Prawns with Courgettes (Jhinga aur ghia) & Exciting News

Most of you already know that one of my favourite places to play is at I Heart Cooking Clubs, a cooking club which chooses a different chef to feature every six months.  During that time, we explore the recipes and techniques of our chosen chef according to a different theme each week.  We learn a lot about our chef during that time, and a lot about each other as well through our regular posts.  A strong community has developed and I have loved being a part of it.  So I'm very, very excited and feel very honoured that I am about to become a co-host of this group along with the lovely Kim of Stirring the Pot and the lovely Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

You probably also know that our chosen chef for the last six months has been Madhur Jaffrey, and I am submitting this (a little late - but better that than never) for our theme of One Pot Wonders.  Strictly speaking, this is not a one pot wonder insofar as I did cook rice in a separate pot, but hey it's near enough.  This dish is nice and flavourful, but certainly not spicy, and was great for a quick "toss everything in the pan", work-day dinner - definitely one I would make again.  Total cooking time about 10 minutes.  And now we come to our last week of cooking with Madhur, so do come back later in the week for my "farewell to Madhur" dish.

Now for more exciting news.  If you've been reading my posts for a while, you will know that one of my absolute favourite chefs is Yotam Ottolenghi, and every one of his books in my collection have been cooked from over and over again - not something I can say about some of the other cookbooks I own.  I also happen to know that a lot of you are big Ottolenghi fans too, so I'm very excited to tell you that our next chef at I Heart Cooking Clubs is indeed going to be Yottam Ottolenghi.  So, my Ottolenghi-loving friends, if you haven't played along at IHCC before maybe you'll feel inspired to join in the fun.  At the very least, why not pop over here and see what's coming up - our forthcoming themes and how to join in. 

In the meantime, you might like to try this ...

Prawns with Courgettes (Jhinga aur ghia) Recipe

Adapted (barely) from recipe by Madhur Jaffrey from

Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery

Makes 4 generous servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2x medium-sized courgettes (about 300g - 10 oz)

flaky sea salt

3-4 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil

6x cloves garlic, peeled & finely chopped

large handful of coriander, roughly chopped, keeping leaves & stems separate

1x red chilli, finely chopped (with or without seeds)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

3x large fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped, or 1x tin tomatoes

2.5cm (1 inch) piece fresh ginger, grated

juice of 1 lemon

425g (15 oz) prawns, shelled and deveined

Cut courgettes into thin batons, approximately 6 cm (2.5 in) long x .5 cm (1/4 in) thick.  Place in a colander, sprinkle with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt, and toss thoroughly.  Set aside for an hour to allow surplus liquid to drain out of the courgettes.  Remove from colander to a clean tea towel and pat dry.

Heat the oil in a medium sized pot or frying pan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and saute.  As soon as the garlic becomes fragrant, add the chilli, coriander stems (save the leaves for later), turmeric, cumin, tomatoes, ginger, lemon juice and another pinch of flaky sea salt.  (Add a pinch of cayenne pepper here too if you like a little more heat).  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently until the tomatoes have broken down and become "saucy".

Stir in the prawns and continue to simmer until the prawns are just cooked through and coated in a thick sauce.

Stir through the chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately.

I served this with some steamed basmati rice, but you could just as easily serve it with nothing more than a bit of flat bread on the side to scoop it up with.

If you would like to get to know Madhur a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking and many of Madhur's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

I'm sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace.