Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: My thirty-minute king prawn jalfrezi

With this curry in a hurry, who needs a takeaway? 

I adore cooking with spices. My mother used to make the most amazing one-pot vegetarian curries in a pressure cooker years ago. She always began by sautéing onion, garlic and ginger and then adding her own freshly roasted and ground spices and frying them for a minute or two before adding whatever other ingredients she was using. I got my love of cooking from her, and my comfort with using spices.

In these days of readymade sauces and spice mixes, it seems that many people may be a little intimidated at the idea of using fresh spices. If that is you, then this week’s recipe is a great introduction to cooking with spice. If you love Indian food but have no idea of where to begin when it comes to buying and cooking with spices, this is the recipe to get you started.

It uses three of the most common spices in Indian cooking, cumin, coriander and turmeric. Keep these in your larder, and you will be amazed at the variety of gorgeous curries you can make. The other vital spice is of course chilli. For this recipe, I am using fresh green chillies, but you could also use chilli flakes if you prefer. Adapt the recipe to suit your own taste when it comes to heat levels. I use three good-sized fresh green chillies here, and I remove the seeds. Adjust the quantity to get your desired heat level, and if you want it very hot, leave the seeds and stalks in.

Great curries always start with a well-flavoured base or gravy. The key to that is three ingredients, onions, garlic and ginger. Always use fresh garlic and ginger. Simply peel the required amount of both, and then pop them in a mini-food processor or coffee/spice grinder and blitz them to a paste. That will only take minutes. I usually grate mine with the fine side of a box grater. Again, it is quick and easy and saves lots of time. Peel and thinly slice your onions before sautéing them over a medium heat in a little rapeseed oil, until then they are lovely and soft and fragrant. Then add your ginger and garlic and cook that for a minute or so before adding your spices. This will always give you a beautiful result. Your kitchen will also smell incredible as the aromas of the onion, ginger and garlic develop and then everything is elevated to another whole level of delight as the spices begin to cook and release their wonderful fragrance and flavour.

Jalfrezi is a lovely fresh curry. It is less heavy than dishes that use coconut milk, butter or cream, and can be made in about thirty minutes. You can make this with any protein, or even as a vegetarian dish, but I adore it with fresh prawns. Use raw king prawns, never pre-cooked, for the best possible flavour.

Serve this dish with some plain boiled rice and fresh naan. You will find my recipe for beautiful Garlic and Coriander Naan on iefood. They are the perfect accompaniment to this lovely curry.

King prawn jalfrezi

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This curry is lighter than those which use coconut milk, butter or cream, and can be made in about thirty minutes

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Indian

Ingredients

• 2 medium onions

• 3 green chillies

• 3cm of fresh ginger

• 3 cloves garlic, diced

• ½ tsp turmeric powder

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 2 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt

• 2 tbsp honey

• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

• 2 bell peppers, one red and one green

• 200g raw king prawns

• 20g fresh coriander

Method

1. Peel and thinly slice the onions. Peel and grate the garlic and ginger. Wash, deseed and finely chop the chillies. Wash the bell peppers, remove the seeds and stalks and slice them into strips, about one centimetre thick is perfect.

2. Heat a saucepan over a medium heat. Add a few tablespoons of rapeseed oil, and when it is good and hot, add the sliced onions. Sauté them until they are soft and a little golden. Now add the ginger and garlic and chilli and cook for a minute or two before adding the turmeric, coriander and cumin seed. If you prefer to use ground cumin instead of seed that is fine, I just like the texture and flavour of the seed in this dish. Fry off the spices for just two minutes, stirring them to ensure they do not begin to stick or burn, and then add the chopped tomatoes and salt. Finally add the runny honey and the peppers. Bring the sauce to a soft boil before reducing the heat to low.

3. Cover the pan and let it simmer away for fifteen minutes. Check the sauce halfway through, and if it looks a little too thick, add some cold water, about 60-80ml should be plenty, but you can add a little more if needs be.

4. Chop the coriander, retaining some of the leaves for garnish, and when the fifteen minutes are up, add the fresh raw prawns and the chopped coriander. Continue to cook over a low heat for another three to five minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. Take care not to overcook the prawns, five minutes maximum is all that is required to give you have sweet, juicy perfectly cooked prawns.

5. And that is it. A thirty-minute delicious curry packed full of flavour and cooked from scratch, as good if not better than anything you will get from your local takeaway.