A heavenly curry from the ‘Coconut Coast’ of southern India. Packed with flavour and spices but sweet and creamy with delicious coconut and juicy prawns. Every bite literally melts in your mouth. (Serves 3-4)

Ingredients

600g of peeled raw tiger prawns
150g of fresh coconut, shelled and finely grated

1 small white onion

4 cloves of garlic
2 whole red chillies (+/- if you prefer)

4 inches of fresh ginger, minced or finely grated
4-5 Kaffir lime leaves torn in half

2 heaped teaspoons of turmeric

1 heaped teaspoon of mustard seeds (black or yellow)

1 tin of coconut milk

Juice of half a lime
4 tablespoons of cooking oil (sunflower, vegetable or peanut)

Maldon sea salt
A generous handful of toasted coconut pieced for garnish (optional)

Method

Blitz your onion, garlic, chillies and ginger in a food processor until they become a puree.

In a large pre-heated pan on a medium-high heat, add your oil and your mustard seeds and allow them to pop. Cover the pan with a lid whilst they are popping as otherwise they will spit hot oil everywhere. Once they have popped, add your kaffir lime leaves and stir followed by your puree of garlic, chilli, onion and ginger fry the mixture for about 1 minute. Then add your turmeric and mix the ingredients well in the pan for 2-3 minutes, always stirring the mixture and keeping it moving to prevent it from sticking.

Turn the heat up to a high heat and then add your prawns (add a little more oil at this stage, if needed) and fry them until they begin to change colour and cook through. Then add your freshly grated coconut and stir them well into the ingredients. Add the juice of half a lime, your coconut milk and reduce the heat to a medium heat, stir well and allow the curry to simmer uninterrupted for a few minutes.

Season with Maldon sea salt (to suit your taste) garnish with some toasted coconut flakes and serve with fluffy Basmati rice or warmed Naan breads. Simple, exotic and mouth-wateringly delicious.