I have a cousin who lives in Perth, Australia and many years ago she gave me a little lesson on cooking prawn curry and I’ve never looked back. This recipe has been updated with new photos and of course I had made a few errors on my recipe card which I corrected. If you watched me on Come Dine with SA this was the infamous Prawn Curry. It’s funny I actually am not crazy about prawns myself. But it’s not that I don’t eat it, if it’s served to me or cooked I will eat it. Don’t know why I thought I should cook a prawn curry for the show. It didn’t go down very well and I decided to kill myself cooking a whole feast for mains. Let’s just say it was one huge disappointment. This Spicy Prawn Curry Recipe is what I used and let’s just say it will always bring back memories, not so pleasant ones…haha! The only thing I did differently was adding some cream. I know that not many people can handle a lot of spice so I actually added the cream to tone down the heat. Well clearly, even that didn’t work. If you do try the recipe I would love to hear your thoughts. My boys think it’s absolutely delicious and they enjoy this dish. But maybe it’s not the same for everyone else.
Spicy Prawn Curry
My cousin who gave me some tips to cook this curry is an amazing cook and I’ve learnt a few kitchen tips and tricks from her. Everytime I cook this dish I get loads of compliments and if it is my hubby’s favourite then that says a lot. He is one of my biggest critics, you would swear he was a gourmet chef in his past life.
Easy to Cook
My Spicy Prawn Curry is an easy curry to cook and actually doesn’t require as many spices as most other curries. This dish proves that simple can also be delicious. I have yet to taste a more delicious prawn curry. This dish is cooked in one-pot and it’s the flavour from frying the prawns that adds to the yumminess of this curry. I have made it for guests a few times and they absolutely loved it.
The Prawns
It goes really well with rice or roti and a definite crowd pleaser. Next time you throwing a party and you want to wow your guests this is the dish to make. The trick to making a great Spicy Prawn Curry is not to overcook your prawns, you have to flash fry it. Just a couple of minutes on each side or you will end up with prawns that feels like rubber. I also learnt from my cousin that you have to squeeze every drop of excess water from the prawns before cooking them. This also helps in keeping them soft and tender. It works for me. I also wash my prawns with some coarse salt before marinating them to get all the grimy bits off, a little extra care can do no harm.
Fresh Ingredients
Growing up my mum only ever used fresh ingredients in all her cooking. I don’t ever remember seeing any canned tomatoes in our home. When making any Indian dish or curry I always used fresh tomatoes. However, since moving to Johannesburg we sometimes cannot find Roma tomatoes in the supermarkets. I then have to settle for canned tomatoes. Although I love cooking with fresh ingredients it may not always be possible. If you have a family that loves to eat you have to make a plan, canned tomatoes or not. However, I do believe that fresh tomatoes is the way to go for this Spicy Prawn Curry, if you can get some then I suggest you use them. Although in South African our curries do not use a lot of cream. You can also add some coconut cream to this curry, if you wish. This curry is however, delicious without it.
Hope you enjoy this Spicy Prawn Curry as much as we do. More Local Favourites to try: Fish Biryani Durban Lamb Curry Spicy Durban Chicken Curry If you loved this, please share!
