Indian cooking
Indian cooking / Dishes / Parsi Prawns Patia
Parsi Prawns Patia (Spiced Prawns in Tomato Gravy)

Parsi Prawns Patia

Spiced Prawns in Tomato Gravy
Non-vegetarian

Spiced chopped prawns in a tangy tomato gravy, thickened with onion and a little jaggery. The flavour is savoury, gently sweet-sour and mildly spicy.

Marinade turmeric

0.8 gTossed with the prawns in step 1
01
0.8 g¼ teaspoon
spice
Keep ground; toss with salt and the prawns.

Garlic-vinegar paste spices

7 gGround with garlic and vinegar in step 2
01
2.1 g1 teaspoon
spice
02
3.5 g1 teaspoon
spice
03
1.4 g½ teaspoon
spice
Grind coarse, then with garlic and vinegar to a thick paste.

Tomato sauce ground spices

3 gStirred into the tomato in step 6
Keep ground; stir into the softened tomato.

Everything else

01
Tiger prawn · Jhingashelled and finely chopped
800 g
seafood
02
21 g7 cloves
aromatic
03
30 g2 tablespoons
souring agent
04
40 g3 tablespoons
oil/fat
05
Onion · Pyazfinely chopped
150 g1 onion
vegetable
06
Tomato · Tamatarfinely chopped
120 g1 tomato
vegetable
07
16 g1 tablespoon
vegetable
08
2–2.5 g8–10 leaves
herb
09
8 g2 teaspoons
sweetener
10
to taste
salt
11
3 g2 tablespoons
herb
12
25 g½ lemon
fruit

Method

  1. Put 800 g tiger prawn in a bowl. Add the marinade turmeric and a small pinch of salt; toss and leave while you make the paste.
  2. Grind the garlic-vinegar paste spices coarsely. Add 21 g garlic and 30 g malt vinegar; grind again to a thick paste, adding a little water only if needed.
  3. Heat 40.5 g vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 150 g onion and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring, until softened.
  4. Add the garlic-vinegar paste and fry for 2 minutes, stirring so it does not stick.
  5. Add 120 g tomato and 15.6 g tomato purée. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until the tomato softens.
  6. Stir in the tomato sauce ground spices and cook for 1 minute. Add 2–2.5 g curry leaf and the prawns; fry for 2 minutes.
  7. Add 50 ml water, 8.4 g jaggery and salt to taste. Mix well, cover and simmer over low heat for 2 minutes, until the prawns are pink and cooked through.
  8. Take the pan off the heat. Scatter over 3 g coriander leaves and squeeze in 25 g lemon juice; stir once.

Don't have something?

Tiger prawn
  • King prawn

    Use the same weight; cook 2–3 minutes until just pink. Same sweetness and bite.

  • Large prawn

    Use the same weight; slightly less sweet, so cook 1 minute less.

  • Small prawn

    Use the same weight; they cook in 1–2 minutes, so add them later.

Ground turmeric
  • Ground ginger

    Use 50% of the weight. Mimics turmeric's warm, earthy, rhizome background, but provides none of the golden-yellow colour.

  • Saffron

    Steep a tiny pinch (0.1 g per 2 g turmeric) in 2 tbsp warm water; use to match the rich golden hue. Contributes an aristocratic, honeyed floral flavour rather than earthy bitterness.

Cumin seed
  • Ground cumin

    Use 70% of the weight; add with ground spices or sauce bases rather than hot oil tempering, where it scorches quickly and turns bitter.

  • Black cumin seeds

    Use equal weight for oil tempering. Delivers an earthy profile with an additional musky, smoky, and slightly bitter edge.

  • Fennel seed

    Use 60% of the weight for tempering; offers comparable warm aroma, but leans sweet and liquorice-like rather than savoury and earthy.

Black mustard seed
  • Mustard seeds

    Use equal weight. Pop in hot fat until they crackle and turn greyish; yields an almost identical nutty, pungent finish.

  • Yellow mustard seeds

    Use equal weight. Fry over medium heat; delivers a milder, sweeter pop and turns bitter quickly if the oil is excessively hot.

Black peppercorn
  • Coarsely ground black pepper

    Use 75% of the weight. Add midway through simmering; spreads heat evenly through the dish instead of delivering isolated bursts.

  • Ground black pepper

    Use 50% of the weight. Stir in near the end of cooking; significantly darkens light gravies and provides an immediate, sharp bite.

Garlic
  • Garlic paste

    Use equal weight. Fry gently in oil or ghee with the ginger; incorporates smoothly into curries without visible minced bits.

  • Garlic powder

    Use 15% to 20% of the weight (about 1 g for every 5 to 6 g fresh cloves). Whisk into sauces; gives a savoury, toasted garlic flavour without raw pungency.

  • Shallot

    Use 1.5 times the weight, very finely minced. Sauté until golden; provides savoury allium sweetness, though it lacks garlic's pungent sulphur bite.

Malt vinegar
  • White malt vinegar

    Use the same weight; sharper and clearer; reduce salt slightly.

  • White vinegar

    Use 90% of the weight, diluted with 10% water; harsher, so taste.

  • Lime juice

    Use the same weight; fresher sourness but no malt flavour; reduce salt.

Vegetable oil
  • Peanut oil

    Use 1:1 by weight. Handles high-heat frying identically and introduces a very subtle, pleasant nuttiness.

  • Ghee

    Use 1:1 by weight. Yields a much richer, authentic aroma and a glossy, heavier mouthfeel.

  • Mustard oil

    Use 1:1 by weight. Heat until smoking, then cool slightly before cooking to temper its intensely pungent, sharp mustard kick.

Onion
  • Shallot

    Use equal weight, finely sliced. Shallots soften and brown faster, giving a slightly sweeter and more delicate base to curries.

  • Cabbage

    Use 80% of the weight, finely shredded and browned slowly with a pinch of asafoetida. Replicates the bulk and natural sweetness in gravies without allium.

Tomato
  • Tomato purée

    Use 40% to 50% of the fresh tomato weight mixed with a splash of water. Imparts a deeper red colour, thicker sauce, and slightly sweeter cooked flavour.

  • Plain yogurt

    Use 60% of the weight, whisked smooth and added on low heat. Provides rich body and sourness, though the gravy becomes paler and creamier.

Tomato purée
  • Tomato

    Use 200% to 250% of the weight. Finely grate or blend fresh tomatoes, then cook them down until the moisture evaporates and the oil separates.

Kashmiri chilli powder or mild paprika
  • Kashmiri chilli powder

    Use the same weight; this is the first half of the book's option and gives the best red colour with mild heat.

  • Mild paprika

    Use the same weight; add a pinch of cayenne pepper for warmth. Slightly less colour.

  • Paprika

    Use the same weight and add cayenne pepper to taste; works but is less aromatic.

Ground coriander
  • Coriander seeds

    Dry-roast lightly in a pan and grind to a fine powder; use equal weight (1:1). Offers a noticeably fresher, brighter citrus note.

  • Ground cumin

    Use 50% to 75% of the weight. Lacks the floral, citrusy profile of coriander and turns the gravy heavier, earthier, and darker.

  • Garam masala

    Use 50% of the weight and stir in near the end of cooking. Adds warmth and depth since it contains ground coriander, but introduces stronger spices like clove and cinnamon.

Curry leaf
  • Bay leaf

    Fry 1 bay leaf for every 5 curry leaves in hot oil; imparts a warm, woodsy background note, but misses the citrus-sulphury punch entirely.

  • Lime juice

    Add a small squeeze (about 5 ml per sprig of curry leaves) right before serving; provides sharp citrus top notes without the toasty, herbal aroma.

Jaggery or sugar
  • Jaggery

    Use the same weight, grated or chopped. It gives a deeper, more mineral sweetness and darker colour.

  • Caster sugar

    Use the same weight. It gives a clean sweetness with no molasses; the dish will be lighter in colour.

  • Light brown soft sugar

    Use the same weight. It adds mild molasses and a little colour; dissolve fully.

Coriander leaves
  • Coriander (cilantro) or basil

    Use the same weight, choosing the coriander element if available. If only basil is available, expect a sweeter, more aniseed flavour.

  • Basil leaves

    Use the same weight. Basil is sweeter and more aromatic in a different way; add near the end so it keeps its perfume.

  • Coriander paste

    Use 1.5 times the weight and reduce other liquid slightly; it is less fresh and more concentrated, so taste before adding more.

Lemon
  • Lime

    Use the same weight or juice amount; sharper, so taste before adding all the juice.

  • Lemon juice

    Use about 45–50 ml for 1 lemon; add off the heat to keep the freshness.

  • Dried mango powder

    Use 1 tsp for the juice of 1 lemon; add early. Sourness is flatter and less fresh.

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Goan Prawn Balchao tastes sharper, hotter, more sour and more oily than this dish, with only a faint sweetness against this dish's savoury, gently sweet-sour, mildly spicy tomato gravy.
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  • Different: Spicy Goan Prawns with Garlic, Chilli & Tamarind adds tamarind paste, dark brown sugar, dried Kashmiri chilli, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and fish sauce, and it is griddled in the shells rather than cooked as chopped prawns in a tomato-onion gravy with turmeric, mustard seed, curry leaf, jaggery and lemon.
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  • Same: Balchao shares prawns, onion, tomato, curry leaf, garlic, cumin, black peppercorn and malt vinegar with this dish.
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