Sun blushed tomato, Spring Onion and Lime leaf Prawn Curry

I always loved taking traditional recipes and play around a bit to give it my 'touch' and this is one of the Curries i came up with recently where i used some Sun blushed or Sun dried tomatoes and Kaffir Lime leaves to enhance the flavors of the curry. Generally, we  use something citrus like lime or lemon when it comes to Sea food but i preferred  Lime leaves in this one because the  Sun -dried tomatoes provide the needed sourness and sweetness to this curry and Lime leaf will just make it taste more fresh and limey without adding any sourness to the dish. If you can't get hold of Kaffir Lime leaves then use any lime leaves that you can get your hands on.

Not a big fan of Sea food ? Chicken would taste equally good. Vegetarian? Throw in any veggies you like , they are all good. Now, Sun -dried tomatoes should be available in all major super markets and if they are not then make your own. Choose ripe and juicy tomatoes, cut them in half and rub them with some oil, coriander and chopped garlic. If you are in a country where Sun in abundant , leave the tomatoes out  in the sun till they are soft but not crispy. If you are living in a country like The UK where Sun is a luxury , just put them in an oven on very low heat.

Now for the recipe, i used mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds for tempering( fennel goes great with sea food). 

-Get a pan on the medium flame, add some oil (some may prefer mustard oil, go for it by all means).Once the oil is hot, throw a couple of cloves, cinnamon sticks and cardamom in it.

-Throw in your mustard, cumin and fennel seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to crackle, add chopped onion, sliced white part of spring onions and turmeric powder. Keep giving the pan an occasional stir. 

-When you see the onions changing their color into sort of golden brown, add a tea spoonful of coriander powder  and a table spoon of ginger and garlic paste. ( I do not like to over power my curry sauce with lots of spices or spice powders especially when i am cooking seafood as this will ruin all those amazing flavors of fish/prawns)So, i just use Coriander powder.

-Once the ginger-garlic paste has been cooked through and you see the oil leaving the paste, time for the chopped tomatoes to go in. Now, it is very important that you add your tomatoes only after ginger and garlic paste is cooked thoroughly.

-Add the finely sliced green part of your spring onions and 4 lime leaves. Cover and cook for 5 mins.

-Once you see all the tomatoes have sort of melted away into a saucy texture add the seasoning( salt and black pepper) and then your sun dried tomatoes.I used a bit of sweet corn and green beans too to add more color and flavor to the sauce.

-Prawns take 2 minutes to cook , so i am not going to add them to the sauce and let them keep cooking as the longer they cook the rubbery they get.( I have seen in lot of Indian house holds that they cook the prawns to death which leaves them flavorless. I like mine juicy and succulent) 

-So, what i do is take a frying pan , add some oil to it and cook my prawns half way through which might take about 45 seconds on each side depending on freshness and size and then add them to the curry sauce just a minute before finishing.

-Once you are happy with you curry sauce ( you can add some coconut milk if you like your sauce creamier)

add your half cooked prawns. Let them cook for a minute and take the curry of the heat.

Sprinkle loads of fresh coriander and some fine sliced spring onions to finish. I like to give the sauce a bit of crunch so i used some toasted almonds flakes but toasted coconut flakes are even better.  

When you taste the sauce, the most wonderful part is you can get the hint of  fragrant lime but not the sourness of it.The sun-dried tomatoes give a bit of sweetness and sourness to compliment the spice.

As i always say, i just get my idea through and you are free to come up with your variations and versions.

Go for it Amigos and Amigas!!! This is worth it!!!