Quick Prawn and Squid Indian Curry with Aromatic Rice

I have been very slack with the blog but have a perfect excuse in that we were on holiday so i was out of action for 2 weeks but now back in the saddle so to speak.  This recipe beats phoning your local curry emporium and ordering a heart stopping 3,000 calorie curry that takes its revenge out on you throughout the night.  It's also a very quick curry to make and doesn't involve lengthy marinating.  The only thing you need is to make sure you have all the necessary spices to make this dish taste authentic.  The main spices i use are a combination of Fenugreek (not to be confused with an amusing, moustached encrusted, indebted European), Cumin, Tumeric, Chilli flakes.  Most of these are associated with Southern Indian cuisine and have a very distinctive flavour (and have medicinal properties too).  So what goes into this dish...


For the curry 

• 2 medium sized shallots
• 3cm square of fresh ginger julienne
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 100 g closed cup mushrooms
• 1 large knob of butter or ghee (clarified butter) if you have it
• 1/2 teaspoon of 
• Fenugreek
• Cumin
• Tumeric
• Ground coriander
• Paprika
• Crushed fennel seeds
• Brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of Chilli flakes (I would go less depending on how hot you like it - you can always add you can't remove!)  I use these as I feel in better control of the heat this way.
• 1 large tablespoon of tomato paste
• 300 g of large shelled prawns
• 2 small squid
• 2/3rds of a tin of coconut milk
• 1/2 pint of fish stock. (use a whole Knorr fish stock cube and 1/2 pint of water or your own stock but make sure its reduced and strong flavoured.

The process

Chop the shallots, garlic, mushrooms and ginger and add to a frying pan with the heated butter.  Sweat this down and then add all the spices and mix through so you end up with a gorgeous smelling paste.  Add the tomato paste, stock and coconut milk and let this reduce down so that its not watery.  Test the seasoning and heat and if you feel it needs more add a few more chilli flakes.  Once you are happy with the taste add the squid and the prawns.  These literally need no more than 2 minutes and once these have been cooked through then serve the dish.  If you want to make this look professional put the cooked rice in a cup and turnover on the plate and then put the curry next to it... 

Preparing the squid

Clean the squid (if you don't know how get the fishmonger to do it but its very straightforward - pull the tenticles away from the body and discard the guts, pull the plastic looking quill from the body and remove the wings and the outside skin will come away from the body and you are left with a lovely white smooth body.  Rinse the body out and the tentacles.  One last job is you will feel the beak in the centre of the tentacles, this needs to be removed.  Now slice the squid up either in rings or horizontal strips. 

For the rice

Wash the rice thoroughly with cold water as this helps reduce any sticking.  Add the spices to the pot and add twice the quantity of water to the rice and bring to a simmer.  Don't put the lid on as you want this to evaporate.  When you come to serve the rice its up to you whether you take the spices out - it looks pretty but you don't necessarily want to bite into them...

• 1/3rd of a cup of Basmati rice per person - this is for two people so 2/3rds!
• 10 cloves 
• 10 cardamom pods
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 3 curry leaves
• Salt