Jaffna Eral Masala, Jaffna Style Prawn Curry

Jaffna Eral Masala (Jaffna Style Prawn Curry) is a spicy Prawn preparation made with traditional Tamil spices, Lemongrass and Coconut Milk. The recipe with step by step pictures and video is as under.

I love Sri Lankan curries with the flavour of rich and robust Sri Lankan spice powders all balanced with a good dose of coconut milk. I really enjoy cooking with prawns and I’ll be sharing with you, the recipe for one of my favourite curries of all time. Sri Lanka is known for their seafood right from isso wade (prawn vada – a street food classic) to the absolutely lip smacking crab curries. Seafood there is so fresh just like our very own Kerala and most of the curries are coconut based. It is served within hours of it being caught. It’s a delight to watch the stilt fisherman sitting on a pole for hours at sea. Most of the curries are served with rice, Lankan rotis, hoppers and string hoppers.

I have used ITC Master Chef frozen prawns for this recipe. Fresh prawns are really difficult to get in Bangalore and can be very pricey. I first came to know about ITC Master Chef Prawns when Vir Sanghvi wrote about it in HT Brunch sometime back. I am so happy I tried them after reading the article. The quality of prawns is so fresh, so good and oh so juicy!!!. Nowadays, I always stock these bad boys in my freezer stash.  The ITC prawns are frozen just within 15 hours of harvest. So, they taste as fresh as the prawns you get near the coast and the quality of the prawns is excellent. Just watch this video below on how these prawns are processed and I am sure you will be convinced to try them. I was never a fan of frozen seafood myself until I lay my hands on ITC Prawns.

I have used medium prawns today. ITC Master Chef prawns come in four sizes- Medium, Large, Super Large and Jumbo+. The prawns come already cleaned, peeled and deveined. What that means is, you save yourself a minimum half hour of cleaning. It also means that you saved time for about an episode of your favourite show on Netflix 🙂

ITC prawns are individually quick frozen (IQF) and there is a thin coating of ice that comes along with each one of them. IQF helps in keeping the prawns from clumping up into one big mass of Saint Mt. Prawn ice. Everyone must have gone through the nightmare of thawing frozen meat or prawns. The moment you open the pack, a big lump of prawn ice is waiting for you…Argh!!!! ITC MasterChef prawns makes thawing a breeze. I place the prawns in a bowl of water at room temperature for about 20 minutes. That is all it takes. Just try these beauties once and I am sure you will be hooked!

Here is how you get a great-tasting Jaffna Eral Masala

Here is the video of how to make Jaffna Eral Masala, Jaffna Style Prawn Curry

Prep Work
Indian Shallots (small onions / sambar onions) are a mainstay in Jaffna / Sri Lankan cooking. More than onions, shallots are used widely when making seafood curries. The shallots turn slightly sweet after cooking. They are also much healthier than onions. We will be using sliced shallots for this recipe. Crush some ginger and garlic and set aside.

Method
Heat oil in a pan (I have used a clay pot today) and add in two tablespoon of coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, roughly chopped green chillies and a good dose of curry leaves. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Once the mustard seeds crackle, add in the sliced shallots (small onions).

Add in the crushed ginger and garlic. Also add in the salt. The salt will help in cooking the shallots faster. Sauté till the shallots are soft and start to get brown.

We will also need the following spice powders. I have used Sri Lankan style curry powder for this recipe. The recipe is here. If you cannot source Sri Lankan style curry powder or you are in a hurry, a good quality curry powder will work just fine.

Add in all the spice powders at once.

After the spice powders are added, do not fry for long. Sauté for a brief 20 seconds. Add in half a cup of water.

Add in a few stalks of lemon grass, pandan leaves and the thawed prawns.

Cook the curry for 5-6 minutes. Cover the pot with a lid. Prawns cook fast. It is a myth that frozen prawns turn hard and rubbery. In reality, all prawns tend to turn hard and rubbery when overcooked. This has nothing to do with them being frozen. If cooked well, they will turn out soft and juicy, with just the slightest crunch when you bite into them.

Once the prawns are cooked, we will add in moringa leaves / murungai elai. Moringa leaves are a mainstay in Tamil diet. In Jaffna, it’s added to seafood dishes like Crab curry. Currently Moringa is all hipster and is being regarded as a “super-food”. But we have been using it in everyday cooking for hundreds of years. Moringa is one of the healthiest foods available. Here is a picture of my dad packing a good dose of Moringa for me from our farm. We will add a handful of moringa leaves to this recipe. The flavour of moringa leaves nicely pairs with the prawns.

Add in the coconut milk and the murungai elai / moringa leaves. Thick pressed coconut milk or canned coconut milk works perfectly fine for this recipe.

Let the curry simmer briefly for a couple of minutes. Switch off the flame and add in the lime juice. Lime juice is optional. The little acidity nicely balances the richness of coconut milk and spices.

A simple Jaffna style prawn curry is ready to be served. For garnish, add a few teaspoons of thick coconut milk on top of the curry.
Serve it with rice, pol roti, appam or idiyappam

Jaffna Eral Masala, Jaffna Style Prawn Curry

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Jaffna Eral Masala (Jaffna Style Prawn Curry) is a spicy Prawn preparation made with traditional Tamil spices, lemongrass and coconut milk.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Yield: 3-4 servings 1x

Ingredients

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• 2 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 2 green chillies, roughly chopped
• 2 sprig curry leaves
• 15 shallots, sliced (Indian sambar onions)
• 1/4 inch piece ginger
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 stalks of lemon grass
• 3 inch pandan leaves, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup moringa leaves (use less if doing for first time)
• 1/2 cup thick coconut milk (canned works fine)
• 1/2 of a lime, juiced
• 200 grams frozen ITC MasterChef Prawns

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Instructions

1. Heat oil in a pan (I have used a clay pot today) and add in two tablespoon of coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, roughly chopped green chillies and a good dose of curry leaves. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Once the mustard seeds crackle, add in the sliced shallots (small onions).
2. Add in the crushed ginger and garlic. Also add in the salt. The salt will help in cooking the shallots faster. Sauté till the shallots are soft and starting to brown.
3. Add in all the spice powders at once.
4. After the spice powders are added, do not fry for long. Sauté for a brief 20 seconds. Add in half a cup of water.
5. Add in a few stalks of lemon grass and the thawed prawns.
6. Cook the curry for 5-6 minutes. Cover the pot with a lid.
7. Once the prawns are cooked, we will add in moringa leaves / murungai elai.
8. Add in the coconut milk and the murungai elai / moringa leaves.
9. Let the curry simmer briefly for a couple of minutes. Switch off the flame and add in the lime juice. The little acidity nicely balances the richness of coconut milk and spices.

• Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins
• Category: Side Dish
• Cuisine: Sri Lankan