I rarely cook typical Gujarati dishes though I enjoy them so much (I leave that to my mum because she makes them better and also I rarely visit the Indian groceries to buy the vegetables). I love to experiment with different types of curries and have put together a list of three of my recent Asian inspired curry recipes. Keep reading for recipes on Indo-Chinese Soya Chunks (v), Malaysian Prawn Rendang & Keralan Fish Curry. The recipes below are for two people.

PRAWN RENDANG WITH ROTI CANAI

PRAWN RENDANG

• Jar of MaK Tok Rednang paste
• 250g raw prawns (without shells)

Method

• Marinate the prawns using half the jar of Rednang paste for about an hour. I prefer raw to cooked prawns. 
• Heat a pan then add in the prawns with the marinade. You don’t need any oil because the paste has it in there. Add in the paste left in the jar and let this cook for a couple of minutes before adding the prawns with the marinade. 
• Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes then add the coconut milk. Stir it through and then let the dish simmer for about 15 minutes. 
• I garnished mine with some toasted desiccated coconut and a kaffir leaf.

ROTI CANAI

• 220g flour 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp ghee 
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/3 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup warm water 
• additional ghee or butter for cooking

Method

• Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and ghee together.
• In a separate bowl mix the egg, warm milk and warm water
• Combine the two ingredients to form a dough. Takes about 9 minutes. A machine with a dough attachment will help. The dough should be stretchy. 
• Lightly grease your hands with ghee and form four equal balls. Place them in a greased bowl. Coat each bowl with ghee to ensure it doesn’t dry
• Cover the bowl and leave them to rest in the fridge overnight
• Take the dough out of the fridge an hour before cooking. Grease the work surface with oil. Place one ball and flatten with the help of fingers. I found it easier to work from out to in. Keep stretching until you get a thin dough. It doesn’t matter if you get some tears. Once you have a thin dough, fold it in a third and repeat four times until all ends are folded. I lightly patted the roti at this stage to flatten it before cooking. 
• Keep stretching until you get a thin dough. It doesn’t matter if you get some tears. Once you have a thin dough, fold it in a third and repeat four times until all ends are folded. I lightly patted the roti at this stage to flatten it before cooking. 
• It took a few youtube videos to understand what I was doing and I still did not get it correct but it was my first attempt. The key is to have a nice stretchy dough and grease it well. 
• Cook on a lightly greased pan, on medium heat. Cook on one side for about a minute then turn and cook again for a minute. Add a few drops of oil around on the sides of the roti. Turn it around and cook for a final time. 
• The idea is to end up with a crispy layered roti that just melts in your mouth. Mine didn’t quite melt in my mouth but they were delicious. The trick is to add more fat (ghee, butter) in between folding but I skipped that stage.

KERALAN FISH CURRY WITH CUMIN RICE

FISH CURRY

Ingredients

• 4 large cod fillets ( Frozen or fresh)
• 1/2 juice lemon – to marinate fish”
• 1 tsp salt – to marinate fish
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder – to marinate fish
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder – to marinate fish
• 1 sliced red onion
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tsp crushed ginger
• 2 chopped chillies dependant on the heat you like
• 5 curry leaves
• 1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
• 1 tsp salt or more to taste
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp dhana jiru (ground cumin-coriander powder)
• 1 cup passata
• 1 cup coconut milk
• A handful of chopped coriander 

METHOD:

• Marinate the fish in lemon, salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. If you have frozen fish, put the marinade in and let the fish defrost in it. This can be done for a couple of hours (for the frozen fish wait until it defrosts)
• In a pan heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add in the cumin and fenugreek seeds and sizzle for a minute then add in the sliced onion
• Cook on low/medium heat until the onions are soft. Add in the garlic, ginger, chilli, curry leaves and sizzle for a couple of minutes. Ensure it doesn’t burn or else you will get a bitter taste from the burnt garlic
• Add in the passata and the rest of the spices. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes then add in the coconut milk. Let this simmer and cook for about 10 minutes
• Rinse the marinade from the fish (cut into the pieces if the fillet is too large) add it to the curry. Coat the top of the fish too with the sauce, cover and let this simmer** on low heat for 15-25 mins (until fish is cooked). **If you are not eating the curry straight away, don’t cook the fish at this point or else it may get mushy and overcooked. Leave it in the marinade and cook when you are ready to eat**
• Garnish with chopped coriander. I served mine with cumin rice. 

CUMIN RICE

Ingredients

• 1 tsp of cumin
• Basmati rice enough for 2 people
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ghee
• salt to taste
• Water to boil rice

Method

• Soak rice to remove excess starch.
• In a pan, heat from ghee, add in cumin seeds and once they sizzle carefully add in boiling water, turmeric and salt. I generally use a 1:2 measurement for rice i.e. if the rice is an inch in a bowl I use 2 inches of water. 
• Drain the rice and add it carefully to the boiling water.
• Boil for about 5 minutes then lower heat and simmer until cooked. It is good practice to cover half way through simmering too.

INDO-CHINESE SOYA CHUNKS WITH HOMEMADE NAAN

INDO CHINESE SOYA CHUNKS

Ingredients

• 100g soya chunks
• 1 tsp crushed ginger
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tsp crushed green chillies 
• 1 pepper ( two different varieties look nice)
• 1 red onion
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs tomato ketchup
• 1 tbs brown vinegar
• 1 tbs sriracha sauce
• Coriander to garnish

Method

• Add 1 tsp chilli powder and 1 tsp pepper and salt to 100g of soaked, boiled soya chunks (see instruction on the packet for boiling instructions)
• Heat some oil and cook the soya chunks for 10 mins. Take them out in a bowl and leave on the side. In the same pan add 2 tbsp oil. 
• Once hot, add 1tsp crushed garlic, 1tsp crushed ginger ,1tsp crushed green chillies. Cook for 2 mins 
• Mix soy sauce, tomato ketchup, brown vinegar, sriracha sauce”
• Add in sliced red onion & mixed pepper. Cook for 2 minutes. You want that crunch so try not to overcook. 
• Add back the soya chunks to the sauce you prepared in step 4. 
• Cook for about  10 mins on low heat, garnish with coriander and serve. 
• I had some leftover and the next day I added in some pan-fried halloumi. It worked really well. The sauce would work well with cooked paneer too.

NO YEAST NAAN

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 cup greek yoghurt
• salt to taste

Method

• Mix the ingredients together and knead to form a soft dough. Split the dough into equal balls.”,
• Flour a surface and roll out each dough. If the surface or/and rolling pin get sticky, sprinkle some flour. “,
• Heat a pancake pan on medium heat. Place the naan and cook on one side for about 1 minute. Turn the naan and cook for another minute or so, moving it to ensure it doesn’t burn/stick. Turn and cook again for 30 seconds or so to ensure it is done. At this stage, I press the naan gently to allow it to rise
• Spread some butter on top and serve.

What is your favourite type of curry? I like mine with heat but equally, give me a fragrant mild curry and I will equally enjoy it. Want more traditional gujarati dishes. Check out this khichdi one.

Neha

Disclaimer: I was gifted the jar or Rendang Sauce