Prawns with karyapak

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I have made this for many years – now I wonder if it sort of a prawns 65 sort of dish. I like it quite dry – well – antantu as they say (antu antu) which means a sort of not quite dry, not quite wet, dish, with quite a lot of fresh chilli. Its basic taste is a combination of methi seeds and karyapak. There is something about that combination which is heavenly.

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½ kg large prawns (ideally the grey ones, but I often do it with the already cooked ones)

1 teaspoon methi seeds

1 teaspoon shahjeera

A two inch cinnamon stick

About 6 cardamoms and four cloves bashed up

Handful of kothmir and pudina chopped

1 can tomatoes

Handful of karyapak

Salt

2 tablespoons of sunflower oil

1 medium onion sliced fine

2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste.

 

In a kadai, add the oil, then the methi seeds and let them turn brown. Then put in the shahjeera, the cinnamon and cardomoms and cloves, let them sizzle. Now add a good amount of karyapak. Let it fry. Add the green chillies, then the onions, let the whole thing fry to a medium brown (or if you want it left wet, with gravy, let it cook on lower heat and simply get translucent). Then add the ginger garlic past, some turmeric, salt, then the prawns. Stir it around and let it fry for a couple of minutes, then add the finely chopped tomatoes. Let it cook for max another ten minutes. If you want it dry, don’t put the lid, and have the heat high while you cook it now. If you want it wet, put the lid on after the tomatoes and let it all blend in.