Prawns in Garlic Butter

If you love Prawns you will love this recipe for its simplicity and great taste.  Serve either as a starter or side-dish.  One thing is sure though,  you will never have enough of this and will end up saying “Gosh, I wish had made more”.   This recipe has been slightly adapted from a book by Sanjeev Kapoor of Khana Khazana fame.

Recipe :  Half Kg. prawns, peeled, washed and deveined,   1 pod of garlic,  4 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon mustard paste,  juice of 1 lemon, 8-10 peppercorns coarsely crushed, salt to taste and a few sprigs of parsley or coriander leaves, chopped fine.

Peel, wash and grind garlic to a paste.  Heat butter in a non-stock pan and fry the garlic paste for about a minute.  Add the prawns, mustard paste, lemon juice, crushed peppercorns and salt.  Simmer uncovered on low heat till prawns are cooked.  Do not overcook as then the prawns will turn chewy.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley/coriander and serve hot.    Squeeze extra lemon just before serving and prick each prawn with a toothpick and serve hot .

Dahi Vada

Dahi Vadas are lentils (urid dal) based savory balls, deep fried and served with yogurt sprinkled with spices.  It is a permanent fixture on the menu of our Toastmaster meetings; and I always keep wondering how the heck did they know its my favourite.  Dahi Vadas have different versions and this is mine, which am sharing with you.  The good thing is that you can serve it in individual bowls and spice it as you please.  Some like it very spicy,  I like to go easy on the chilli-bit and have it spiked with more of roasted cumin powder.  Try it and do not forget to tell us how you like it.

Ingredients : 1 cup urid dal, 3 cups yogurt, 1 tablespoon red chili powder,  1 tablespoon roasted cumin powder (important to dry roast and then grind to a fine powder), 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon chaat masala, 1 teaspoon salt, few cumin seeds whole, 1 teaspoon ginger-cut fine, 1 green chilli cut fine, coriander leaves (cut fine), yellow shev for garnish.

Soak urid dal overnight.  Wash and grind to a paste.  After it is ground, add salt, ginger, green chilli and cumin seeds.  Mix and keep aside for 1 hour.  Take oil in a pan and add balls of paste (soak you hands in water and make the balls) to the hot oil.  Deep fry till golden.  Soak the hot fried balls in warm water and keep aside.  In a bowl whip the yogurt and add salt and sugar to taste.  Gently squeeze the water out from the fried vadas ensuring that the round shape of the vadas is retained.

Arrange a dollop or two of yogurt in 3-4 small serving bowls. Sprinkle with pinches of cumin powder, chilli powder and chaat masala.  Then add 3-4 vadas and soak them completely with more curd till they are fully drenched.  Liberally sprinkle with more chili powder, cumin powder, chaat masala, coriander leaves and shev.  Serve chilled.