Anne Morgan Try the Delia Smith spiced prawns with tomatoes recipe, a spiced curry of frozen prawns for 2 or 3. You fry an onion with roasted, crushed spices and garlic, then simmer the prawns with chopped tomatoes until they make a thick sauce. The whole dish needs about 55 minutes, and most of that time the tomatoes bubble down.
Both editions of her Complete Cookery Course have it, 1983 and 1992, in the fish chapter. It is a different dish from her Kashmir Spiced Prawns, which is a curry for 1.
Delia wrote it for frozen prawns. In her view, freshly boiled ones need only lemon juice, seasoning and wholemeal bread and butter, while frozen ones need a lively recipe like this.
In the same chapter, she explains that many prawns grow fast in warm waters. Even before freezing, they lack the firm texture and flavour of British ones. To my mind, that is why a spiced sauce suits them so well.
Delia Smith’s Spiced Prawns with Tomatoes
Course: DinnerCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy2-3
servings15
minutes40
minutes260
kcalFrozen prawns simmered in chopped tomatoes with onion, garlic, turmeric, ginger and dry-roasted coriander, cumin and cardamom.
Ingredients
- For the prawns:
225g (8oz) packet frozen prawns, defrosted and well drained
450g (1lb) tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1½ tablespoons groundnut oil
1 large onion, halved and sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
- For the spices:
¾ teaspoon coriander seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cardamom pod
1 teaspoon grated root ginger or ½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 rounded teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon chilli powder
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- To serve:
spiced pilau rice or brown rice cooked with onion
Directions
- Onion: Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion slices and fry them gently for about 10 minutes, until soft and golden.
- Spices: Meanwhile, put the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and cardamom pod in a dry frying pan over a gentle heat for about 5 minutes. Then crush them with a pestle and mortar.
- Spice the onion: Add all the spices and the garlic to the onion, and stir until everything is well heated.
- Prawns: Add the prawns and stir them round so they are coated in the spices. Then add the tomatoes with some salt and pepper.
- Simmer: Bring it up to simmering point. Cook it, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until most of the liquid has gone and the tomatoes have become a sauce.
- Serve: Spoon it over spiced pilau rice, or brown rice cooked with onion.
Notes
- The cardamom pod goes in whole to be crushed, so you can pick out any hard bits of husk before serving, my own tip.
FAQs
Is this the same as her Kashmir Spiced Prawns?
No, they are two different recipes. Her Kashmir spiced prawns are a curry for 1 from One is Fun, with yoghurt, cucumber and mango chutney juice.
This one is for 2 or 3 and comes from her Complete Cookery Course. It has no yoghurt, and its sauce is 450g of tomatoes simmered until thick.
Do I have to roast the whole spices?
It is worth it, my own view. Delia warms them in the dry pan to draw out their aroma before she crushes them.
With no pestle and mortar, she crushes them in a small basin with the end of a rolling pin. Her 1983 edition simply ground the whole spices, so the dry-roasting came with the 1992 revision.
Root ginger or ground ginger?
Both work. The 1983 edition lists only ½ teaspoon of ground ginger, and the 1992 revision added grated root ginger as the other choice.
I’d use the root ginger when you have it, as it tastes brighter, my own view.
How do I peel the tomatoes?
Pour hot water over them, as Delia does in One is Fun. After a couple of minutes the skins slip off, and then you chop the flesh.
In a hurry, I’d use a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes instead, my own swap. It may need a few more minutes of simmering to thicken.
Which frozen prawns are best?
Norwegian prawns, in Delia’s experience. When she has to buy frozen prawns for cooking, those are the best she has found.
Defrost them fully and drain them well, as her list says, before they go in with the spices.
What should I serve with spiced prawns?
Rice, as Delia does. She suggests her spiced pilau rice, or a nutty brown rice with onion.
The pilau recipe sits in the rice section of the same book, so you can cook both dishes from one book.
