Steamed Rice And Prawn Pie

Seen those bamboo steamers that are such a rage these days? Well, a few weeks back I happened to go travelling to the interiors of India and what do you know, the tribal have always been cooking with them. Infact, I happened to meet a very accommodating local who within a matter of minutes, chiseled out for me, my very own bamboo steamer. Yup, custom made! How cool is that? Anyways, today I decided to put the steamer to good use and baked my self a yummy steamed rice n prawn pie.

Here is what you need,

• 1 cup Basmati rice or small grain rice (which ever is handy) soaked in water for a couple of hours
• 5 cups of coconut milk (You could also use 3 cups coconut milk with 2 cups water if you like)
• Pinch of sal
• 1 cup cooked prawns
• 1 onion finely diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp chili powder/paprika
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• a small piece of ginger, finely grated
• a small knob of butter, melted

Method:

1. In blender, mix together the pre soaked rice with coconut milk until a very smooth and runny batter is formed.
2. Add the salt to it and mix really well. Keep aside.
3. In a pan, pour a little oil and saute the onions until they turn translucent.
4. Now add the garlic and ginger and saute for a couple of minutes.
5. To this, add the paprika/chili powder, salt and the turmeric powder and fry until the raw smell disappears.
6. Now tip in the cooked prawns and mix until everything is well coated with the spices.
7. In a greased cake tray, pour half of the rice batter and allow it to steam for 10 minutes or up until it cooks and becomes firm.
8. Then, lay down the prawns in a layer on top of the cooked rice batter and pour half of the remaining batter on top.
9. Steam it for 5 minutes and then quickly pour the rest of the batter on top.
10. Steam for a further 10 minutes or up until the pie is fully cooked. You could try the toothpick test to check if the pie is cooked.
11. Remove from the steamer and give the pie a butter wash.
12. Let the pie cool before transferring it to your serving dish.
13. Enjoy!! Yum!

PS: I know it looks a little minimalistic and plain jane, but the flavour of the prawn and the melt in your mouth consistency of the pie more than makes up for it.

Fried Prawn Patties

So, this recipe is finger licking good. The good thing about this  is that its versatile. So, while I've used prawns here, the recipe lends itself fabulously to chicken, meat and even vegetarian options. You surely must try it out now. No excuses!

Here are the things you need,

For the patties:

Rice flour - 1 cup

Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Water - 1 1/2 cups

Salt - 1 tsp

For the filling:

Cooked prawns - 250 grams

Onion - 1 (Finely diced)

Garlic - 3-4 cloves (Finely diced)

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil  for deep frying

In a blender, mix together the grated coconut and fennel seeds thoroughly.

Bring the water to boil in a large bowl.

As it boils, add in the rice flour, the coconut-fennel mix, salt and mix well.

Remove from heat and knead the mix into a soft dough.

Make fist sized balls of dough and keep aside.

Heat a little oil in a pan and add the diced onion and garlic and allow it to saute.

Then add the salt, turmeric and chilly powder to it till the raw smell of the spices disappear.

Now, quickly add the prawns to the pan and mix well.

Since the prawn is already cooked, we only need to keep the pan on heat until all the spices and prawns are well mixed.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed dish. The oil must be really hot so that when we fry the patties, it does not soak up excess oil.

While the oil is heating up, spread a little oil in you hands and flatten out the dough balls into approximately a pancake size using your hands. 

Scoop a little of the prawn mix into the center of the dough and bring the edges of the dough together. Seal the edges well by pressing on it hard, so that no oil gets inside the patty as we fry it.

Now, drop the patty into the oil and fry it until it turns nice and golden brown.

Serve.

While, I've chosen to do a half moon kinda shape for the patty, you could mold them into balls, squares or basically any shape that you fancy. The key here however is that no matter what shape you choose, remember to seal the edges cause otherwise oil will enter the filling and your patties will become soggy.