• Cuisine: Fusion
• For 4 servings
• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Wait time:  12 hours
• Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Bell Pepper Prawn is a delicious and innovative contribution by the Pop Food team member Kasturi. After she contributed the recipe and the photos, we Googled for similar dishes but found none. So we asked her how best to anchor the dish, that is, how to define a culinary culture that the dish is closest to. What we got from her is it can at best be described as a cross between Italian and Indian cuisine. We tasted the dish, made with fresh prawns and vegetables, and it tastes yum. 

It’s not a quick recipe. And the suggested marination time may not be cut short for convenience. The key to taste is sufficient marination. 

Bell Pepper Prawn: Ingredients

• Prawn, medium-sized, peeled and washed-  500gms 
• Bell Pepper, red, cut into small cubes- 1
• Bell Pepper, yellow, cut into small cubes- 1
• Capsicum, cut into small cubes- 1
• Onion, cut into small cubes- 1 
• Curd-   50 gms
• Bengal grams- 2 tbsp 
• Ginger-garlic paste- 2 tbsp
• Powdered spice mix:  Roasted and ground together

  Cumin seeds- 1.5 tbsp, Coriander seeds- 1 tbsp, Dry chillies- 4

• Chat Masala -1 tbsp 
• Black salt- 1 tbsp 
• Kashmiri red chilli powder  -1tbsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tbsp
• Garam Masala powder- 1tbsp
• Salt –  to taste
• Mustard oil – 3 tbsp

Bell Pepper Prawn: Cooking Procedure

1. Make the marinade: Mix curd, spice powder, chat masala, Bengal grams, ginger-garlic paste, black salt, Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder using a hand-blender. Make a homogenous mix and wait for 5 minutes

2. Add onion cubes & vegetables to the marinade and mix well. Put the contents into an air-tight container and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. Why marinate for so long? This is to ensure the mixture gradually matures with cohabiting flavours and goodness of the spices and veggies

3. Take the marinade out of the fridge at least one hour before cooking

4. Heat mustard oil in a pan on medium flame. Fry prawns with salt and turmeric powder. Do a light fry

5. Next, add the marinade into the pan and keep stirring with the prawns
   
   
6. Cook until the marinade gives off natural oil that starts separating, No need to add water

7. Turn off the burner and covered the preparation for 10 minutes before serving

Bell pepper prawns can be best enjoyed with boiled long grain rice.