Kerala Prawn Pickle
Abhipriya Raghav
A spicy Kerala style prawn pickle recipe with a hint of flavor from coconut oil!
Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr
Course Pickle, Side Dish
Cuisine Indian
To marinate the prawn
- 250 grams prawns, peeled, de-viened and cleaned
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp red chili powder
- 1.5 tsp salt
To fry the prawns
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- handful of curry leaves, chopped
To prepare the pickle
- 1/2 cup sesame oil / gingelly oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 5 tbsp crushed ginger-garlic-green chili
- 5 green chilies, slit
- handful of curry leaves, chopped
- 2 tbsp red chili powder
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- salt, if and as required
Preparing the pickle
In the same kadai, add sesame oil and let it heat.
Add the crushed ginger-garlic-green chili and fry them until the raw smell disappears.
Add the slit green chilies and saute them.
Add the curry leaves and mix well. At this stage, add the required salt too.
Add the red chili powder and cook for less than a minute.
To this mixture, add the fried prawns and mix well.
Add vinegar and cook until oil separates and the mixture becomes dry.
Serve it as a side dish either warm or at room temperature.
- If you are using large prawns, cut them into smaller pieces before marinating.
- If you want big and chunky pieces of prawn in your pickle then avoid the earlier note.
- Frying the prawns in coconut oil will give it the authentic taste of Kerala. You can fry them in any oil you want.
- Do not fry the prawns for more than 3 minutes as they turn rubber-like if cooked longer.
- Instead of using crushed ginger-garlic-green chili, you can use either the paste of even chopped ginger, garlic and green chili.
- Do not let the ginger-garlic-green chili burn.
- Adding salt while preparing the pickle is if and as required. Keep in mind that you have already added around 1.5 tsp salt while marinating the prawn.
- While adding the red chili powder, do not let it burn. fry it in the oil for less than a minute.
- Add red chili powder as per your taste
- From 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of vinegar can be added to preserve.
- The pickle can be stored in clean glass jars at room temperature or in the refrigerator for upto a month.
Keyword achaar, indian, kerala food, pickle, prawn, prawn pickle, south Indian