Prawn With Red Bell Peppers Chingri Mach Diye Bell Morich.
Prawns used to be my order whenever we ate out or got a takeaway. I don’t eat Beef, its a religious thing, so for me ordering meat used to be a bit of an issue. I would always be uneasy about what meat I really was eating. Chicken I find boring. Prawns well, I always found amazing…be it bhuna, madras or Pathia!
Fast forward 3 decades, I still love prawns but I can enjoy a good keema now eating out too!
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs.
The term prawn is used particularly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Commonwealth nations, for large swimming crustaceans or shrimp.
The terms shrimp and prawn themselves lack scientific standing. Over the years, the way shrimp and prawn are used has changed, and these days the terms are almost interchangeable.
The terms shrimp and prawn are common names, not scientific names.
Although the term shrimp is sometimes applied to smaller species, while prawn is more often used for larger forms, there is no clear distinction between both terms and their usage is often confused or even reverse in different countries or regions.
Shrimp coming.
The term shrimp originated around the 14th century with the Middle English shrimpe, akin to the Middle Low German schrempen, and meaning to contract or wrinkle; and the Old Norse skorpna, meaning to shrivel up, or skreppa, meaning a thin person. It is not clear where the term prawn originated, but early forms of the word surfaced in England in the early 15th century as prayne, praine and prane.
Coming back to prawns and home, the apple don’t fall far from the tree.
My daughter loves prawns too! We buy prawns whenever we visit our Bengali superstore or we see some nice big fat juicy ones in the regular supermarkets!
We normally buy extra, cook some, freeze some!
The beauty of prawns is they take bare minimum time to get cooked. And I love such ingredients. Put them into the pan and by the time you are done checking messages on the phone, they are cooked.
This time I was using some we had in the fridge, ready to eat. I used a red bell pepper and it did taste delicious. Red capsicum adds wonderful sweet flavor to the dish and also makes it more colorful. Now a days I do this prawn and veggie combination a lot.
This pepper prawn goes well with plain steamed rice the way I normally like but you can have it with roti, paratha or poori too it’s your choice. Whichever way, you are all set for a gratifying meal!
Prep Time: 15 Mins | Cook Time: 35 Mins |Total Time: 55 Mins
250g prawns
1 onion finely chopped
3 green chillies chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tomato chopped
1 red pepper sliced
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
4 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
Small handful of fresh coriander and some for garnish.
Heat oil in the pan.
Add half teaspoon of cumin seeds into oil.
Once its sizzled and aromatic add the onions and chopped chillies.
Fry till lightly brown.
Add your tomatoes, sugar and salt.
Cook covered till tomatoes are mushy and soft and oil is separating.
Add quarter cup water, cover and simmer.
When water is nearly evaporated add the spices. Stir well.
Cook this covered for a good five minutes adding splashes of water and stirring. Keep it loose.
Now add the peppers, prawns, green chillies and small handful of fresh coriander, stir and cook covered for a few minutes.
Add quarter cup of water.
Cook on med till oil is splitting at sides and on top and peppers are aromatic.
Garnish with handful of fresh coriander and serve.