Prawn Kofta Curry

My husband has been telling me since the time I arrived at US to go for a driving test. Before I sit behind the steering wheels, I need to obtain a learners' license requiring me to pass a written test. While in Bangalore, I once made a massive damage to our car only by driving it at 10 km/hr speed. The bonnet of the car came off and the chassis bent out of shape by the impact after I rammed the car straight into a divider. It was a dreadful incident that psychologically planted a seed of fear in my mind towards driving. Especially in a country where normally cars run at high speed, I am scared how I would cope. Without knowing how to drive in US is synonymous with the feeling of being handicapped. I am a kind of person who doesn't like depending on people for anything and unless I learn driving, I will never overcome my dependency.

One worthy advice shared by a friend is never to learn driving with husband sitting by your side. Tendencies of husbands bombarding wives who are learning to drive with nonstop dos and don'ts leave them keyed up with unnecessary worries. To an extent, it is true because when I made the accident in Bangalore, my hubby was sitting beside me and he yelled at me to bring the car to a stop as I was heading towards a divider. His holler pressed a panic button in me and I froze forgetting to leash the brake. The car bulldozed into the divider damaging it badly.

Whenever I point the finger of blame at him for that accident I made in Bangalore, he keeps saying that I always lay the blame on him for everything bad happening around me. But I feel that if he had not shouted freaking the hell out of me, I would have steadily brought the car to a stop in good time. Many a time while cooking when he helps me with cutting the vegetables, he contributes his suggestions about what ingredients to add or give a miss etc and whenever I have paid an iota of heed to his advice, my cooked meal has turned out to be either bland or something very miserable in taste. Still, he never refrains from offering suggestions with an aplomb that would make a seasoned chef doubt himself.

I know just as I have learnt after repeated incidents of miserable meals that my hubby is not the best person I should listen to in terms of cooking, similarly he is not the best person to accompany me on practice drives.

Ingredients:                                Cooking time: 40-45 minutes ü  1 kg medium size prawns (peeled and deveined) ü  1 potato (cut into cubes) ü  4 tbsp ginger-garlic paste ü  1 tomato (chopped) ü  1 onion (ground into paste) ü  5-6 green chillies (ground into paste) ü  3 tbsp gram flour ü  2 tsp cumin powder ü  2 tsp coriander powder ü  1 tsp turmeric powder ü  1 tsp dry red chilli powder ü  1 tsp kashmiri red mirch ü  2 tsp garam masala powder ü  30 gm coriander leaves (chopped), plus extra for garnishing ü  Salt to taste ü  1 tsp sugar ü  White oil for cooking ü  1 tsp ghee (optional) For sauté: ü  1 tsp cumin seeds ü  1 bay leaf ü  2 dry red chillies Method: 1) Grind prawns into fine paste. Mix salt, 1 tsp ginger powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp dry red chilli powder and 1 tsp garam masala powder into the paste. Add 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste, half of the green chilli paste and coriander leaves. Combine. 2) Next add gram flour to bind the paste. Make small balls out of the mixture. Deep fry them in smoking hot oil. Keep aside. 3) Heat oil in a wok. Add potatoes and shallow fry. Take them off the flame and set aside. 4) Into the same oil, add the ingredients for sauté and allow them to crackle. Add onion and fry till it turns brown. Add tomato and fry till soften. Add the remaining half of the green chilli paste, ginger-garlic paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, kashmiri red mirch and turmeric powder. Sauté for 5-7 minutes. Add water about 1 cup. Bring the gravy to a boil 5) Toss the fried potatoes into the gravy. Add sugar. Cook covered till potatoes are tender. 6) Add salt and slide in the prawn koftas into the gravy. Sprinkle garam masala powder and add ghee. Gently stir to mix in. 7) Turn off the flame. Cook covered for 10 minutes before serving with rice or paratha. 8) Garnish with coriander leaves.