Malaysian Prawn Curry

A Malaysian style prawn and potato curry

• CuisineMalaysian
• CategorySeafood
• CourseMains

Ingredients

• 500 gmsPrawns, shelled
• 300 gmsKipfler potatoes
• 4 tbspMeat curry powder
• 2Star Anise
• 10Curry leaves
• 4Kaffir lime leaves
• 400 mlCoconut milk
•  
• Curry Paste
• 400 gmsShallots, diced
• 20Dried chillies
• 6Red chillies
• 50 gmsGarlic
• 50 gmsGinger
• 30 gmsFresh turmeric
• 30 gmsGalangal
• 1Lemon grass stalk
• 4Candlenuts
• 1 tbspShrimp paste, toasted
• 1 tbspTamarind concentrate
• 1 tbspPalm sugar

Preparation

1. Grind curry paste ingredients
2. Peel potatoes and cut into thick slices
3. Heat oil and add star anise and curry leaves
4. Add curry paste and keep frying till the oil separates
5. Add coconut milk, curry powder, potatoes and enough water and bring to boil
6. Simmer till potatoes are almost done
7. Add prawns, sliced kaffir lime leaves, salt and cook till prawns are cooked

A very common type of ingredient in most Asian curries is something to thicken a curry. In South India, it is grated coconut that is then ground fine. Some Indian curries may use ground cashewnuts. Both ingredients can be surprisingly thickening - you need much less than you think you do.

For Malaysian curries, the thickening agent is often candlenuts. The seed contains enough oil in it to make candles - hence the name. I have made Malaysian curries before but never used candlenuts. I thought I would give it a try and got a packet of them from the Asian grocery. They were in a vacuum packed plastic bag, designed to keep them fresh.

I thought I would use 10 of them and pop the rest in the freezer. I then ran into the same mistake I make with other thickeners like coconut and cashew. I severely underestimated their thickening capacity.

When the gravy was being made, I could see it was way too thick. There was no alternative but to add a little more water. And a little more. And a little more. Pretty soon, I had three times the gravy I needed. The prawns and potatoes were totally lost in the gravy. The only option was to ladle out most of the gravy to be set aside for another day. It wasn't wasted - a few days later it got made into a chicken curry. It was pretty much the same recipe as before with no potatoes and the chicken being substituted for the prawns. I have amended the recipe above to use 4 instead of the original 10 candlenuts.