Last night I continued with my ongoing mission - to bravely cook as much curry as a man can physically consume in one week. I did, however, fancy something a little different. I had some tamarind that needed to be used up, and some prawns in the freezer, and for me, this can only mean one thing - prawn pathia!
Persian food is hugely influential in Indian cooking - many people will happily devour a biryani without a care for its origins. Etymologically, the name derives from the Persian (I think that means Farsi) word beryan, which means "fried".
Pathia is another Persian style dish, which is about the closest one can get to a sweet and sour style dish on the Indian subcontinent. In its essence, the dish is soured with tamarind and lemon, sweetened with jaggery and fired up with an enthusiastic introduction of fresh green chilli and red chilli powder. It is a fairly dry curry, though it does have a rich, thick sauce. Being a Persian style dish I find it is best to serve with turmeric rice (though probably the Iranians would use saffron to colour their rice).
I have a generous selection of dried chilli's at home, some I get from south devon chilli farm, and some I dry myself. I was in Tesco's (yes, I know, don't chastise me) the other day and I saw some fresh Bhut Jolokia (sometimes called Naga, or Ghost Naga) chilli's. I bought them and dried them at home.
Drying chilli's is exceptionally easy. Simply lay your chilli's onto a baking tray with a grill attachment (so heat can be absorbed circumferentially). Put them into the oven at practically its lowest setting, and leave until they are dried. This can take anywhere from 6-12 hours, dependent on the size and water content of the chilli.
Here are 2 types of chilli's I used for this dish. The bhut jolokia is the small orange one on the top.
I did not anticipate the fierce intensity of the chilli in this dish. It was my expectation that the sugar and tamarind would buffer the single hot chilli I used. All I can say is that I am glad my curtains were closed last night, since otherwise I would have been spotted hopping around my living room, waving both hands around my mouth like a madman, drinking lots and lots of milk.
I was determined to finish it though as the curry itself tasted amazing. The recipe is adapted from "50 Great curries of India" by Camellia Punjabi - which, incidentally is an amazing book about regional Indian cooking styles.
Here is a picture of the finished product, and the recipe I used (note the naan was pre-bought, although I can make my own!):
- The dried chilli's (one bhut jolokia, 2 large mexican reds, though kashmiri chilli's would be better) were soaked in warm water for an hour.
- Blend 5 cloves of garlic a thumb-sized piece of ginger, the chilli's and a tsp of cumin seeds to a paste.
- Finely chop 2 onions.
- Heat approximately 5-6 tbsp neutral oil in a karahi, add a pinch of asoefatida.
- Add the onions and fry until they are golden/pink in colour.
- Add the blended paste. Stir fry for 1 minute.
- Add 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 3/4 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp of regular paprika (you can use red chilli powder if you have an asbestos-infused tongue), 1/2 tsp garam masala and 1/2 tsp turmeric (I hope you pronounce the first r in turmeric? it really bugs me when people call it tumeric). Stir fry for 2 minutes.
- Add 3 freshly chopped tomatoes, or half a can of peeled plum tomatoes. Stir to mix and fry for 3-4 minutes. The sauce should be thick. Reduce if it is not.
- Add 1 tbsp of tamarind concentrate, 1 tsp of jaggery (I used molasses as I was out of jaggery) and 1 tsp of salt. Simmer for a few minutes.
- If you have some curry leaves, and chopped fresh coriander you can add them now, they really enhance the dish.
- Add prawns (defrosted, or fresh if you have them) About 225-250g is enough.
- Cook the prawns - this should take no more than 3-4 minutes.
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