic n onion will seem to sizzle slightly  n leave bubbles from them, the garlic should not change color, they will still remain white n the onions will be very soft, take them out with a spoon n put them in another frying pan, put the narrow saucepan away from the heat for 5 minutes, then add the prawns in the oil making sure they submerge in the oil completely and put them on low heat, keep aside some of the garlic poached previously n add the rest in this oil,  nothing will seem to happen at first but the work is already happening, the mild heat of the oil is poaching them gently, give them about 5-8 minutes in oil, as time passes the prawns will turn very red or orange n will begin to leave bubbles from them n sizzle slightly in that oil, check after 7 minutes by taking out a prawn n cutting it through with a knife, it should be white inside n should be very soft, they will be ready after 8-10 minutes, take them out.

2. Put the frying pan with the onions on low medium heat, let the onions brown a bit, and when they are brown add the red chili flakes, chili powder n cumin powder along with salt n 2 tbsp buttermilk, give them 2 minutes, if they buttermilk has completely dried up add the rest now, mix well, taste n adjust, its ready.

3. For preserving the prawn roe in oil, sprinkle salt over the roe, heat the oil in a pan but not to smoke point, then pour the medium hot oil over the roe, give them an hour, this oil n the roe is now ready to be used, will stay in the freeze for 2 weeks.

4. For the sabayon, combine the egg yolks n water n white wine in a bowl, whisk with a wire whisk over a bain-marie until the eggs become very light n airy, take the bowl off the heat every 10 seconds to make sure the eggs don’t scramble,  taste it after 1 minute of whisking, it should not taste very much of eggs, keep whisking for 1 minute, when the mixture becomes airy take it off the heat and continue whisking it until it becomes very light, then add the melted butter, then add the lime juice n season with salt n pepper, this light lime froth is ready to be served.

So we are done, for serving I will suggest white rice goes amazing with these prawns, take a little rice, add the caramelized onion sauce over them, then add some of the reserved garlic cloves n some roe, take the shells out of the king prawns and add some fresh coriander or parsley n little bit of sabayon, take a bite, let the eyes remain closed, Bon appétit.

A Fragrant Rice with Chicken, Saffron N Prawn-A Tale of Tantalizing Taste

Gobindobhog Rice cooked with Fresh water Prawn n Chicken with dry Red Chilies, Jalapenos, Saffron, Tomatoes- pure taste of delish

First I should tell you about this rice-Gobindobhog, a type of short grain rice from Bengal, the east of India. It smells amazing, how do I describe that smell, let me try- sweet, pleasant, fragrant, decent, subtle and full of promises. When you taste it, the depth of flavor coming from it takes you in a journey. So no wonder it is such a favorite rice to use when you are cooking something special, sweet or savory it handles both the sides extremely well. It has a sweet smooth buttery aromatic flavor, so often they are cooked with milk n sugar or jaggery to produce Payas/Rice Pudding/Chawal Kheer, sometimes they are cooked with chicken or fish or vegetables to produce fantastic pulao/pilaf, they are the base to make a fantastic “Murighonto- A savory rice dish with fish head n potatoes and whole garam masala”- it’s a never ending love story.

                          Now chances are if you live outside India, or even let’s say outside Bengal, you won’t get this rice easily, but still ask for this rice in Indian or Bangladeshi shops, it is every worth searching for. For this dish you can replace it with any short grain rice like risotto rice, Thai sticky rice, paella rice.

                                                                 I didn’t have a doubt when I combined this rice with prawns n chicken, what came out impressed me much more than what I imagined, the rice absorbs all the flavors so vividly, at the same time lifting the flavors up with its own flavor, in every bite I could taste the prawns, the tomatoes, the chicken, the garlic, the jalapenos, the saffron. It was like all the flavors were in harmony, n to top it all off it doesn’t take much time to cook, the rice takes 15 minutes to be done and all you have to do when the rice is cooking is to stir it in between.

Another layer of flavor comes from the aromatic spices that go in it, cloves, green cardamom, Indian Bay Leaf n Cinnamon sticks-as the broth simmers the spices release their flavor n blends into everything in the pan.

                     There are some recipes when you cook them it makes you a hero, people love you n the food that you cook-this is one such recipe. So next time there is a gathering of friends cook this and see them getting lost in the plate, which is actually a great sight to watch for a person who cooks with his/her heart.

                                    So now let me serve you the recipe, here we go…

For The Recipe: You will need

Govindobhog rice- 1 cup

Chicken breast-1 medium with bone, cut into 2 inch pieces, around 250 gm

Prawn- 4 big/ 6 medium, veined, washed but not peeled

Garlic – 3 medium cloves, chopped

Onion-1 medium, chopped

Tomato- 2 medium, chopped

Jalapenos- 2 tbsp

Green capsicum- 2-3 tbsp, chopped

Dry red chili- 1 medium, torn into pieces

Saffron- 2 pinch

Red chili powder- ½ tbsp

Turmeric- ¼ tsp

Cumin powder-1/4 tsp

Coriander powder-1/4 tsp

Bay leaf- 2

Clove-4

Green cardamom-1+1

Cinnamon stick- 2 inch

Soy sauce- a few drops like ½ tsp

Black pepper- 1 tbsp, freshly ground

Pink rock salt- few pinches

Salt

Sugar

Brown fried onion- to serve, 1 medium onion-sliced n fried till brown in a pan, it’s optional

Water-3 -4 cups

Vegetable oil/olive oil-5-6 tbsp

1.     Soak the rice in water for half an hour, then drain the water. In a frying pan heat the oil, when the oil is moderately hot reduce the heat to low, add the dry red chili torn into pieces, chopped garlic n stir,  don’t let the garlic brown, add cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, give them around 20 seconds , then add the chopped onion. Give them about 2 minutes on medium high heat stirring often, then add the capsicum, give it 3 minutes, then add the chicken pieces, put the flame high and sauté them for about 5 minutes, stir in between. Add a pinch of sugar, mix, then add the rice to the pan and give it a good mix. Keep the flame on medium high and stir often; we are now frying the rice grains to some extent. Give them around 4-5 minutes on medium heat, then add some salt and mix well. After that add the tomatoes, jalapenos  and 2 pinch of pink rock salt and ½ tsp of freshly ground black pepper, give it a good mix n give them about 2-3 minutes. Mix the red chili powder, turmeric, cumin n coriander powder with little water to make a paste, add this to the pan and mix well. Add a splash more water so that the spices don’t burn.

         2.     Heat the water in a bowl; we will use this hot water to add to the pan. So back to the frying pan add the saffron strands, mix, now add 1 cup of the hot water n stir so that everything is uniformly mixed. Keep the flame high at this stage, add the prawns to the pan, very soon the water will be absorbed by the rice, then add another cup of water, reduce the flame to low, add salt according to taste and few drops of soy sauce, ½ tsp sugar and mix well. The water will be just simmering in the pan, when this water is again absorbed , add half cup of more water, this whole process will take about 15 minutes, at the final stage we want the rice to be not dry but with some liquid part in it. So the amount of water will vary slightly, if the rice is soft n fluffy n the consistency of it some a bit flow-y it is there, if the rice still needs to be soft add 1/2 cup water and give it a little time.

        3.     Now when the rice is soft, put the flame off, we will add the final touches. In a mortar n pestle crush one green cardamom pod and 1 inch stick cinnamon with 1 tsp of water,  when it becomes a coarse mixture add this to the rice, add some more black pepper n mix n cover the pan for 2 minutes.

So it is ready to be served, serve generously and sprinkle some brown onions over it or forget it, it tastes so very delish! Mmmmm…Bon Appétit.