Prawn Curry

Travancore prawn coconut curry — fresh backwater prawns (chemmeen) cleaned, deveined, and simmered in a fresh coconut milk curry of fried shallots, dried red chilli, coriander powder, turmeric, green chilli, and curry leaves with a small amount of kudampuli for sourness, finished with thick coconut milk at the end. The coconut milk's natural sweetness balances the sourness of the kudampuli and complements the prawn's natural sweetness; the absence of tomato in the Travancore version keeps the curry's colour an orange-red from the chilli alone. Fresh coconut milk is pressed in two stages — thin first for the body of the curry, thick for the final enrichment. The backwater prawns of Vembanad Lake and the Kuttanad region are considered the finest in Kerala; their flavour is distinctly sweeter than sea prawns.