Chemmeen cutlets – Prawn / Shrimp cutlets

Two days back, I called my sister to greet her wedding anniversary. I asked her what special food she made. She gave me a long list – prawns cutlet, mutton stew, palappam…
‘Oh… you made prawn cutlets!’ my mouth just watered. She expressed her concern that I did not put its recipe in blog. I said, ‘Hmm…usually they go into my stomach before a photo shoot…that’s the main reason…’

Any family have their own unique menu for a special occasion. For us a special feast won’t be complete without a cutlet served with tomato sauce and sallas (Kerala onion salad)! With a crisp crusty outside and a spicy soft inside it is a temptation for non-stop munching!

Beef was our usual ingredient for cutlets. Somehow dad disliked beef and stopped eating. Thereafter mom started making prawn cutlets to include him also, and it became a great hit in our family. The easy availability of prawns in our place boosted the trend.

When my sister said she is making prawn cutlets I couldn’t resist my craving. So I told my husband why we don’t celebrate Australia day (Jan 26th) with prawn cutlets! He had no hesitation as if we were both waiting for a reason!

Ingredients

1. Prawns (Chemmeen) – 500gm
2. Onion (finely chopped) – 2 nos
3. Carrot (grated) – 1 no
4. Potato (cooked and mashed) – 1 big
5. Green chillies (finely chopped) – 2 nos
6. Ginger paste – 1 tsp
7. Black pepper powder – 1 tbsp
8. Garam masala – 1 tbsp
9. Salt – As required
10. Egg – 1 no
11. Bread crumbs – As required
12. Oil – for deep frying

Method

1. Remove the shell of prawn and wash well.
   
2. Cook it by adding salt and ¼ cup water.
3. Drain any excess water and mince it.
4. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry onion, green chillies and ginger.
5. Add the prawns, grated carrot, pepper and garam masala and mix well.
6. Saute occasionally and fry till the mixture is dry and flaky.
7. When it cools add mashed potatoes and mix with out lumps
8. Make small lemon shaped balls with the mixture.
9. Take each ball in a palm and press with other to make an oval shape.
10. Dip them first in beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs.
11. Deep-fry in very hot oil, till they turn dark brown in colour.
12. Serve hot with tomato sauce and salad.

Cheera chemmeen thoran - Spinach stir fry with a hint of prawn

Another delicacy from Cochin, where people like to induce the flavor of meat or seafood into veggies!

The natural sweetness of prawn really blends with the spinach so it’s a great way to uplift the taste of a regular thoran!

Ingredients

1. Spinach (finely chopped) – 2 bunch
2. Prawns– 250 gm
3. Freshly grated coconut – 1 ½ cup
4. Garlic (crushed) – 3 pods
5. Button onion/ shallot (crushed) – 2 pods
6. Chilly powder – 1 tsp
7. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
8. Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
9. Curry leaves – a few
10. Salt – as required
11. Oil – 2 tsp

Method

1. Remove the shell of prawn and roughly chop them.
2. Coarse grind grated coconut, garlic, shallot, turmeric powder and chilly powder.
3. Heat oil in a fry pan and splutter mustard seeds.
4. Add chopped prawns and sauté for a few seconds.
5. Add the ground mixture, curry leaves, salt and spinach and mix well.
6. Cook in medium heat till spinach is done and curry is dry.

Kappa kuzhachathu – Mashed cassava

Buying meat on Sundays is our custom like any other Christian homes in Kerala. But occasionally my father would break this routine and buy a one large king fish or Carp.

On such Sundays a dish made of mashed cassava (kappa) with grated coconut, laced with green chilly and garlic would replace rice for lunch. Dipping mashed cassava in the hot red gravy of fish curry and flaking meat from fish bone and munching it…oh that’s really heaven!

Mashed cassava & fish curry … they are made for each other! A very satisfying meal indeed. May be u already familiar with this pair; If not try it…just for a change!

Ingredients

1. Cassava (cut into small cubes) – 1kg
2. Grated coconut – 1 cup
3. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
4. Button onion/ shallots (crushed) – 3 nos
5. Green chilly - 2 nos
   
6. Garlic pods (crushed) – 3 nos
7. Curry leaves – a few
8. Salt – as required

Method

1. Mix cassava and salt and add enough water to immerse them.
2. Cook till cassava is tender and drain excess water.
3. Coarse grind coconuts with green chilly, garlic, shallots, curry leaves and ½ cup water.
4. Mix it well with cooked cassava and mash it roughly.
5. Heat the mixture on medium flame till vapors start to come.

Ever loving chemmeen ularthiyathu – Prawn stir fry

Back home in Kerala prawn fry is a must have dish in my mom’s menu for any guests. If she got information about any guest visit, she would desperately wait for the arayathi (woman who sells fish) and would buy at least two kilos of prawn. With that she would always make prawn stir-fry. If the visitors praise her regarding the tastes of her prawn curry she would definitely pack the rest of the curry for them.

Last week some of our family friends gathered together to discuss about Onam celebrations. So I made some prawn fry and it was a great hit there! Everybody asked me about the recipe and I got so thrilled!

Ingredients

1. Prawns (cleaned) - ½ kg
2. Coconut (¼ " squares) - ¼ cup
3. Gamboges (socked in water) - 4 nos
4. Button onions/ shallots (crushed) – 3 nos
5. Ginger (thinly sliced) – 1” long piece
6. Chilli powder - 1tsp
7. Pepper powder - ½ tsp
8. Coriander powder – 2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
10. Salt - a required
11. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
12. Curry leaves – a few

Method

1. Mix prawns along with gamboges, ginger, coconut squares and half the amount of chilly and turmeric powders and salt.
2. Add ½ cup water and cook them till done.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add crushed button onion, curry leaves and rest of the powders.
4. Stir continuously till onion and powders are well fried and oil starts to separate from the mixture.
5. Add the cooked prawns and mix well.
6. When all the water is evaporated and curry became dry remove from fire.

Meen vattichathu - Kerala red fish curry

Fish cooked in chilly sauce along with gamboges is a Kerala delicacy. It is an inevitable dish for lunch in most Kerala homes.
The pungent smell of gamboges that strike the nose, when opening the lid of the curry pot will appetite even a full loaded stomach!

Ingredients

1. Fish pieces – ½ kg
2. Gamboges (soaked in water) – 4 nos
3. Button onions (sliced) - 3 pods
4. Garlic cloves (crushed) - 5 pods
5. Ginger (sliced) – 1” long piece
6. Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2 tbsp
7. Coriander powder – 1 tsp
8. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
9. Oil - 3 tbsp
10. Curry leaves - a few
11. Water - 2 cup
12. Salt - to taste

Method

1. Make a fine paste of all the spice powders by adding some water.
2. Heat oil in a pot and add onion, garlic, ginger and curry leaves.
3. Fry them till onion is brown in color.
4. Add the spice paste, and fry until the raw smell goes.
5. Add the soaked gamboges, 2 cups water and salt to taste.
6. When it boils add the fish pieces and cover the pot with a lid.
7. Cook in low flame till the curry is in medium thick consistency and fish is done.

Chemmen peechinga ularthu – Sinqua and prawn fry

Mixing meet or prawn with vegetable is the Cochin way of cooking. Cooking vegetables in the juice of meet will enhance its flavor. Peechinga (sinqua) is a common juicy vegetable available in Kerala. And prawns are available in Cochin all year long. So cooking both combined is a cleaver way to get the taste of both with the effort of making one!


Ingredients

1. Peechinga (cut into small cubes) – 2 nos
2. Prawns (peeled and chopped) – 150 gm
3. Garlic (crushed) – 2 pods
4. Button onion (crushed) – 3 pods
5. Chilly powder – 1 tsp
6. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
7. Curry leaves – a few
8. Salt – as required
9. Oil – 2 tbsp

Method

1. Combine peechinga, prawn and salt in a pot.
2. Cook in medium high till water comes out of peechinga.
3. Cover the pot with a lid and cook in low flame till done.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add crushed garlic, button onion and curry leaves.
5. Add chilly and turmeric powder and mix well.
6. Stir continuously and fry in high flame till all are well fried and oil starts to separate.
7. Add cooked prawn and peechinda and mix well.
8. Remove from flame and serve hot with rice.

Meen manga mulaku curry - Fish and mango in a thin chilly sauce

Ingredients

1. Fish pieces– ½ kg
2. Raw mango (cut into small pieces)– 1 no
3. Shallots (sliced) – 5 pods
4. Ginger (thinly sliced) – 1” piece
5. Green chillies (edge silted) – 2 nos
6. Kashmiri chilly powder – 1 tbsp
7. Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
8. Water – 2 cups
9. Salt – to taste
10. Coconut oil – 2 tbsp
11. Curry leaves – a few

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan and add shallots, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves.
2. Saute till they turn light brown.
3. Add a little water to the spice powders to form a paste.
4. Now add this paste to the pan and saute till the raw smell goes.
5. Add water and salt to taste. Mix well and keep it covered till it boils.
6. Open the lid and add the fish pieces and mangoes.
7. Keep covered and cook on a medium flame.
8. Remove from flame when oil starts to float on the top of the curry.
9. The curry tastes better after it sit for one day.
10. Serve with rice.

Meen thakkali palu curry - Fish and tomato in coconut sauce - An authentic Cochin recipe

Ingredients

1. Fish - ½ kg
2. Tomato (thinly sliced) – 2 nos
3. Onion (thinly sliced) – 1 no
4. Green chillies (half slit) – 3 nos
5. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
6. Coriander powder – 1 tsp
7. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
8. Ginger (thinly sliced) – 1” long piece
9. Vinegar - 3 tbsp
10. Thin coconut milk - 3 cup
11. Thick coconut milk - ½ cup
12. Salt - to taste
13. Coconut oil – 3 tbsp
14. Curry leaves - a few

Method

1. Clean and cut fish into small pieces.
2. In a cooking pot (preferably earthen pot) heat oil.
3. Fry onion, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves.
4. When onion changes color to light brown add chilly, coriander and turmeric powders.
5. Fry till oil starts to separate form the mixture.
6. Pour the thin coconut milk and salt and bring to boil.
7. Add fish, tomato and vinegar.
8. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer in low flame for 30 minutes.
9. Add the thick coconut milk and cook for 2 more minutes.
10. Remove from flame and serve with rice.

Fish Molee

Ingredients

1. Fish – 1 kg
2. Tomato (thinly sliced) – 3 nos
3. Button onion (sliced) - 1 cup
4. Green chilli (slit the edge) - 5 no
5. Cardamom (partially crushed)– 5 nos
6. Ginger (crushed)- 1 inch
7. Garlic (crushed) - 5 cloves
8. Vinegar - 2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
10. Thin coconut milk - 1 cup
11. Thick coconut milk - 1 cup
12. Salt - As required
13. Curry leaves - a few
14. Raisins – a few
15. Cashew nuts – a few
16. Coconut oil - as required

Method

1. Marinate fish with salt and turmeric powder.
2. Heat coconut oil in a pan and shallow fry fish and keep aside.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of coconut oil in a pan.
4. Fry sliced button onions, green chillies, cardamom, ginger, crushed garlic.
5. Add the thin coconut milk and salt.
6. When it begins to boil add the fish.
7. Cook in medium flame till the coconut milk is half in quantity.
8. Lower the flame and add thick coconut milk and tomatoes.
9. Cook till tomatoes are just cooked.
10. Sprinkle vinegar on top and swirl the pan gently.
11. Heat oil in another pan and fry raisins, cashew nuts and curry leafs.
12. Add this to the curry and serve hot with bread or palappam.