King prawn, mushroom and pea curry

Method
Prep:15min  ›  Cook:30min  ›  Ready in:45min 

1. Depending on type and size of mushrooms used, wash and quarter (small-medium closed cap) or thick slice (larger closed cap / open cap). Personally I prefer closed cap chestnut mushrooms, but open cap or portabello mushrooms tend to have more flavour, although how noticeable this is in a curry is a moot point.
2. If frozen, ensure prawns are thoroughly defrosted. Remove tails if present, and rinse off.
3. Chop onion (I leave about a third in long pieces, but this is not important). I use red onion, but again this is not important.
4. Wash and finely chop chilli. I always leave the seeds in, but it's a matter of how hot you like your curry (seeds in = hotter). Also, the type and size of chilli will affect the heat, and you may prefer to use dried chilli if you know the strength you like.
5. Finely chop garlic (or mince in a garlic press) - you may want to use less or more depending on how much you like garlic.
6. Finely chop ginger.
7. Grind the seeds in a mortar and pestle.
8. In a large frying pan (preferably with a lid), dry fry any seeds used. Should be on quite a hot heat, but for a short time (less than a minute) until seeds start popping (hence need for lid) and start giving off a spicy aroma. Before the seeds start burning, add the olive oil, and when this has heated up, add the onion, fresh chilli, chopped ginger and garlic. Fry for a few minutes, stirring regularly, until soft but not burned (care fumes from chilli and spices can get in the throat and cause coughing!). This step should take 5 or 6 minutes.
9. Add mushrooms, and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the ground spices while cooking and stirring the mushrooms.
10. Add tomatoes, and bring to simmering heat. Again stir regularly, around 5 minutes.
11. Add the prawns and stir until cooked (make sure there is no translucent flesh, and check inside the largest one by cutting into it with a knife). Again around 5 minutes.
12. Add peas - freshly podded or frozen (or chickpeas if preferred - it will be a less sweet curry with chickpeas). Simmer, stirring occasionally, until cooked, and until sauce is reasonably thick (which shouldn't be too long). If using, add chopped coriander or parsley during this stage. Another 5 minutes or so.
13. The actual cooking time should be 25 to 30 minutes. You can give it a quick blast if necessary to reduce the liquid if there is too much, but this should not be necessary if you have just used tomatoes and no water (on the other hand, if too much water has evaporated, and the sauce is too thick, and things are starting to burn, simply add a small amount of water. If you want to keep it warm, simply put into a suitable covered dish in a low oven).

To serve

Serve with rice and/or flat bread (naan, pitta, etc) and chutneys. If it does turn out to be too hot, try stirring in a couple of tablespoons of plain yoghurt just before serving.

Tomatoes

Rather than chopped, tinned tomatoes, could used whole plum, or even fresh ripe ones, but latter would need to be skinned, and in both cases they would need to be chopped by hand.

Whole spices

Using the whole spices is optional. If you don't have whole, you could use the following amount of ground:
Same amount of ground cumin
Double the amount of ground coriander
Large pinch of black pepper