When its hot . . get hotter!

Just spent another few days on the boat in this glorious sunshine!  Who knew North Wales could continue to be like the South of France! It has been so lovely over the last few weeks realising that you can plan outings etc and know that it will be good weather – even thought my poor garden is suffering from a severe lack of water.  We had a heavy shower the other night and you could almost feel all the leaves and petals open themselves out to the rain!

It is said that if it’s hot, you should drink hot (tea) and eat hot so with this in mind I thought I would give you a curry dish – and because I have been fishing, it should be sea food ( I know you can’t catch prawns off the Welsh coast (John and I tried once, with a net, to fish for them under the rocks and barely got enough for one prawn cocktail!) but I wanted to give you something light for the weather, too.

North Indian-spiced Prawn Curry

• 1 large tomato
• 3 garlic cloves
• 6 grams ginger, peeled
• 3 dessertspoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon panch phoran (find it in the spice shelf at your supermarket – you can use it in all sorts of other recipes to add spice so won’t be wasted)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 green chilli, whole but pierced
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 200g raw prawns
• 1 dessertspoon double cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• some chopped coriander leaves

Blend the tomato, garlic and half of the ginger (grated). Finely slice the remainder ginger into julienne (fine) strips.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the panch phoran and let it sizzle for 10 – 15 seconds.  Add the onion, chilli and ginger julienne and cook until the onions are lightly golden. Add the blended tomato paste, remaining spices and some salt.  Cook for around 15 minutes, stirring often until it thickens.  Add the prawns and enough water to cover them by half.  Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 3 – 4 minutes, until the prawns are cooked.  Stir in the cream, taste and adjust the seasoning, adding the lemon juice if you like. Sprinkle with chopped coriander to serve.