This delicious, malai curry is so easy to make. The word malai means cream, but this curry gets its creaminess from coconut milk. This is a recipe from Bengal, which is famous for its seafood. Serve it with steamed basmati rice.
Ingredients:
¼ teaspoon cardamom seeds
3 whole cloves
3 (1-inch) pieces cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 whole cloves
4 green cardamom pods
2 (1 1/2-inch) pieces stick cinnamon
1 onion, grated
1 ¼ teaspoons ginger paste
1 ¼ teaspoons garlic paste
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ cup finely chopped tomato
½ cup water
1 cup coconut milk
1 pound tiger prawns, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter) (optional)
Directions:
To prepare fresh garam masala, in a coffee grinder, grind cardamom seeds, 3 whole cloves, and 3 cinnamon sticks to a fine powder. Set aside.
Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 4 whole cloves, 4 cardamom pods, and 2 sticks of cinnamon and fry for a few seconds (take care as cloves tend to pop out of the pan). Stir in grated onion and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook and stir until liquid dries and onion no longer smells raw, about 5 minutes. Add ginger paste and garlic paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Stir in turmeric and cayenne pepper. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are soft, about 5 minutes. Pour in water, cover the pan, and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Pour in coconut milk and stir well. When mixture is just below boiling, stir in prawns. Sprinkle mixture with almost all of the fresh garam masala powder, reserving a pinch to use as a garnish. Gently stir to combine. Do not cover the pan at this stage, as coconut milk will curdle.
As soon as prawns are pink and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes, add ghee. Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle reserved garam masala over the dish and serve.
