Prawns Koliwada (Prawns Appetizer)

We as a family are seafood lovers and would love seafood in any form, then be it fish curry, crab curry, appetizer or fish fry. Prawns Koliwada is the most easiest and quickest of appetizer one can prepare. Unlike other appetizers, it does not take numerous ingredients and abundance of time to prepare. For the blog I always try and research some kind of history behind every dish. I came across an interesting trivia for this one. Many assume that Prawns Koliwada might be originating from Konkan side of Maharashtra, which is wrong. Infact, this dish has its name from place "Sion fishing village" in Mumbai named as "Sion Koliwada". 

Also another interesting fact is that the dish has been named after Sion Koliwada but was prepared by an North Indian immigrant from Punjab. Who knew that seafood which has name so similar to Maharashtra's coastal region would have such amusing history behind it.

Let's take a quick look at the recipe.

Ingredients for Marination:

1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder (If not available use regular red chilli powder and as per your spice intake)
1 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tbsp Fish masala (I had homemade masala, but you can use any market bought as well)
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
Salt to taste

12 medium sized deveined prawns

Ingredients for Batter:
1/2 cup Gram Flour (Besan)
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder (If not available use regular red chilli powder and as per your spice intake)
1 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tbsp Fish masala (I had homemade masala, but you can use any market bought as well)
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
Salt to taste

1 cup Water 
Oil for deep frying
1 tsp Chat Masala (Optional)

Marination:
Clean the prawns well and make sure to drain away all the moisture from the fish. Pat them dry. In a bowl marinade the prawns with Ginger paste, garlic paste, turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, coriander cumin powder, salt, lemon juice. Mix all well and make sure every fish is coated well. Keep it aside for 15-20 mins.

Method: 
In a mixing bowl add batter ingredients and mix all well. Make sure to get rid of all lumps. While adding water in the batter be careful as we do not want too runny batter.

We need the consistency of batter to be little bit thick.

Once the batter is ready heat oil for frying in a pot.

Dip prawns in the batter and coat them well.

While adding prawns in oil, make sure you round them with your hand and then release them in oil. If you like them to remain straight then it is fine too.

I prefer them to be round as they use less space while frying.

Keep the flame on medium while frying, as we want to cook the prawns as well. If the flame is high the coating will be cooked but the prawns will remain uncooked.

Continue the process and serve them hot with Schezwan chutney or Mint Chutney.