South Indians makes ultimate gravies with different variations with different ingredients. Coming to my today's post, this Masala vada kurma is one of my favourite dish which makes me nostalgic. Masala vada is quite a crispy channadal fritters which is prepared with a soaked channadal grounded with a combination of spices which is later fried in oil. And this fritters are often prepared at home for any occasions or for festivals. However leftover vadas are dropped the next day in a masala gravy to serve along with rice for a lunch or with dosas or idlies for a dinner. But my today's post is completely a different one which is prepared with prawns. We Pondicherrians makes vadas with seafoods especially with prawns, its quite our speciality. Obviously i prepared this prawn vada kurma for our lunch few months back for our sunday lunch. My kids love prawn vada hence i prepared this gravy with them.

Chettinad cuisine is one of most popular cuisine of Tamilnadu and this cuisine is somehow very close to my heart. Yes Pondicherrian cuisines have chettinad touch in their cooking style. Obviously some of the Pondicherrian traditional dishes ressembles quite like Chettinad cuisine. Our seafoods curries to vegetable pirattals, i can list out many of Pondicherrian dishes which sounds almost like Chettinad dishes. Am running this week's blogging marathon with Indian Regional dishes, after a lipsmacking Punjabi dhabba style Egg curry, my today's post goes for a delicious sea food thokku aka Prawn thokku. This dish was sitting in my draft post for more than two years and dunno why i kept on postponing to publish this dish in my blog. Late but not least, this week's theme was a prefect one to write this dish and publish. Been a Pondicherrian, seafoods are my weakness. Actually i cant survive more than a week without seafoods. Obviously i cook many different dishes with seafoods, though my space have less seafoods dishes. However am planning to post some seafoods friendly dishes once a while to please some non vegetarian followers of my space..

Writing a guest post or getting back a guest post is quite common in this immense virtual world, but getting a guest post from a close friend is more than that. Actually Menaga of Sashiga is one of my best buddy i got through this blog world, we get connected through our passion for foods and later i came to know that she is also from Pondicherry my native and for my surprise she lives also near Paris,how wonderful na. Then one fine day, i asked her fone number and started talking with her through fone. From that onwards, the bond between us is just growing on day by day. She never failed to call me and as usual we talk for hours, even everyone at home pulls me for our long conversation we have mutually with each other.

Few days back, i asked Menaga to write a guest post for me, she immediately asked me whether i need anything special, i simply replied to send me a dish that suits prefectly to showcase our native Pondicherry. She said ok and send me within a day her inlaws signature dish.

Coming to to Prawn pepper kuzhambu, we make prawn kuzhambu at home often as we are the great fans of sea foods, but Menaga's prawn pepper kuzhambu was completely different from mine. Seriously cant wait to make this fingerlicking kuzhambu at home. Actually this gravy goes for the famous South Indian tempering spice called vadagam, which is prepared yearly once with a variety of spices with onions. This sun dried tempering spices gives a wonderful flavour to any tamarind based gravy makes them more flavourful, obviously we used to carry them from India everytime during our visit to India. If you want to make a new variety of kuzhambu, you should give a try to this delicious Menaga's Prawn pepper kuzhambu.

My family love chinese foods very much dunno whether coz we are living in Chinatown.If someone asks us wats your favourite cuisine my whole family will say chorusly chinese cuisine especially their seafoods,we love it very much. If we have family get together or any potluck party, i'll definitely make chinese dishes mostly chicken fried rice, even my friends will request me to bring some chinese foods than the South Indian foods whenever we plan for a party together. For me,chinese dishes are quite easier to make when compared to our Indian foods,obviously i'll make chinese dishes atleast once a week.

 Coming to this schzewan prawns, i want to make these droolworthy prawns since ever my better half asked me to make some at home. Somehow i kept this dish in my to do list since a long and finally this weekend i tried my hands in making this fantastic dish. It was a big hit at home, i prepared a quick red chilly paste for making this schzewan prawns.Store bought schzewan sauces are quite handy and definitely makes our life easier but somehow homemade sauces are best and very flavourful when compared to the store bought sauces.If you dont like prawns, you can replace prawns very well with any veggies or meats.Sending to Julie's Flavors of Cuisine-Chinese.



15nos King prawns (cleaned)
1no Carrot (sliced)
1no Egg white
3tbsps Tomato ketchup
2tbsos Red chily paste (recipe below)
1no Onion (diced)
3nos Dry red chilies
1tbsp Soya sauce
8nos Garlic cloves (finely chopped)
1tsp Ginger (finely chopped)
1/2tsp White pepper
1tsp Vinegar
Salt
2tbsp Corn flour (for frying)
1tsp Cornflour (gravy)
3tbsp Sesame oil
Oil for frying

Red chilly paste:
Soak 3-4 red chilies in warm water for half an hour and then grind to a fine paste along with 2 cloves of garlic and half a teaspoon of cumin seeds. This paste can be stored very well in fridge.

Make a batter with the egg white, corn flour, white pepper and salt.

Mix the cleaned prawns well to this batter and keep aside for about 15 minutes

Heat oil in a pan and fry the prawns till they are golden brown. This should not take more than 2 minutes.

Take out and drain the excess oil on an absorbent paper.

 Heat the oil, add in the ginger, garlic pieces, dry red chilies, and fry well.

 Next add in the onions,carrot pieces; red chili paste and ketchup,cook well for few minutes.

 Add in the soya sauce and some water,when it comes to a boil, add in the fried prawns and the spring onion greens and salt.

 Make a white sauce with one teaspoon of cornflour and water, add this to the gravy. Adding corn flour turns the gravy thick.

 Add in the vinegar and give a stir.

 Serve hot with the fried rice or noodles.

If you are born and brought up with fresh sea foods, you will definitely miss them if you are not living in your home town,really i miss my home town especially for their super fresh seafoods. Nothing will beat those fresh seafoods, you have to compromise with the frozen ones if you live far away from your country as some of us will do.

We have to mix and match these available frozen seafoods here according to our tastebuds , before a month i prepared this tasty puttu aka hash with frozen tiny prawns for our lunch. I prepared this prawn hash quickly to serve along with a simple sambhar for our lunch, needless this delicious puttu tastes excellent with wonderful flavours and everyone at home simply loved it.Sending to Asiya Omar's Feast of Sacrifice.


3cups Prawns (tiny & frozen)
20nos Shallots or 2 nos Onions (chopped finely)
1inch Ginger (chopped finely)
5nos Garlic (chopped finely)
3nos Green chillies (chopped finely)
1/2tsp Pepper powder
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Fennel seed powder
1/2cup Coconut (grated)
1tsp Cumin seed powder
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt
Oil

Cook the prawns with turmeric powder and water until they turns soft, smash the cooked prawn pieces.

Add the pepper powder, cumin seed powder, fennel seed powder, salt to the cooked mashed prawn pieces.

Heat enough oil and let splutters the mustard seeds and urad dal, add the chopped ginger,chopped green chillies and chopped garlic pieces to the seeds and fry until they turns slight brown.

Add immediately the chopped shallots or onions and cook everything until they turns transculent.

Now add the cooked and spiced prawns and toss everything gently, cook everything in simmer until they turns dry and get well fried..

Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and grated coconut to the puttu, cook for few minutes and put off the stove.

Serve as side dish with rice and gravies...

Bhaji with prawns, thats a quick, easy as well as tasty appetizier,they are really simply addictive and prefect to serve while sudden guests visit your home..With simple ingredients, this prawn bhajis will be ready within few minutes.Kids will love them for the sure and definitely a real feast for sea food lovers like me.

Since two days, its raining like anything and obviously we love to have deep fried beauties, immediately i opened my freezer and thawed few prawns and prepared this super crispy prawn bhajis.Enjoyed having this crispy fritters for our yesterday's evening snacks with some coffee.Sending this crispy prawn fritters to Usha's Seafood Feast.


25nos Prawns (cleaned and washed with tails intact)
1/2cup Gram flour
1/4cup Corn flour
1/4cup Rice flour
1/2tsp Ginger garlic paste
1/2tsp Fennel seed powder
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/4tsp Baking powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Salt
Oil

Mix the gram flour, corn flour, rice flour, ginger garlic paste,fennel seed powder, red chilly powder, baking powder,turmeric powder, salt, gradually add water and turn as thick batter.

Heat the oil for deep frying, dip the cleaned prawns to the prepared batter and deep fry them until they turns golden brown..

Fry them in batches and serve simply with tomato ketchup.

We usually have seafoods twice a week, most of our dishes goes for fish fry coz everyone at home just love it. After fish, we love prawns, i never forget to buy them whenever i go to Indian groceries,coz the prawns we get in chinese stores doesnt taste great as we get from Indian groceries. Earlier when i came to Paris, i was awestuck to see the varieties of frozen prawns we get here, but somehow nothing will be like the fresh prawns we get in Pondicherry. Wat to do, we have to manage everything and my tastebuds started accepting those frozen prawns.

Coming to this sweet and sour prawns, i prepared this delicious prawns for our last sunday's lunch. I simply served it with a bowl of ghee rice, both together tastes fabulous. You can serve this prawns very well with a bowl of hot steaming rice.Everytime we go to Chinese restaurant, we never failed to order this sweet and sour prawns, its been a while i wanted to try them at home. Finally i prepared them at home in my own way to suit my tastebuds.Sending this irresistible prawns to Usha's Seafood Feast.


1/2kg Prawns (cleaned & deviened)
1tsp Garlic (minced)
1tsp Ginger (minced)
1no Onion (diced)
1no bellpepper (diced)
1tbsp Light soya sauce
1tsp Chilly paste
1tsp Sugar
2tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1tbsp Vinegar
Salt
Sesame oil
Chopped spring onions

Marinate the prawns with light soya sauce,chilly paste, sugar,ketchup and vinegar for half an hour.

Heat the sesame oil in a kadai, add the minced garlic and ginger, saute for few seconds, now add the diced onions and toss for few seconds.

Add the marinated prawns with the marinated paste,salt and cook in high flame for few seconds, add the diced bellpeppers and cook everything for few more minutes until the bellpepper gets paritally cooked,put off the stove.

Serve hot with a bowl of rice garnished with spring onions.

As i told earlier, its too hot here. So am spending not more than half an hour in my kitchen, most of our lunch goes for quick dishes and am cooking rarely rice, finally yesterday i prepared a quick and delicious fried rice with frozen green peas and small prawns.Fried rice doesnt need an introduction and they have loads and loads of variations, one can cook a fried rice even simply with spring onions and eggs. Anyone who want to have simple,comforting and flavourful one pot meal with less efforts, this fried rice is for you all. I simply used frozen green peas, if you want to make your fried rice more colourful, you can add many more veggies, am damn sure even kids will love this fantastic dish. Sending this irresistible fried rice to Usha's Seafood Feast.


2cups Cooked rice
1no Onion (chopped)
1cup Frozen green peas
1/2cup Prawns (cleaned)
1tsp Garlic (minced)
1tsp Ginger (grated)
2tbsp Light soya sauce
1tsp White pepper powder
1/4cup Spring onions (chopped)
Salt
Oil

Heat enough oil in a wok, add immediately the minced garlic and grated ginger and fry for few minutes, add immediately the onions and cook them for few seconds.

Now add the frozen peas,prawns and saute for few more minutes, now add the light soya sauce,white pepper powder,salt (if needed) to the cooking peas-prawns mixture.Cook for few minutes.

Finally add the cooked rice and chopped spring onions and toss everything gently.

Enjoy hot with your favourite side dish.

Today am starting blogging marathon, thanks to Srivalli for accepting me to run again this wonderful virtual friendship chain which i couldnt able to run last month coz of my vacation to India, i had an opportunity to meet Srivalli, we had a wonderful blogger meet at Chennai while am travelling in India, seriously i met wonderful blogger friends and truly admire each and everyone for their friendly attitude, i enjoyed their foods personally and loved those beautiful moments with those wonderful ladies..Check out  here other bloggers running this month's blogging marathon with me..

I prepare briyani rarely since we came back from India, yep we enjoyed varieties of briyanis there and none at home wanted to have them atleast before a month..This weekend i had an opportunity to get a bag of fresh prawns through a friend who came back from her summer vacation...Instead of making thokkus or gravies with those fresh prawns i prepared this delicious and flavourful briyani through microwave oven, whoever said no to briyani for a month,changed their mind and enjoyed thoroughly this mildly spiced fabulous briyani..


2cups Prawns (cleaned)
2cups Basmati rice
2nos Onions (chopped lengthwise)
2nos Tomatoes(chopped)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tsp Ginger paste
1tsp Garlic paste
2nos Whole spices (bayleaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom)
1/2tsp Whole fennel seeds
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
1cup Yogurt
2cups Hot water
Salt
3tbsp Oil
Few mint leaves

Heat the oil & ghee in a large microwave safe bowl for 1 minute in high, add all the whole spices to the hot oil and heat again for 2 minutes in high..now add the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, slit opened chillies, garlic paste, ginger paste, whole fennel seeds and cook for 5-6 minutes in high(give a stir in between), now add the cleaned prawns, red chilly powder, garam masala powder, salt and mint leaves, mix everything well and cook again for 10 minutes in high,meanwhile wash the rice twice and strain the excess of water...now add the washed rice to the prawn masala, give a stir...add now the yogurt and hot water to the bowl, check for salt and cook everything for 30minutes in high (give a stir twice in between)...

Take out the bowl and serve this delicious prawn briyani with any sort of raitas...

Been born and brought up in a seashore city, we guys love to have atleast twice a week some seafoods, but coz of Navarathiri and many more festivals i couldnt make seafood fries or dishes since quite a long, this weekend  i prepared some prawn masala along with spring onions instead of onions, yep i used spring onions and the flavour of spring onions turned out this prawn masala  truly delicious.. With hot steaming rasam this masala goes prefectly yummy and my hubby was really happy to enjoy this prawn masala with his sambar rice after a long, needless to say how he was happy to enjoy this prawn masala..



1/2kg Prawns (cleaned)
1cup Spring onions (white & green part,chopped)
2no Tomatoes (chopped)
1tsp Fennel seeds
5nos Garlic cloves
1tsp Red chilly powder
1tsp Coriander powder
Few curry leaves
Salt
Oil
Chopped coriander leaves

Heat enough oil, sauté the chopped spring onions,curry leaves and chopped tomatoes until they turns soft, meanwhile grind the fennel seeds and garlic as fine paste, add this paste to the cooking veggies and sauté for few minutes, add now the cleaned prawns and sauté until the prawns turns pink, immediately add the red chilly powder, coriander powder and salt, cook everything in high flame for 2minutes, put the flame in simmer, close the pan with lid..

Cook the prawns until the oil get separates, finally add the chopped coriander leaves and serve hot..

Its quite a known pickle in my hometown and each and every family have their own version of making out this prawn pickle, some will go for ginger garlic paste while other will go for just garlic cloves and special spice powder prepared with cumin seeds,mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds..Learned from my mom, this pickle is one of my all time favourite, a real feast for seafood lovers..This pickle stay for more than two to three months, if they are conserved properly..My way of making out this pickle is definitely quite an easy way to prepare this spicy, mouthwatering pickle... This pickle goes awesome with any dish, we love to have for our breakfast along with idlies or dosas and for lunch along with rasam or sambar..This pickle can also suits prefectly as a spread over breads and its a real feast for spicy lovers...While we were kid, my mom used to prepare this spicy pickle with freshy bought prawns, which is quite a dream for me since i dont get that much easily fresh prawns here, anyhow we get fortunately variety of frozen prawns..My mom is an expert in making this pickles which i learned after getting married, she usually prepare almost 4or 5bottles full of this pickle whenever she do and those bottles will definitely get finished before a month..We love that much..



1/2kg Prawn
3tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1cup Garlic cloves
6nos Green chillies
2tbsp Red chilly powder
1tsp Turmeric powder
2tbsp Mustard seeds+1tsp Mustard seeds for tempering
3tbsp Fenugreek seeds
3tbsp Cumin seeds
1/4litre Oil
1/2cup Vinegar
Salt

Clean the prawns and marinate the cleaned prawns with turmeric powder and salt for few minutes.. Heat the oil, fry the prawns until they turn bit crispy, fry the garlic cloves and green chillies in the same oil and keep aside..

Dry roast the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds until they turns brown, grind them as fine powder..Fry the mustard seeds for tempering in the oil, add the ginger garlic paste and stir continously until the raw smell goes away..meanwhile mix the grounded powder,salt along with red chilly powder and vinegar..pour this mixture to the oil and stir until the oil gets separates...Add the already fried prawns, garlic cloves, green chillies ..Cook everything in simmer until the paste turn thicker..Put off the stove..

Let them get cool completely..Conserve them in bottle and consume anytime..

1no Tamarind (lime size)
1noTomato(big)
20nos Shallots
5nos Garlic cloves
1cup Potatoes(cubed)
1cup Raw banana (cubed)
5nos Drumstick pieces
2tbsp Dhania powder
1tsp Red chilly powder
3tsp Gingelly oil
1tbsp Vengaya Vadagam
Salt (as per taste)
5 nos Curry leaves

Grind the tamarind with tomatoes with 1/2 cup of warm water...make it as thick paste,strain this grounded paste and add enough water...heat oil in a kadai n splutter vadagam..add the garlic cloves,curryleaves and shallots, fry it until it turns transparent, add drumsticks,raw bannana pieces to the sauted shallots..finally add the prawns put the stove in low flame..this will cook the prawns...

Add salt, dhania powder and red chilli powder to the tamarind n tomato juice ,now add this spiced juice to the cooking veggies and prawns,cook everything in high flame..once its boil for the first time add the potatoes pieces to this gravy..cover n let it cook for 10 minutes...put off the stove..