Quick and easy Goan Style Prawn Curry with Coconut Milk recipe made with king prawns, creamy coconut milk, aromatic classic Indian spices, and fresh herbs. Perfectly goes well with fluffy basmati rice and you can prepare everything in under 30 minutes.
We love to cook creamy chicken and seafood curries. If you are a creamy coconut curry fan like me, you don't want to miss our reader's favourite Thai-style red prawn curry and Sri Lankan-style aromatic chicken curry with coconut milk recipes.
I find this dish is very similar to South Indian curries and Sri Lankan Prawn Curry with Coconut Milk, which is also made with spices, onions, tomatoes, and coconut milk.
Traditional Goan prawn curry is made with curry paste made with freshly grated coconut, toasted coriander seeds, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, turmeric, etc. All whole roasted spices and fresh herbs are blended with a food processor or mortar and pestle into a smooth paste with a dash of water or coconut milk.
As this is a quick and easy recipe, I am using ground spices, ginger garlic paste, and smooth tomato puree, instead of making curry paste. Do not need to use any food processor. Less preparation and clean up time but curry sauce is super rich, creamy, and flavourful. You can cook everything from scratch in under 30 minutes with basic pantry-friendly spices.
What do we need
- Peeled and deveined prawns - Add any of your favourite king prawns, shrimp, or tiger prawns. I used medium-size raw king prawns in this recipe. Use raw prawns frozen/fresh. Cooked prawns are not recommended for this recipe as they can be rubbery and tasteless when cooked in the sauce.
- Shallot onions - Recommend adding shallot onions which are easy to melt in the curry sauce and have less moisture. If you cannot get shallot onions use regular brown onions.
- Tomato - I used tomato passata to achieve a smooth curry texture. Tomato passata is available in cartons/tins in supermarkets and grocery stores. Feel free to use freshly chopped ripened tomatoes.
- Fresh herbs - Curry leaves, freshly grated garlic and ginger paste, coriander, and green chilies are ideal for this recipe.
- Tamarind paste/concentrate -Tamarind brings a tangy flavour to the dish and you don't need to use it a lot. Adding a couple of teaspoons of tamarind balances out creamy curry and it tastes just like the traditional Goan curry. You can either use cooking tamarind concentrate or homemade tamarind paste from the tamarind pulp.
- Coconut oil - Cook with coconut oil for the best authentic flavour. If you don't have coconut oil, swap it with neutral flavour vegetable oil or sunflower oil.
- Coconut milk - Add your favourite creamy coconut milk tins with more cream percentage and less in water.
- Black mustard seeds - One of the key ingredients used for Indian, Bengali, and South Asian dishes. Mustard seeds have a distinct pungent, nutty, fresh flavour.
- Pantry staple spices - The rest of the spices are pantry staples that you can easily find in your kitchen cupboard.
How to make it
- First, heat the coconut oil to medium heat and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds and let the spices pop.
- Then, add the chopped onions and saute the onions until soft and translucent. Follow with the garlic and ginger paste and saute until the onions are slightly brown.
- Next, add the tomato passata and cook until the tomato colour change and the oil separates.
- Then add the spices, turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, and garam masala and cook for a few seconds until fragrant.
- Now pour the water and coconut milk and cook for a few seconds until the sauce is thick and creamy.
- Next, add tamarind paste and salt to taste.
- Add the prawns and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the prawns are cooked through. Make a taste test and customize the salt and water to your taste. Add a dash of warm water if the sauce is too thick.
- Finish with green chillies and coriander. Transfer to a serving plate and serve with plain rice, coconut rice, or choice of bread, or naan.
Top Tips
- Do not overcook the prawns. Cook the curry sauce to your desired consistency first, before you add the prawns. Prawns are cooked very quickly, and it takes only 2-3 minutes.
- You can keep the leftover curry leaves in the fridge or freezer for later use. Pat dry the leaves with a paper towel, then add to the air-tight bag or container. It usually lasts in the fridge for a couple of weeks and lasts for up to 3 months in the freezer.
- Curry sauce with coconut milk become thicker and thicker after cooked. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of warm water to your desire consistent.
FAQ
It goes really well with coconut rice, plain basmati rice, garlic bread, or flatbread. Pair it with vegetable side dishes, Fish Pakora, salad, chicken pea curry, or lentil soup, and make it a wholesome dinner.
You can freeze or reheat the coconut prawn curry. Add the curry to the air-tight container, and freeze it in the freezer. Reheat it in the microwave or over the stovetop until piping hot.
Many South Indian, Thailand, Malaysian, and South Asian recipes use coconut milk in their curry and soups. Coconut milk brings an extra rich creamy flavour to the curry and it balances out the salty, sour, and savoury taste.
You can swap prawns with potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, butternut squash, aubergine, long beans, mangetout and bell peppers to make a vegetable curry with coconut milk. Add the hard vegetables first to be evenly cooked. Firm tofu, mushroom, paneer, and Quorn meat are great plant-based protein choices that you can use instead of prawns.
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📖 Recipe
Easy Prawn Curry with Coconut Milk
Equipment
- Large pot or pan
Ingredients
- 500 gram Prawns Shrimp/king prawns/tiger prawns, peeled and deveined ( About 17.5 oz )
- 3 Shallot onion Or brown onion ( finely chopped )
- 1 tbsp Garlic paste Or finely grated
- 1 tbsp Ginger paste Or finely grated
- 10-12 Curry leaves
- 250 gram Tomato passata Or finely chopped tomatoes ( About 9 oz )
- 300 ml Coconut milk See details in note
- 3 tbsp Coconut oil Or vegetable oil
- 2 tsp Tamarind paste See details in note
- 1½ tsp Salt Or salt to taste
- 1 cup Water
- 4-5 Green chilli Cut thin slices
- handful Coriander leaves Roughly chopped
Spices
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp Chilli powder
- 1 tsp Garam masala
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
Instructions
- First, heat the pan into medium heat. Heat coconut oil in the pan and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds and once the spices start to pop, add the chopped onions and cook until soft and translucent. Follow with the garlic and ginger paste and stir it well until the onions are slightly brown.
- Next, add the tomato passata and cook until the tomato is reduced and oil separates. Then add the spices, turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, and garam masala and stir for few seconds until fragrant.
- Now pour the water and coconut milk and cook for a few seconds until the sauce is thick and creamy. Add tamarind paste and salt to taste.
- Add prawns and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the prawns are cooked through. Make a taste test and adjust the salt and water to your taste.
- Finish with green chillies and coriander. Transfer to serving plate and serve with plain rice, coconut rice, or choice of bread, or naan.
Video
Notes
- Prawns - Use any large or medium size prawns, shrimps, fish, squid, or choice of seafood. Do not recommend cooked prawns for this recipe. Use raw prawns fresh or frozen, peeled and deveined. Frozen prawns should be thawed/defrost before adding to the curry.
- Shallot onions - Shallot onions are less moisture, crisp up faster, and are easy to melt in the curry sauce. If you cannot get shallot onions, you can also use regular brown onions or baby onions.
- Tomato passata - is a sieved smooth uncooked tomato puree, made of ripe tomatoes. Comes in cartons or tins and is available in most supermarkets and grocery stores. You can also use finely chopped fresh ripe tomatoes instead of tomato passata.
- Curry leaves - is ideal for this recipe you can buy them at Indian/Sri Lankan grocery stores in the UK.
- Coconut oil - Use pure coconut oil for an authentic flavour. Instead of coconut oil, you can use regular sunflower, canola, or neutral flavour vegetable oil.
- Coconut milk - We usually use Aroy-D, or Chaokoh coconut milk brands. Use any of your favourite available thick creamy coconut milk tins or cartons.
- Tamarind paste/concentrate - I used ready-made tamarind cooking concentrate in this recipe. You can also make a tamarind paste/puree by using tamarind pulp. Soak the tamarind pulp in the hot water, and mash the tamarind when it is cool down. Then strain with a mesh strainer or sieve.
Farrah Patel says
Just came across your wonderful recipe and have just made it! So delicious and so easy to make. Thank you 😊 .
From the U.K
Ben P says
Really delicious simple curry. Have cooked it multiple times
Cho Cho Thin says
Thank you
Steve says
I’ve never made curry before, but OMG, this is an awesome recipe 👍 5 stars all the way 👍 really tastey !
Khin says
So happy to hear it! It's my favourite prawn curry too. Thanks for leavin a comment, Steve!
Chikondi Liabunya says
delicious I enjoyed it very much although i played around with the quantities
Khin says
Glad you tried it out and enjoyed it, Chikondi!
Jacob Ikareth says
Delicious and a very quick dinner option.
Steve says
Wonderful. Loved this. Changed virtually nothing but did take another commenter's suggestion of adding bell pepper to keep my partner happy (she always complains there's not enough vegetable in things!). I loved it, daughter loved it, partner thought it too spicy (I'll tone it down next time) but otherwise enjoyed it. Will be making this again.
Coco says
Best homemade curry I’ve ever made, thank you!
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed it, Coco! Thanks for sharing your feedback.
Penny says
This was delicious, one of my best homemade curries and easy to make too. Super tasty, much better than any jar of curry paste. Will definitely make again.
Khin says
Yay! Very happy that you enjoy this prawn curry recipe, Penny. Thanks for trying out and sharing feedback.
Karima says
Tried it last night. Absolutely love it!
Khin says
So glad that you liked, Karima. Thanks for sharing feedback with us.
Patrick says
So easy and looks really delicious! I love how this recipe doesn’t require to use food processor. I normally avoid cooking curries because of extra procedures. Now I’m so happy I found this.
One question, can I use coconut cream instead of coconut milk?
Khin says
Absolutely fine to use coconut cream as it is richer and thicker. Hope you enjoy this recipe. Thank you, Patrick.
Olivia says
We've made it yesterday with king prawns and peppers. Absolutely delicious and easy. Definitely trying your other recipes. Thanks!
Khin says
Sounds delicious with extra veggies. So glad that you enjoyed it, Oliva. Thanks for sharing feedback with us.