Recipe: Adam Liaw’s Quick Sri Lankan Prawn Curry

If you eat prawns, there are two things we need to ask: do you eat the tail and the contentious “poo chute”? Whichever side you fall on, you’ll enjoy chef and author Adam Liaw’s simple yet spectacular Sri Lankan prawn curry, which is ready in about 20 minutes.

“We often think of curries as dishes that stew for a long time, but the southern parts of the Indian subcontinent produce delicious seafood dishes that cook very quickly by comparison,” writes Liaw in his latest cookbook, Time for Dinner. “The first step is to get the sauce or gravy right, then the seafood is added to cook in the last few minutes.”

Everything is cooked in one pot, so the clean-up is simple. And you’ll notice that the recipes for you to leave the prawn tails on. We’re partial to them for the added crunchy texture. Will you brave it?

Adam Liaw’s quick Sri Lankan prawn curry

Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
2 cardamom pods
5 cloves
10cm pandan leaf (about half a leaf), optional
10 curry leaves
2 onions, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2cm ginger, peeled and julienned
1 large green chilli, sliced
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
200ml coconut cream
600g raw prawns (shrimp), peeled and deveined with tails on
Juice of 1 lemon
Steamed rice, to serve

Method

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add the oil. Add the mustard and fennel seeds and the cardamom and cloves. Cook for about 30 seconds until the seeds crackle, then snip in the pandan leaf in 2cm lengths, if using, and add the curry leaves, onion, garlic, ginger and chilli. Fry for about three minutes until softened and fragrant, then add the turmeric, coriander, garam masala, cumin, pepper, salt and sugar, and stir well.

Add 1 cup (250ml) water and the coconut cream, then stir and bring to a simmer. Cook for five minutes, then stir through the prawns and cook for a further three minutes. Stir through the lemon juice and serve with rice.

Tip

The final addition of lemon juice adds a lovely freshness to the dish. You could also use lime juice or a dash of vinegar.

This is an edited extract from Time for Dinner by Adam Liaw published by Hardie Grant Books, released on October 1, 2024.

Want more time-saving meal ideas? Check out Broadsheet 's 30-minutes-or-less dinner ideas. Or for more affordable options, consult our round-up of budget-friendly recipes.