Prawn head and Colocasia leaves Paste....
I love traditional dishes. Many of the authentic dishes or traditional home recipes are not available in any restaurants. It’s when some one personally shares them, we get to know. These recipes are not showy but one must taste them to experience it. Recently my love for these kind of traditional simple home cooked recipes have got more rooted in me..
This is one such recipe I am going to share with you which is my recipe connecting to my roots.
I had some prawn heads left with me after making the prawn pickle for order. I didn’t feel like throwing them as I personally love to chew the prawn heads and I feel it’s more tastier than the prawn. I also had a bunch of Colocasia leaves in the fridge. So taking these two ingredients, put together... this recipe was created...
Ingredients
500 grams Prawn head after cleaning the prawns..
(Cleaned, marinated with salt and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder. And fried in Mustard oil.)
1 bunch of Colocasia leaves chopped without stems
1 medium size Onion chopped
2 to 3 or more Green chills chopped
1 tsp Garlic paste
1/2 tsp Ginger paste
1 tsp Tamarind paste
1/2 tsp Nigella seeds / Kalonji
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp Mustard Oil
1 roasted dry whole chilli for garnishing..
Method
Take 2 cups of water in a wok and add 1/2 tsp salt and colocasia leaves and let it cook till the water begins to bubble. Switch off the flame and drain the water out from the leaves. Keep it aside. Traditionally the Prawn heads and the Colocasia leaves should have been ground on a shil batta, but I have used a chopper. So first grind the prawn head and then add the leaves and grind them together again. As we don’t want fine paste, it’s better to use a chopper or a food processor. Add 2 tbsp oil in a wok. Let it heat up. Add the kalonji. As the kalonji begins to crackle, add the green chillies, ginger paste and garlic paste. Sauté it for few seconds. Add the onions and let it cook for 2 minutes or till the onions become light pink in colour. Add the prawn head and colocasia leaves paste. On a low flame, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cumin powder, stir for few seconds. Add the tamarind paste and stir for few seconds more. Now add the salt. Stir and continue to cook for another 2 minutes or till the paste starts to leave the sides of the wok. Remove the paste in a bowl, garnish with roasted whole red chilli and drizzle 1/2 tsp Mustard oil. Later you can crush the red chilli and sprinkle on top. This paste taste even better the next day. Server it with hot steaming rice...
P. S. You can add 2 tbsp fresh coconut paste at the end after you add salt and mix it. The coconut flavour will enhance the taste of the fish.
