Are you worried how you can add a little oomph to your late night dinner preps after a busy day at work? This chilli fried prawns recipe is for you!
Planning to unwind with a chilled drink and a book after a long, tiring day? This prawn fry will be your perfect accompaniment. It’ll be ready in no time, and you get the rest of the evening to yourself.
In most of the Indian recipes we cook, I end up using a variety of ingredients, or masalas as we call them. Almost all Indian dishes that we make include a dash of turmeric powder. Similarly onions, ginger, and garlic are some of the most frequently used ingredients in our kitchen. For quite sometime, I have been thinking of cooking up something with very minimal ingredients. Last weekend when I got some fresh prawns (that too pretty big ones), I thought I’ll take that as an opportunity, and dial down on the number of items that go in.
This simple chilli fried prawns recipe uses prawns (of course!), chilli powder, vinegar, salt and oil (to fry). You can add some curry leaves, and a few slices of lime. But that’s absolutely optional, and I am not counting them in the list of items required for this recipe. Essentially, that makes this a 5 ingredient recipe!
This chilli fried prawns is the prawn fry of good times! Just five ingredients, minimum cooking time, and maximum deliciousness – that summarises this recipe!
Chilli powder, salt and vinegar is mixed to form the marinade. Coat the prawns with this paste, and leave for a few minutes to soak up the flavours. Fry them on a pan with just enough oil. You get a lovely plate of fried prawns.
The only question you need to ask is how much time you should fry the prawns. It largely depends on the texture you want to have. Do you like your prawns juicy? A cook time of about 6 minutes will do (roughly 3 minutes for each side). Do you like them a tad crispy? Keep them in the pan for a longer time.
Now go ahead, and start cooking! Step-by-step recipe below.
If you like this recipe, you might like the following prawns/shrimp recipes as well.
Chilli fried prawns
Ingredients
- 20 medium prawns or shrimp
- 2 tablespoon kashmiri chilli powder or paprika
- 1 vinegar
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon oil olive, vegetable, coconut, any oil of your choice
- 1 sprig curry leaves optional
- 1 lime optional
Instructions
- Clean the prawns and devein them. You can score them using a knife to soak up the marinade.
- Add chilli powder, vinegar, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Mix well, add the prawns, and coat them in this marinade.
- Give it a five minutes to absorb the flavours
- Heat some oil, enough to coat the surface, in a nonstick pan.
- Fry the prawns on a high flame turning them over frequently.
- Each side should get roughly 3 minutes of cooking time each. We are looking for a nice golden brown consistency from the fried chilli coating.
- Transfer the fried prawns to a plate.
- Lower the flame, and fry some curry leaves.
- Garnish the prawns with the curry leaves, and some lime slices. Serve hot and fresh.
Notes
- If you are using whole prawns you can retain the tail part like shown in this recipe
- You'll have to fry bigger prawns for a couple more minutes
- If you like your prawns crispy (and a tad rubbery) cook for more than the recommended 6 minutes. I like these extra fried ones as well 🙂
- Curry leaves and lime wedges are optional
- Alternatively, you can garnish with cilantro or mint leaves as well
Simple and quick, but tasty. I am 100%vegetarian, but I gave this recipe to my children. They tried it out and loved it.
Thank you very much Sundari!!! There is nothing more joyful than a recommendation for your recipe, and learning that it was well received. 🙂