Chili garlic prawns with okra gumbo

Caribbean food week:  Day 7

Gumbo is more linked to the Deep South, I believe, but with the chili garlic prawns, I think this should qualify.  Whatever, it was delicious.

Gumbo traditionally is really quite gloopy, with the okra cut to allow the gooey insides to escape.  I don't like the texture of that, so I choose smallish okra and keep them whole.  The flavour is delicious, but the texture much improved (IMHO).

So, start with the potatoes, marinate the prawns, then make the gumbo and finally fry the prawns.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Garlic
Chili flakes
Prawns/Lingoustine
Onions
Thyme
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Okra
Tinned chopped tomatoes

1.  Parboil the potatoes, then roast in olive oil for about 40 minutes.
2.  Marinate the prawns in lemon juice, garlic, chili flakes and olive oil.
3.  Chop onions and crush garlic, saute a little.
4.  Add chopped mushrooms, red pepper, thyme, okra and a tin of chopped tomatoes to the onion, simmer - add water/stock if it's looking dry.  After 15 minutes or so ....
5.  Fry the prawns on each side for a few minutes.
6.  Serve - with a plate for the shells and oodles of kitchen towel.

Tarka dahl and kholrabi and okra curry, with rice

Eeking out the veg box after the festivities - today onions, 1 yellow pepper, 1 kholrabi, 1 red chili, some cavolo nero ... from the freezer some okra, and from the cupboard a tin of tomatoes ... some spices, some lentils and rice and tah dah....

So, in chronological order of preparation:-

Rice

Mix 1/3 red rice to 2/3 white basmati rice.  Put into cast iron casserole dish.
Cover with water - up to and inch above the rice.
Cover and heat on hob, until it boils.
When water boils, transfer to medium oven, and sit for at least 20 minutes.

Dahl

Lentils
Water

Tarka

Olive oil
mustard seeds
cumin seed
fennel seeds
garam masala
curry leaves

1.  Boil red lentils in plenty of water, for about 30+ minutes.  Stir now and again.  Add more water if you need to.
2.  Make curry....
3.  Just before serving, heat olive oil - when hot add seeds, toss, add leaves and garam masala.  Turn off heat.
4.  Pour spiced oil onto dahl.

Kholrabi and okra curry

olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 kholrabi, peeled and diced
Curry spice mix (I used a Bombay masala mix)
Crushed garlic
water
Shredded cavolo nero
Frozen okra
Tinned crushed tomatoes.

1.  Sweat onion in olive oil.
2.  Add other diced vegetables, stir round until a little soft.
3.  Add spice mix, garlic and water.  Simmer for 5 minutes or so.
4.  Add shredded cavolo nero and frozen okra, turn over a couple of times, then tip in tomatoes.
5.  Simmer until all coooked - adding water if it looks a bit dry.

... about now - return to tarka, and findish that off ...

serve, scoff, gloat

Okra curry, Tara dhal, onion bhajis. And some other stuff

These instructions are quite vague, because I got a new phone, and had to prioritise playing with it - so have forgotten exactly what I did... but you get the gist ;)

Turn the oven on, and then set to ... some is opening packets, but there is some chopping and stuff too - I started the dishes in the following order, to get them to get to the table at the same time

Tarka dahl - boil lentils until done - just before ready to serve - fry spices in oil, chuck into lentils - scoff

Okra curry - oiol, chopped onion, chopped veg, garlic, spice mix... fry - add frozen okra and some water - simmer - add tin of chopped tomatoes - simmer - scoff (keep warm in oven if done and waiting for other stuff)

Yogurt garlic sauce - natural yogurt, garlic, olive oil, lemon, seasoning ... stir - keep in fridge until ready to scoff

Samosas - open frozen packet - cook in oven for 12 minutes (splash of oil) - scoff

Onion bhajis - chopped onion, and I added some shredded cabbage, salt and pepper and chili flakes.  Stir in gram flour, and at the minute a teaspoon of bicarb and some cold water - mix quickly and fry in hot oil.  Drain and scoff ... with ... yogurt garlic sauce, sweet chili sauce and chutney.

Potato parathas - open frozen packet - follow instructions (dry fry on each side for 2 minutes) scoff

Popadoms - break up - spread on plate - microwave on full for 1 and a half minutes - scoff

Sweet chili sauce - take top off bottle - pour into small bowl - scoff ;)