How To Make Chef Gresham Fernandes’ Grandmother’s Prawn Curry

In our series, Robb Report Culinary Masters, culinary wizard Gresham Fernandes, chef-partner at Bombay’s edgy Bandra Born, prepares Prawn Curry from the bucolic recipe of his grandmother. There are recipes that belong to restaurants, and then there are those that belong to memory. Fernandes’ prawn curry sits firmly in the latter camp: prawns cooked with onion, garlic and chilli, enriched with butter masala, sharpened with tamarind and fish sauce, and finished with coconut milk.

Fernandes, chef-partner at Bandra Born, approaches the dish with the sort of economy that comes naturally to a recipe passed down through generations. The prawns are tossed until they take on colour, before a deeply reduced stock made from shrimp heads brings depth to the curry. A little tamarind cuts through the richness, while fish sauce adds another savoury layer.

The final flourish is deliberately simple. Coriander stems and jalapeños go over the curry, which Fernandes recommends eating with soft bread or karak pav. It is the sort of dish designed less for ceremony than for reaching for another piece of bread.

The Recipe — Grandmother’s Prawn Curry

Ingredients

• Prawns

• Oil

• Onion, chopped

• Garlic, chopped

• Chilli

• Butter masala

• Shrimp-head stock, reduced

• Tamarind

• Fish sauce

• Coconut milk

• Coriander stems

• Jalapeños

• Soft bread or karak pav, to serve

Method

1. Heat a little oil in a pan and sauté the onion, garlic and chilli.

2. Add the butter masala and cook it briefly, allowing the mixture to come together.

3. Add the prawns and toss until they become nicely coloured.

4. Pour in the reduced stock made from the shrimp heads and allow the prawns to cook in the sauce.

5. Add a little tamarind and fish sauce, adjusting to taste.

6. Finish with coconut milk and bring the curry together without overcooking the prawns.

7. Garnish with coriander stems and jalapeños.

8. Serve hot with soft bread or karak pav.