I’m about to show you how to whip up a delicious prawn curry dish. One where the prawns are cooked in a velvety, aromatic Makhani gravy; using the quintessential technique of creating butter chicken. Serve it with plain steamed rice or the usual roti or paratha and you’ll have a soul satisfying, easy and tasty butter chicken style dish, with prawns (even better!).
Goan prawn curry and butter chicken style prawn makhani are the two prawn dishes I cook the most. Goan prawns for my husband, who acquired the taste of prawns and the coastal cuisine during to his postings in the bay areas.
Butter chicken style Makhani prawns for my son, who like a true Delhi boy, loves his butter chicken to the core 🙂 Another dish that both boys love is Tandoori Prawn as a starter
Traditional North Indian cuisine does not include many sea food dishes, especially prawns. This is because of how difficult it was to find good prawns, till frozen prawns made their appearance in the market.
Even then, it was mostly a few continental dishes or Indian coastal cuisine dishes that we created using prawns; nothing new or experimental. My main reason for cooking them sparingly was because of the many hassles associated with prawns, like cleaning, peeling, deveining and so on…
Why I choose Frozen Prawns over Fresh Prawns ?
I’m sure you know this, but most of the times the prawns we buy are not fresh, for obvious reasons like no coastal areas nearby. The time taken between catching, packing, shipping and finally selling prawns is so long, you might as well eat chicken.
You can never be sure about how many days or weeks ago these so-called fresh prawns were caught. But when it comes to frozen prawns, like the ones by ITC Master Chef (a brand of ITC Ltd.) prawns are frozen within a few hours of catching, so when you defrost them, you get prawns at their peak freshness!
So what I’m really trying to say is, supposed “fresh prawns” are not actually fresh! Frozen Prawns due to their many advantages are better, safer, and more convenient. And ever since I came across ITC Master Chef prawns while shooting for their recipe books , I haven’t touched a “fresh prawn”.
Here’s why I use ITC Master Chef prawns
a peek into the ITC Maurya kitchen to see what they use, and guess what, they use frozen prawns! So easy to cook; I’m hooked
- Hassle Free- They come cleaned, deveined and perfectly ready to cook, thanks to the cleaning process they follow while freezing prawns.
- Faster & Easier Cooking- These are frozen with a technique called Individually Quick Freezing (IQF) . This way the prawns don’t clump together when thawed, making the cooking process much faster and easier.
- Consistent Weight & Quality- When I buy a pack of ITC Master Chef frozen prawns, I get the exact same weight every time. Whereas, the final weight of regular prawns after cleaning and deveining becomes almost half of the total purchased weight when bought “fresh”.
And because of the convenience, I’ve started cooking prawns more often! Which brings me back to our Butter Prawn aka Makhani Prawn recipe.
Frozen prawns are relatively faster to cook as compared to chicken and other meats, making this my new quick dinner recipe, even on weekdays.
No better way to please both the men at home! My boy got his butter chicken taste, only made better with soft and juicy prawns, and my man is elated as he gets his favourite sea food so often 🙂
*On a side note, the recipe books are a blessing if you want to cook prawns at home. You can get them here.
Prawn Makhani Recipe Video Step by Step
Things to Take Care of While Cooking Prawns
- Frozen prawns can be used to cook pretty much any recipe you cook using fresh prawns, or any other meat for that matter. However, here are a few things one should take care of while cooking frozen prawns.
- For soft & juicy prawns, thaw them fully before cooking. If you cook them directly, the result might be hard, overcooked prawns which are not tasty enough.
How to Thaw Prawns
There are two thawing methods one can follow:
- Make holes in the pack and place it in water at room temperature for ½ hour and the prawns will be ready to use.
- Second method is to transfer the pack from the freezer to the fridge and in 5-6 hours, the prawns will be ready to use. Most restaurants transfer frozen prawns to the refrigerator. However, in this Butter Prawn recipe I thawed them in slightly different manner.
How to Make Makhani Prawn Gravy
The process of cooking the gravy is exactly the same as my makhani sauce for butter chicken. The difference is in cooking the two meats. You cook prawns for a total of 3 minutes, which is super convenient and quick! Since the cooking time is limited, you can marinate and thaw the prawns together for better absorption of flavours.
First I made a marinade in the usual butter chicken style. I then added the frozen prawns to the mix and kept the bowl in the fridge. Prawns take about 2-3 hours to thaw in the fridge but you can always keep them over night to let the flavour absorb even more.
Another change I made in this prawn recipe was that I did not use any cashews, almonds or seeds that usually go in my makhani gravy. I find prawns to be quite flavourful on their own, and can taste great without adding too many ingredients .
If you are like me and keep gravy pastes ready during meal prep, you can make this makhani sauce well in advance. All you need then is just 10 minutes to cook this rich, indulgent and delicious prawn makhani dish.
I used ITC Master Chef Jumbo+ Prawns, but you can use any of the sizes to make this recipe.
Step by Step Instructions
Take a mixing bowl and add a cup of yogurt and salt to it. Then add Kashmiri red chili powder, ground coriander powder, ginger garlic paste and garam masala.
Then add dried fenugreek leaves and mix well. Whisk the marinade well and keep them aside.
Now, cut open a packet of ITC Master Chef Jumbo+ Frozen prawns and soak the prawns into the marinade.
Mix the prawns well with a spoon so that the marinade is well coated with it. Leave the marinade in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight if time allows).
Now, in a pan or skillet heat butter and ghee.
When the butter and ghee starts to sizzles, add onions and fry them. When the onions are golden brown add garlic, ginger and red chili powder. Saute them for 1 minute until fragrant.
Add freshly chopped tomatoes and ground coriander powder, and garam masala in the pan. Cook them well until the tomatoes are pulpy.
When the tomatoes are pulpy add tomato paste and mix well. Add water in small quantity and cook everything until they are soft and mushy.
When the vegetables are well cooked, take it out in a grinder and grind it to a smooth paste. When done, take a mesh strainer and strain the gravy and keep it aside. This gives the makhani gravy a smooth texture.
In a separate pan heat two tablespoons of butter and add marinated prawns in them.
Saute the prawns for a minute or two and then add the makhani gravy in the pan. (Add water if required) Cook the marinade for another minute and add cream in it.
Allow the gravy to simmer for another minute and add dried kasuri methi in it. Cook for a minute and serve hot.
More Such Recipes
Butter Prawn with ITC Masterchef Prawn
Ingredients
- 200 grams ITC Masterchef Jumbo Prawns
For the marinade:
- ¼ cup yogurt dahi
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon kasturi methi dried fenugreek leaves
For the gravy
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon ghee
- 1 onion sliced
- 3 to matoes roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1.5 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ cup of heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon kasturi methi dried fenugreek leaves
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine all ingredients for the marinade and whisk to mix well.
- Cut open ITC Master Chef Jumbo+ Frozen prawns and soak into the marinade. Leave the marinade in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight if time allows).
- In a skillet or pan over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon ghee.
- When it sizzles, fry the onions and add garlic, ginger and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Next, add ground coriander, red chilli powder and garam masala.
- Add chopped tomatoes and cook everything till the tomatoes are cooked half way through.
- Now add the tomato paste and cook everything till soft and mushy.
- Grind this mix to a smooth paste. Strain it with a sieve and keep it aside. Straining is optional but makes the makhani gravy smoother.
- Now heat another tablespoon of ghee and butter, and add marinated prawns along with the marinade.
- Sauté them for a minute or two and add the makhani gravy.
- Add ½ cup of hot water and bring the gravy to a boil which takes approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Finish the gravy by adding fresh cream and kasturi methi.
- Garnish with dried coriander leaves and a drizzle of fresh cream and serve with fresh, hot basmati rice or chapati.
Supriya Kutty says
Hi, Rekha. Thank you for telling us the difference between fresh prawns and frozen prawns. I will surely buy frozen prawns from today. I learned a lot from your interesting post. I have heard of Chicken makhani but I have never heard about prawn makhani. I will definitely prepare this unique dish at home. I am sure my family will love it. Thank you for posting such an amazing post. I also like the step by step images that you have posted in this blog.