Prawns cooked down in a fierce red paste of soaked chillies, tamarind and a lot of ghee until the masala clings and turns almost sticky. Ready in half an hour.
Prep
20 mins
Cook
20 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£3.13
Difficulty
medium
Ghee roast is not a curry, it is a coating. The paste reduces until the fat splits back out and the prawns are lacquered rather than swimming. Kashmiri chillies do the colouring, a couple of hotter ones do the work, and the tamarind stops the whole thing tasting only of butter.
Toss the prawns with the yoghurt, turmeric and half the salt and leave in the fridge for 15 minutes while you build the paste.
The yoghurt is a short marinade only. Leave prawns in it for hours and they go woolly.
Cover both kinds of dried chilli with just-boiled water and leave to soften for 15 minutes. Meanwhile toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns and fenugreek seeds in a dry pan for a minute until aromatic.
Fenugreek turns bitter fast. A quarter teaspoon and a short toast is all it needs.
Drain the chillies, keeping 4 tbsp of the soaking water. Blend them with the toasted spices, the garlic, tamarind paste and that reserved water to a thick, smooth, brick-red paste.
Melt 3 tbsp of the ghee in a wide pan over a medium heat. Add the paste and fry it, stirring almost constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes. It will darken, thicken and eventually the ghee will bead out at the edges.
This is the step that cannot be rushed. Undercooked chilli paste tastes raw and dusty.
Stir in the jaggery and the remaining salt, then add a splash of water if the paste is catching.
Raise the heat, add the prawns with their marinade and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, turning them through the paste, until they are just opaque and curled and the masala clings to them in a thick coat.
In a small pan heat the remaining 2 tbsp ghee until shimmering, drop in the curry leaves and let them crackle for 15 seconds, then pour the lot over the prawns. Serve immediately with rice or as a starter on its own.
Pouring the hot leaf ghee over at the end perfumes the dish far more than stirring them in earlier.