Dear Roland, I normally make my prawn curry with okra (ladies fingers). You can also make it with brinjal (aubergine). Okra, about one packet. Wash and cut your okra into three quarter inch pieces and put in a pan, mix with very little salt and keep aside to cook later. (if using aubergine, depending on size, half will suffice). If using fresh prawns, clean and cut and mix with very little salt and put aside. If using frozen prawns put a little luke warm water over them to defrost slightly and omit the salt. Next fry up (with a little olive oil) very finely chopped onions (1 medium sized onion), next put in three cloves of garlic and about an inch of ginger (all finely chopped). Next ingredient will be very finely chopped up tomato (one medium sized one). You can then put in a little tomato puree if you wish. Next I put in fresh shredded coconut (the best), or creamed coconut or dessicated coconut. The amount should be what you like but I normally put in about a table spoon. In Goa they put in a lot more but I tend to watch our coconut intake in our house. Next you put in, if you have Goana spices, either use the one for prawn caldeen or prawn curry about two teaspoons. You also need to add a quarter teaspoon of black pepper and half level teaspoon of turmeric . Then add tamarind, either soak tamarind in hot water, strain the water and add or put in tamarind paste a level teaspoon and dried mango slices. I usually add a slash of Goan vinegar or malt vinegar, about one tablespoon. You can also add a green chilli if you wish if you require the curry to be hot. Cook your mixture for about ten or fifteen minutes with water about three quarters cup on low heat. Check the water levels, you do not want your curry with too much liquid. Then add okra (and more water if needed) and cook for about ten to fifteen minutes, with the lid of the pan on. Finally add in the prawns and cook for about ten minutes. If you really want it the Goan way, apart from the okra, mango slices and green chillis, sling all the ingredients into a liquidiser and liquidise it then cook the curry for ten minutes adding the mango slices, green chillis. Add the okra and lastly the prawns as given above. Remember prawns do not take very long to cook so should be added last. I normally add a bit of fresh coriander at the end but this is optional. Make sure you use your salt sparingly or wash it off the prawns and okra, as you will be using tamarind and vinegar. You can always add salt to a dish later if needed. I find this curry normally tastes better the following day. Hope I have not left any ingredients out (goanet readers please advise) and you are able to cook and enjoy the dish.
The secret is to get the curry base to the right taste and texture (that suits your taste I mean) and then put in your main ingredients (okra or aubergine, later on prawns) and cook on low heat, keeping an eye on the liquid. Best regards. Rose Fernandes Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom 18 July 2014
