Prawn Indad
Christmas vibes in the air, and a Mangalorean dish that will sync well with any Christmas menu around the world, is the Indad. Sweet, sour and spice in perfect sync in each other, makes this a rich and versatile dish. I have already presented my way of making the Pork Indad – the original Indad preparation. There is a chicken variation too (coming soon!). The Prawn Indad is my attempt at a seafood variant of the Indad. Paired the masala with succulent tiger prawns and the prawn head stock to enhance the flavour profile of the dish
Prawn Indad – Process
In brief, the process of making this Indad is a bit different from the Pork Indad. While in the latter, pork is initially fried well and added to the masala and cooked till done, the former is prepared by cooking the masala well along with the prawn head stock and the prawns are added towards the end. Prawns do not need a lot of time to cook and hence this change in the process.
Begin by marinating the prawns with salt and turmeric. Extract the stock from the prawn heads and keep it ready. Dry roast the red chillies, peppercorns, cumin seeds, cinnamon, garlic cloves, poppy seeds, mustard seeds, and raw rice on low flame till you get a nice aroma and the rice is browned a bit. Take it out on a plate and let it cool. Follow this by roasting some onions to till translucent and allow them to cool. Once cooled, grind the roasted ingredients along with tamarind, and raisins to a smooth paste, using vinegar and prawn head stock (or water). Retain the masala water from the mixer.
In a pan, take some oil, and fry the masala until the raw smell vanishes and the masala thickens and darkens a bit. Grind a beetroot slice (if using) with the masala water and add to the pan. Add the marinated prawns to the pan and gently mix until the prawns are well coated with the masala. Add a little water if needed and cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add mint leaves and brown sugar and mix well and continue to cover and cook for about 3 minutes until the water is absorbed, and the gravy has thickened. Check the taste and adjust the salt, vinegar and sugar if needed. Serve hot! Do give this recipe a try and let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!
Prawn Indad
Ingredients
- ½ kg Tiger Prawns shelled, de-veined and cleaned
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- Vegetable oil / Ghee as required, for frying
For the Masala:
- 6 Dry red chillies, Long I used Kumti
- 5 Black peppercorns
- ½ tsp Cumin seeds
- 2 inch Cinnamon
- 5 Garlic Cloves
- ¼ tsp Poppy seeds
- ¼ tsp Mustard seeds
- ½ tbsp Raw rice
- 1 Onion, Large roughly chopped
- ½ tbsp Vinegar
- Tamarind marble ball sized
- 1 tbsp Raisins see notes
- ½ cup Prawn head stock (optional) (see notes)
- 1 tbsp Mint leaves finely chopped
- 1½ tbsp Brown sugar
- Beetroot 1 thick slice skin peeled off (see notes)
Instructions
Marinating the Prawns:
- Apply salt and turmeric to the prawns and marinate for about 15-30 minutes
Preparing the Masala:
- Dry roast the red chillies, peppercorns, cumin seeds, cinnamon, garlic cloves, poppy seeds, mustard seeds, and raw rice on low flame till you get a nice aroma and the rice is browned a bit. Take it out on a plate and let it cool.
- Next, roast the onions till translucent and allow to cool
- Once cooled, grind the roasted ingredients along with the tamarind, and raisins to a smooth paste, using the vinegar and prawn head stock (or water). Retain the masala water from the mixer
Preparing the Indad:
- In a pan, take some oil, and fry the masala until the raw smell vanishes and the masala thickens and darkens a bit.
- Grind the beetroot slice (see notes) with the masala water and add to the pan.
- Add the prawns to the pan and gently mix until the prawns are well coated with the masala. Add a little water if needed and cover and cook for about 5 minutes
- Add the mint leaves and brown sugar and mix well and continue to cover and cook for about 3 minutes until the water is absorbed, and the gravy has thickened.
- Check the taste and adjust the salt, vinegar and sugar if needed. Serve hot!
Notes
- You can substitute the raisins with 2 to 3 dates
- The proportions of the ingredients are based on my taste preference. Feel free to experiment with the proportions to suit your taste buds. Remember this dish needs to be a perfect blend of spice, sour and sweet, without any of these tastes overpowering the other
- Do not go overboard with the use of water in this dish. The gravy needs to be thick.
The beetroot slice is added to achieve the deep red banquet worthy colour and a earthy sweetness to the dish. You can however skip adding the beetroot - You can find the recipe for Prawn Head stock here
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