Shrimp with Oyster Sauce and Holy Basil / Tulsi

Ingredients :

1. Large sized Shrimp - 8 Peeled deveined tail on , washed and patted dry
2. Tomato - 1 medium cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices
3. Onion - 1 medium cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
4. Banana pepper - 1 cut into 1/2 inch pieces on a diagonal 
5. Oyster sauce - 1 tbsp
6. Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
7. Ripe red chillies - 5 chopped fine
8. Garlice - 8 cloves chopped fine
9. Tulsi/ Holy basil - 1 handfull of tender leaves 
10. oil - 2 tbsp

Method :

Keep all your ingredients ready before you start cooking .

Heat a large frying pan/wok on high heat.

Add oil and the chopped chilly and garlic and stir fry for a minute

Add in the shrimp and stirfry on high flame for a minute , Add 1/2 tbsp of oyster and soy sauce to this. The shrimp should be barely cooked and have sear marks on the edges from the high heat frying . This gives a toasty flavour.

Pick the shrimp from the pan and keep in a plate while you cook the rest of the ingredients.

In the same pan add the onion and banana pepper and tomato and continue stirfrying on high heat for a minute .Add in the remaining soy and oyster sauce and stir well.

return the shrimp back to the pan , add in the tulsi leaves and stir everything together on high heat for another minute .

Transfer the contents to a dish .

Add 4 tbsp of water to the frying pan and scrape up the sides and bottom of the pan and reduce it to about 2 tbsp.

Add this into the cooked shrimp dish.

Serve with rice .

NOTE : Adding water to the pan while the shrimp is cooking makes the shrimp boil and loose the grilled/toasty flavor , hence I added the water for the gravy after removing the shrimp from the pan.This way you get your gravy and don't loose out on the flavor

Shrimp Pad Thai

Ingredients :

1. Oil - 4 tbsp
2. Garlic - 5 cloves crushed
3. Shrimp - 12 medium large sized cleaned,shelled ,deveined with tails left intact.
4. Thick rice noodles - 1/2 pack , approx 250 gms dry
5. Pad Thai sauce - 8 tbsp
6. Eggs - 3
7. Green Onion - 8 bulbs with leaves
8. Onion - 1 large
9. Mushroom - 8
10. Lime - 1 cut into wedges
11. Corriander leaves - 2 tbsp picked and torn roughly
12. roasted and crushed peanuts - 4 tbsp
13. bean sprouts - handful ( it wasn't available here , so I haven't added)

For the Pad Thai sauce :

1. tamarind paste/ concenterate - 2 tbsp
2. Sugar - 5 tbsp
3. Soy Sauce - 2 tbsp
4. Fish Sauce - 5 tbsp
5. Chilly sauce - 2 tbsp (recipe in the method section)
6. Water - 1 cup

For the Chilly Sauce :

1. Dry red chillies  - 10
2. Garlic - 3 cloves
3. Vinegar - 2 tbsp
4. salt - to taste
5. shallots - 4
6. sugar - 1 tsp
7. Oil - 1 tbsp

Method for making chilly sauce  :

Soak the dry red chillies in boiling water for few hours .
drain the water and add  the chillies , along with all of the other ingredients except oil into a blender and blend until mixed and crushed well. It should be a semi smooth paste .
Heat oil in a nonstick pan and add the ground paste and cook stirring in between until the sauce is thick and the oil starts showing on the sides of the pan.
Cool and store in the refrigerator . You can keep this for more than a month without getting spoilt.

For the Pad Thai Sauce :
Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a sauce pan and bring to a boil .
Boil for 5 minutes and taste - Depending on the concentration of the ingredients you use , adjust the sour,salty,spicy  and sweet flavor.
The sauce should be equally sweet, sour ,spicy and salty .
Cool and store in refrigerator for 3-4 weeks and use as needed.

To make Pad Thai:
Soak the rice noodles in slightly hot water (not boiling but comfortably hot water) for 5 minutes . drain and keep aside and use for cooking immediately.
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large wok or frying pan . Add the garlic and stir-fry until golden brown. Add the shrimp and stir , Now add 2 tbsp of the pad thai sauce keep stirring until the shrimp changes color (Approximately  3 minutes on high heat). Remove the shrimp to prevent overcooking and set aside.
Add the remaining oil to the same wok and add the onion and mushroom and cook on high heat for 2-3 minutes. Now add the noodles. They will stick together so stir fast and try to separate them. sprinkle a bit of  water, stirring a few times. Now add the 5 tbsp Pad Thai sauce, and keep stirring until everything is thoroughly mixed. taste and add more pad thai sauce if required .The noodles should appear soft and moist. Return the cooked shrimp and garlic mixture to the wok.
Push the contents of the wok up around the sides to make room to fry the eggs. If the pan is very dry, add 1 more tablespoon of oil. Add the eggs and spread the noodles over the eggs to cover. When the eggs are cooked, stir the noodles until everything is well mixed. Add the spring Onions and stir . Turn the flame off. Garnish with crushed peanuts, corriander leaves and bean sprouts. Serve hot with a slice of lime .

Grilled Freshwater Scampi/Tiger Prawn

Ingredients :

1. Tiger prawns /Freshwater Scampi /Konju - 1 (about 250 gms)
2. Chilly powder - 1.5 tsp
3. Turmeric powder - a pinch
4. Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
5. Pepper powder - a pinch
6. Garlic powder or paste - 1/4 tsp
7. curry leaves - 1 spring
8. Coconut Oil - 4 tbsp
9. salt - to taste

Method:

Clean the Scampi , remove the shell and retain the head part , devein , wash and pat dry.
Make a marinade of all ingredients except Oil adding a few tbsp of water as necessary .
Apply the paste on the scampi and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Heat a pan and add the coconut oil .
Place the scampi in the hot oil and grill/shallowfry until done .
It would take only a few minutes , around 8 minutes in total for a 250 gm Scampi.
Scampi should not be overcooked.
Serve as a snack or with rice or grilled vegetables.

Popcorn Shrimp

My kids have a favorite meal at every fast food joint.When it comes to Popeyes , the popcorn shrimp basket is their current favorite.Here is my attempt to recreate it at home.

Popcorn shrimp refers to bite-sized pieces of fried shrimp which may be eaten in a manner similar to popcorn. They were originally made by Red Lobster.The practicality of most Cajun cooking makes it likely that these were the shrimp that were broken or too small to sell and so came home to become supper for the fisherman's family.

I have used medium/large sized tail on shrimp (because that is my personal preference), usually very small shrimp is used for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Medium/Large shrimp - 15
2. Oil for deep frying
3. garlic powder - 1 tsp
4. onion powder - 1 tbsp
5. dried thyme - 1/4 tsp
6. dried Oregano - 1/4 tsp
7. salt - to taste
8. Chilly powder - 1 tsp (use paprika if you don't like spice)
9. black pepper - 1/4 tsp
10. all-purpose flour - 1 cup
11. beaten eggs - 2
12. plain breadcrumbs - 1 cup
13. Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Method:
Combine the seasonings(garlic, onion, thyme, oregano,pepper, chilly powder,salt) and keep aside.
Wash and pat dry the shrimp and sprinkle it with 1 tbsp of the mixed seasoning , sprinkle with lime juice to taste and mix it and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Divide the rest of the seasoning into 2 halfs and add one half to the all purpose flour and the other half to the bread crumbs.Put each in a separate bowl.
Beat eggs thoroughly in another bowl.
Pour enough oil into your pan to come up to almost 3 inches deep. Turn the heat to medium and heat oil while you proceed to bread the shrimp.
Place a cookie sheet beside you and dust each of the marinated shrimp with the flour mixture first , shake off excess flour and dip into the beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs and keep aside on the cookie sheet , until all shrimp have been coated.
Deep fry the coated shrimp in medium hot oil for 3 minutes until the shrimp are golden brown and crispy
Drain on paper towels and serve with a slice of fresh Lemon and a side of mashed potato or cajun rice.

Long beans and Dry shrimp stirfry

Ingredients:

1. Yard long beans/Achinga Payar/ Neenda Payar - 1 bunch
2. Dry shrimp - 1/4 cup(head removed and cleaned)
3. Chilly powder - 1 tsp
4. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
5. Garlic - 4 cloves
6. Shallots - 5 crushed
7. Green chillies - 2 slit
8. Oil - 2 tbsp
9. Curry leaves - 2 springs
10. Salt - to taste
11. Vinegar - 1 tsp
12. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and add 2 crushed shallots, 2 cloves crushed garlic , 1 spring curry leaves and dry shrimp and fry for few minutes.
Add in 1/2 tsp chilly powder and vinegar and salt to taste and fry until the shrimp is toasted.Keep this aside.
Heat remaining 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and add the mustard seeds. When it splutters add the curry leaves ,remaining crushed shallots,garlic and slit green chillies and stir well.
Add in the chilly and turmeric powder and stirfry until raw smell is gone.
Add in the cut beans and sprinkle a tbsp of water- add salt to taste and cover and cook until the beans are cooked.
Remove the lid and add in the shrimp mixture and fry in open pan for 10 minutes .
Serve with rice.

Shrimp with Chilly and Garlic

Ingredients:

1. Shrimp - 15 medium large (shelled , de-veined ,washed and pat dry)
2. Shrimp stock** - 1/2 cup
3. Shallots - 2 sliced
4. Green chillies - 5 sliced
5. Garlic - 5 cloves shopped fine
6. Ginger - 1/4 inch piece sliced into thin strips
7. Red bell pepper - 1/4 of a whole sliced
8. Spring onion - 1 stalk sliced
9. Fish sauce - 1 tbsp
10. Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
11. Thai chilly garlic sauce - 1 tsp (you can substitute with crushed dry red pepper and 1/2 tsp of vinegar)
12. Lemon grass - 2 inch piece
13. Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Add oil to a frying pan and heat it.
Add in the chopped Garlic and ginger and stir fry for a minute.
Add in the shrimp ,sprinkle half of the fish sauce and chilly garlic sauce and cook on high heat for 3 minutes until the shrimp start picking some color. Remove the shrimp from the pan and reserve .
In the same pan add the chopped shallots,bell pepper, green chillies, spring onion and lemon grass and stir fry for 2 minutes - Do not overcook the veggies , they should retain a nice crunch.
Pour in the shrimp stock,soy sauce,fish sauce and chilly garlic sauce and bring to a boil.Add in the reserved shrimp and cook for a minute more.
Serve immediately over Jasmine rice.

**NOTE : to make the shrimp stock wash the shell of the shrimp and add to a saucepan and cover with water , add in a piece of lemon grass and ginger and bring to a boil.Simmer for 10 minutes and strain the broth and use as a stock for soups or gravies.

Dry Shrimp Fry with garlic and shallots

Ingredients:

1. Unakka chemeen/Dry shrimp - 2 cups cleaned and head removed
2. Shallots - 1cup sliced
3. Garlic - 5 cloves crushed
4. curry leaf - 4 sprigs
5. Oil - 4 tbsp
6. chilly powder - 1 tsp
7. vinegar - 1 tbsp
8. Dry red chillies - 6 crushed
9. salt -to taste

Method:

Rinse the dry shrimp with water to get rid of any sand and impurities and drain well.Dry fry this shrimp without oil until the water is gone and keep it aside.
Add oil to a pan and fry the onions,garlic,crushed red pepper and curry leaves for 2 minutes.Add in the dry shrimp and vinegar and saute until the whole mixture crisps up and starts turning light brown.
Lower the flame and add the chilly powder.Make sure it doesn't get burnt.Stir fry for few more minutes until the raw smell of the chilly powder is gone.The shrimp should be crunchy when done.
Taste for salt and add if required - dry shrimp will have some salt.Stays fresh for several months in the refrigerator.

Paella with Shrimp and Chorizo

Ingredients:

1. Medium Shrimp - 20 (about 1 lb)
2. Chorizo sausage - 1 link sliced thick
3. Red,Green and yellow bell pepper - 1/4 cup chopped
4. Onion - 1 small chopped
5. Garlic - 3 cloves chopped fine
6. Tomatoes - 2 medium sized chopped
7. Spring onion - 2 stalks chopped
8. Saffron strands - 1/2 tsp soaked in 1/4 cup hot milk
9. Short grain Spanish rice - 2 cups
10. Water - 3 cups (dissolve the soup cubes in the water or use Chicken stock instead)
11. Chicken Bullion cube - 4 cubes (you can substitute with chicken stock)
12. Lime/Lemon - 1 cut into wedges and save few wedges for garnish.
13. Parsley - 2 tbsp chopped
14. Olive Oil - 4 tbsp
15. Paprika - 1/2 tsp
16. Salt - to taste

Method:
Clean , de-vein, wash and pat the shrimp dry.
Sprinkle the shrimp with paprika, chopped garlic,salt and a tbsp of Lemon juice and keep aside.
Heat 1 tbsp Olive oil in a wide pan and add in the chorizo slices and fry for 2 minutes - remove from pan and keep aside.
The pan will have the oil flavored with chorizo in it - Add in the shrimp and saute of high heat for 2 minutes, remove from pan and keep aside.
Add remaining oil and the chopped onions, spring onion ,bell pepper and tomatoes and half of the parsley and stir fry until it starts to soften and brown slightly.
Add in the washed and drained rice and stir fry for 2 minutes.
Pour in the chicken stock or the Water and bullion cubes and cover and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove the lid and add in the saffron mixture and stir the rice well.
Add in the chorizo and Shrimp and tuck them into the rice.
Cover and cook again for an additional 15 minutes on medium flame  without stirring until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed.
When the rice is cooked , turn the flame on high for about 30 seconds so that it forms a nice crust at the bottom of the pan.
A traditional Paella has a toasted rice bottom called socarrat.
Garnish with chopped parsley  and lime wedges.

Malabar Chemeen Curry

In the Kannur region Fish or some sort of seafood is consumed on a daily basis. Meen curry is such an integral part of Kannur cuisine that outsiders often joke that - the lady of the house would wake up in the morning and along with breakfast preparation she would grind half of a coconut into a fine paste and keep it aside.Then depending on what kind of seafood is available that day the curry is made. Fish,crab,shrimp etc are used. When fresh fish is not available the same gravy is used to make a curry out of dry fish or Shrimp. This curry is not as fiery and concentrated in flavor as the Kottayam fish curry and hence you get best results when using extremely fresh fish.In other words the taste of the curry depends on the flavor of seafood you use.

Even during festivals like Onam and vishu when the rest of Keralites stick to a vegetarian meal, fish is inevitable in the Malabar region specially Kannur.Yes we Kannur folks love our seafood :).

Ingredients:

1. Shrimp - 1 lb( about 1/2 kg)
2. Chilly powder - 2 tsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Shallots - 5 (slice 3 roughly and slice 2 finely for tadka)
5. Ginger - 1 inch piece chopped
6. Garlic - 8 cloves chopped
7. Curry leaves - 2 springs
8. Dry red chillies - 2 broken
9. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
10. Oil - 1 tbsp
11. Cocum/Kudam puli or Tamarind paste - to taste
12. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
13. salt - to taste

Method:
Grind the coconut with 1/4 cup water to a fine paste and keep aside.
Peel, de-vein, wash and drain the shrimp and add to a clay pot.
Add the roughly chopped shallots, garlic,ginger, chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt to taste, cocum/tamarind paste and 1 cup water to the clay pot and stir well.
Cook this mixture until the shrimp is cooked and absorbs the flavors( about 10 minutes).
Add in the ground coconut paste and enough water to make a semi thick gravy.
Bring to a simmer and adjust salt and tamarind to taste and turn the flame off.
Heat oil in a small pan and splutter the mustard seeds.
Add in the shallots and fry until it turns light brown.
Add in the dry red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a minute.
Pour this into the curry in the clay pot and keep covered for 10 minutes.
Mix the curry well and serve with rice.

Grilled Tiger Prawn

Ingredients:

1. Tiger prawn - 8 (about 1 lb)
2. Chilly powder - 1.5 tsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
4. black pepper - 1/4 tsp crushed
5. Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
6. salt - to taste
7. curry leaves - 1 spring
8. Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:
Clean and de-vein the shrimp - wash and pat dry with a paper towel.
Make a thick paste of chilly powder, turmeric powder,salt, vinegar and pepper adding just enough watre.
Apply the paste to the shrimp and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Heat a non stick pan or cast iron skillet on high and add in the oil.
Add the curry leaves and place the shrimp and fry for 4 minutes per side.
Serve hot garnished with Lime wedges.

Murnigakka Manga Unakka chemeen charu curry

Ingredients:

1. Raw mango - 4 big pieces (I used daily delight frozen raw mangoes)
2. Drumstick - 2 whole cut into 10 pieces
3. Cleaned Dry shrimp - 1/4 cup OR use 1 cup cleaned fresh shrimp
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. grated coconut - 1/2 cup
6. Green chillies - 7 slit
7. Shallots - 5 sliced into medium thick pieces
8. Shallot - 2 sliced thin for tadka
9. Curry leaves - 3 springs
10. salt - to taste
11. dry red chilly - 2
12. mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
13. oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Roast the dry shrimp with some oil and chilly powder and salt to taste and keep aside.Crush half of the roasted shrimp into a coarse powder and keep aside.
Grind the coconut with 1/2 of the turmeric powder and 1 cup of water into a smooth paste and keep aside.
Add the mango pieces,drumsticks,crushed shrimp,green chillies,shallots and the rest of the turmeric powder into a pan and pour enough water to cover the s and bring to a boil, cover and cook until the drumsticks are cooked.(If you are using fresh shrimp  - add it along with the drumstick and mango pieces and cook it )
lower the flame and add in the coconut paste and bring to a simmer.Add enough water to make a semi thick gravy.
Heat oil in a small pan and add the mustard sees.
When it splutters add the red chilly and curry leaves and stir.
Add in the sliced shallots and fry until it is golden brown.
Take the curry off the flame and pour the tadka over it .
Add the remaining fried shrimp into the curry and Leave covered for few minutes.Serve with rice.

Shrimp Varattiyathu

Ingredients:

1. Medium large shrimp - about 25 pieces
2. Onion - 2 medium sliced thin
3. Garlic - 3 cloves
4. Tomato - 2 medium chopped
5. Curry leaves - 2 springs
6. Kashmiri chilly powder - 3 tbsp (if using the spicy kind use 1.5 tbsp)
7. coriander powder - 2 tsp
8. turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
10. vinegar - 1 tsp
11. salt - to taste
12. ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
13. Oil - 4 tbsp

Method:
Make a paste of 2 tbsp chilly powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder,pepper powder, vinegar and salt to taste and apply on the shrimp and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Heat oil in a pan and add the curry leaves and add the shrimp and shallow fry until slightly browned.
Remove shrimp from pan and keep aside.
Into the same pan add the ginger garlic paste and sliced onions,garlic cloves and salt to taste and saute until the onions are soft.
Add in the 1 tbsp chilly powder,corriander powder,1/4 tsp turmeric powder and saute until the masala is cooked.
Add in chopped tomatoes and saute until the tomatoes are broken down and oil starts to separate.
Add in the fried shrimp and mix well.
Stirfry for another 2 minutes and turn the flame off.
Garnish with fresh cury leaves.

Peechinga Unakka chemeen Charu curry

Ingredients:

1. Dry shrimp - 1 cup
2. Beerakai/Peechinga - 2 medium sized skin scraped and cut into small pieces
3. Tomatoes - 2 chopped
4. Onion - 1 small chopped
5. Shallots - 3 sliced thin
6. Green chillies - 5 slit
7. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Salt - to taste
10. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
11. Oil - 3 tbsp
12. Chilly powder - 1 tsp
13. Vinegar - 1 tsp
14. Curry leaves - 2 springs

Method:
To prepare the dry shrimp
Remove the head and wash the smrimp few times in water, this helps remove any sand particles in it.
Drain the water and keep aside.
Heat a pan and add in the shrimp and dry roast until the water is gone and the shrimp are almost dry.
Add in 1.5 tbsp of oil, vinegar, chilly powder and salt to taste and stir fry the shrimp for 5 minutes until it is fried.Remove from heat and keep aside.
Keep 1 tbsp of the fried shrimp aside for garnish and crush the rest of them (in a food processor or with a stone stone into a coarse mixture).
Grind the grated coconut with the turmeric and 1/2 cup water to a smooth paste.
Add the beerakai, chopped onions,slit green chillies,tomatoes salt to taste and crushed shrimp to a pan and add 1/2 cup water and cook until the vegetable is soft.
Add in the ground coconut paste and stir well.
Simmer on low flame until it is warmed well, turn of the flame and keep covered.
Heat 1.5 tbsp oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds, add in the sliced shallots and curry leaves and fry until golder brown.
Pour this into the curry and stir well. Garnish with the whole fried shrimp that you saved.
Let it sit for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend.
If tomatoes are not sour enough you can add some vinegar to taste.

Crawfish & Crab Roast

Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related. They are eaten all over the world. Like other edible crustaceans, only a small portion of the body of a crayfish is edible. In most prepared dishes only the tail portion is served.

It is my first time cooking them and I had picked up some big live crawfish at the Korean store(around 2 pounds).Even though they looked like a lot - by the time I boiled and cleaned them there was hardly 1 cup of meat left, so I combined them with crab.


















Ingredients:

1. Crabs - 5 (I used blue crabs)
2. Crawfish - 2 lbs
3. shallots - 1/2 cup chopped
4. Ginger - 1/2 inch piece cut into big pieces
5. Garlic - 8 cloves chopped fine
6. Chilly powder - 1 tsp
7. Corriander powder - 1 tsp
8. turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Cocum/Kudam puli - 3 pieces soaked in water OR you can use tamarind instead if you dont have cocum.
10. Curry leaves - 1 spring
11. Salt - to taste
12. Oil - 4 tbsp.

Preparing the crawfish:
Wash the live crawfish well under running water and keep aside.
Add 2 cups of water in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
Add the crawfish into the water and boil for 5 minutes
Drain the water and let the crawfish cook.
Twist the head off and remove the peel like you would do for shrimp.
Remove the vein that runs alond the back and keep the meat aside.
 

Method:
Clean and cut the crab into 2 pieces.
Into a frying pan and add in the shallots, ginger,garlic, corriander powder, chilly powder, turmeric powder, cocum water, salt to taste and 1/2 cup of water.
Cover and cook until the water is evaporated and crab is cooked( around 10 minutes).
Add in the cooked crawfish meat and stir .
Heat oil in a nonstick pan and add in the curry leaves and stirfry .
Add in the cooked crab crawfish mixture and stirfry until slightly dry and browned.

NOTE: If you are using only crawfish you can cook it as follows.
Heat oil in a fryiong pan and add the shallots ginger and garlic and saute until it starts to turn light brown.
Add in the corriander,chilly and turmeric powder and stir for 2 minutes.
Add in 1 chopped tomato instead of the cocum and stirfry until the tomaro is cooked.
Add in curry leaves and the crawfish meat and fry until dry and slightly browned.

Shrimp with Raw Mango in a spicy coconut milk sauce

Ingredients:

1. Shrimp - 2 lb (around 2 cups cleaned and deveined)
2. Vinegar - 1/2 tbsp
3. Chilly powder - 1 tsp
4. salt - to taste
5. Raw Mango - 1 medium sized peeled and cut into shrimp sized cubes
6. Onion - 1 chopped
7. Green chillies - 7 slit
8. Garlic - 3 cloves chopped
9. Ginger - 1 inch piece chopped
10. Curry leaves - 2 stalks
11. Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
12. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
13. Thick Coconut Milk - 2 cups
14. Oil - 4 tbsp 
15. for tadka - 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 2 shallots sliced and 2 springs curry leaves

Method:
Marinate the shrimp in a mixture of chilly powder, vinegar and salt to taste and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a nonstick pan and fry the shrimp for 5 minutes until it is just cooked, if you overcook shrimp it turns out to be hard and rubbery.
Remove the shrimp and keep it aside .
To  the same pan (and leftover oil ) add in the chopped onion,ginger , garlic and green chillies and saute for 5 minutes.
Add in coriander powder and turmeric powder and stir until raw smell is gone.
Add in the mango pieces and 1/2 cup water and cover and cook until mango pieces are cooked (about 10 minutes).
Stir in the cooked shrimp and add the coconut milk and mix well.
Warm the curry and turn off the flame.
Heat oil for tadka - splutter mustard seeds and add in the shallots and curry leaves and  fry until golden brown , pour it over the curry and mix well.
Serve with rice or chapatti.

Kovakka Unakka Chemeen Thoran

Ingredients:

1. Tindoora/Kovakka/Ivy Gourd - 1.5 lbs cut into medium sized pieces
2. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
3. Shallots - 5 sliced
4. Green chillies - 5
5. Garlic - 2 cloves
6. Toasted Whole Dry shrimp - 5 tbsp
7. Tomato - 1 chopped
8. Curry leaves - 2 springs
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
11. Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Grind the coconut,green chillies,garlic and turmeric powder to a coarse paste ( 3 or 4 pulses in the food processor).
Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.
When it splutters add the shrimp,shallots,tindoora and chopped tomatoes and salt to taste and stir fry for few minutes.
Sprinkle a bit of water and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Add in the coconut mixture and curry leaves and mix well.
Cover and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until the tindoora is cooked well.

Chemeen /Shrimp Peera

Ingredients:

1. Shrimp (smaller ones are better than Jumbo sized shrimp) - 2 cups peeled and de veined
2. Shallots - 3 sliced
3. Green chillies - 5 slit
4. Grated coconut - 1 cup
5. Curry leaves - 1/2 tsp
6. Cocum/Kudampuli - 2 or 3 pieces soaked in 1/2 cup water (to taste)
7. Ginger - 1/2 inch piece crushed
8. Garlic - 5 cloves crushed
9. salt - to taste

Method:

Add all of the ingredients into a pan (For best taste use a manchatty) and additional 1/4 cup of water.Cover and cook for 15 minutes .

Check for salt , spice and sourness and adjust as necessary .

Cook covered on a low flame for additional 10 minutes.

When it is done there should be very little gravy .

Serve with rice.

Sambal Shrimp

Ingredients:

1. Shrimp - 2 lbs cleaned and deveined with tail left on.
2. Sambal Olek(Thai chilly garlic sauce) - 2 tsp
3. fish sauce - 2 tsp
4. Soy sauce - 1 tsp
5. Sugar - 1/2 tsp
6. Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:
Marinate the shrimp in a mixture of sambal olek, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
Heat Oil in a frying pan until it is very hot .
Shallow fry the shrimp on high heat turning once for a total of 5 minutes .
Serve hot.

Tamarind shrimp

Ingredients:

1. Shrimp - 25 (medium large size cleaned and deveined leave the tail on)
2. Tamarind pulp - 1 tbsp (not the concentrate , if using concentrate use 1/4'th of a tsp)
3. Sugar - 1/4 tsp
4. Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
5. crushed red pepper flakes - 1 tsp
6. Garlic - 2 cloves crushed fine
7. Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:
Add the tamarind pulp, soy sauce,crushed pepper, garlic and sugar into the prawns and mix well .Let it Marinate for 15 minutes.

Heat up a non stick frying pan and add the oil.
When the oil is hot add the shrimp into the pan fry until cooked and slightly burnt.

Kovakka/Tindoora/Ivy Gourd Thoran

This is something that started out as a regular thoran but turned out to be a bit different since I had to use up a lonely tomato in my refrigerator that was threatening to go bad on me and then there were 2 spoon fulls of Dry shrimp fry which no one seemed to want to finish.So those got added to the regular thoran and it turned out to be exceptionally good.

Ingredients:

1. Tindoora/Kovakka/Ivy Gourd - 1.5 lbs cut into medium sized pieces
2. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
3. Shallots - 5 sliced
4. Green chillies - 5
5. Garlic - 2 cloves
6. Toasted Whole Dry shrimp - 2 tbsp (Optional)
7. Tomato - 1 chopped (optional)
8. Curry leaves - 2 springs
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
11. Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Grind the coconut,green chillies,garlic and turmeric powder to a coarse paste ( 3 or 4 pulses in the food processor).
Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.
When it splutters add the shallots,tindoora and chopped tomatoes and salt to taste and stir fry for few minutes.
Sprinkle a bit of water and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Add in the coconut mixture , curry leaves and dry shrimp and mix well.
Cover and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until the tindoora is cooked well.