Coconut chilli prawns with cumin Puri's

Apologies for lack of recent postings and blog visits, I have been cooking a few new dishes but lacking in time to post! Unfortunately a new job I had lined up has just fallen through and am now again on the hunt for another one ... Good news though its my birthday this week and we are off to see Chicago in London, am really looking forward to it!

I had to make a few amendments to the ingredients in this recipe to save buying in new, as am skint until I get some money through! A lot of the ingredients were in my fridge anyway and the prawn's came via a previously frozen bargain! Another great value dish I made this week was bbq sausage meatballs and pasta, unfortunately I didn't write any quantities down but will re-make and post soon!!

Both of these dishes are taken from Rick Stein's newst book Coast to Coast, which is a lovely collection of his favourite dishes, from all over the world. A great addition to any book shelf!

The prawn curry part is very easy, delicious and great for a work night, though the puri's will require a little more time and effort. Its best to read this before attempting to cook after work....am sorry to my poor friend who waited patiently to be fed! I have marked this recipe as under 30 minutes if you are just doing the prawn part. The picture doesn't do it justice really!

Coconut Chilli prawns

Serves 4 (I approximately halved it)

3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 1/2 cm piece fresh ginger, finely grated (the Fine Microplane is ideal)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp ready made rogan josh paste or (the book also refers to a Goan masala paste, though I actually used Patak's Balti paste which I thought was perfect!)
450g large raw prawns
50g creamed coconut, roughly chopped
150ml hot water
2 tbsp chopped coriander (I left out, though think would be great if you did have some in)
2 red birds eye chillies (I used a 1/2 a red chilli, with seeds)
2 spring onions, thinly sliced (forgot these!)

Cumin Puri's

100g wholemeal flour + extra for dusting
100g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sunflower oil + extra
1 tsp cumin seeds
150ml water

Make the puri's first by sifting flours and salt together, add the oil and mix together with your fingers, add the cumin seeds. Slowly add the water until you have a soft and sticky dough, turn out onto a well floured surface and need for 5 minutes. (I had to add more flour as was too wet to handle but think I over measured the liquid, I must get around to buying a new measuring jug!) Rub the ball of dough with a little oil and place in a clean bowl, cover with a tea towel or similar and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat your grill to high. I have an electric grill, which isn't particuarly great but eventually does the job! Place the dough back on floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes, divide into 12 pieces and roll out into 12.5cm discs, brush lightly with oil and grill for a minute on each side, or until they are browning, you will probably need to do this in several batches.

Now the easy part! Heat the 3 tbsp of oil in a frying / saute pan, add ginger and garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Add the curry paste and cook for a couple of minutes, add the prawns and cook until pink, add the coconut and the hot water, stir well until melted, simmer for a minute, add the coriander, chillies and spring onions, serve immediately with the puri's.

The coconut chilli prawn's were so tasty and the sauce was full of flavour - perfect to mop up with the puri's! We had on the side my new favourite dish of courgettes, sliced into chunks and gently fried with olive oil and fresh mint, which all worked surprisingly well together!