Devilled Prawns in Sri Lankan Style

Devilled is a preferred term for Sri Lankans when it refers to many Sri Lankan dishes. Be it chicken, fish or seafood, most Sri Lankans like to eat a devilled dish. The term indicates a really hot and spicy dish. Usually a devilled dish has a reddish appearance, but it is not from red chilly. Actually this red is from the tomato sauce use for the dish. A devilled dish always gives a mix of sweet, hot, spicy and a tangy taste. 

 

These devilled dishes are popular as Chinese dishes and earlier I shared recipes for Devilled Chicken and Devilled sausages. Today recipe is about how to cook Devilled prawns. With the roots to Chinese Cuisine, this Sri Lankan dish has its own authentic Sri Lankan taste. For me, this is bit similar to Sambal Prawns which I find in Singapore.

In this recipe I use tomato sauce. Instead you can still use ripe tomatoes. But, if you use tomatoes, add bit sugar to the mix.

I usually prefer to prepare the sauce separately and check the taste before I prepare the final dish. This method allows me to prepare the dish easily and get the required taste easily. If you are confident, you can also add sauces while cooking the dish.

To make this devilled prawns dish hot, I use black pepper. Usually I grind black pepper just before cooking. Addition of freshly coarse black pepper gives flavor than powdered pepper. Try with fresh black pepper. If you are unable to grind pepper before cooking, then pepper powder is fine too.

With all tips mentioned above, try this recipe for Devilled Prawns. Don’t forget to tell me how it came out for you if you try this recipe.

Ingredients (For 1 serving dish/enough for 2-3 person)
About 10-15 Prawns
2 medium size onions
2 tspn ginger garlic paste
2 green chilies
1 tbspn red chili flakes (kali miris)
1 bell pepper/or 3-4 banana peppers (Malu miris)
3 tbspn tomato sauce
1 tbspn soy sauce
1 cup warm water
1 tbspn corn flour
Cooking Oil
1 tbspn black pepper
Salt as required.

Method
Step 1- Prepare Basic Ingredients
Clean, remove head and devein prawns. Remove the shell too.
Slice onion, green chili and bell pepper or banana peppers into bite size pieces. Keep aside.
Coarsely grind black pepper. Don’t grind till it becomes a powder. Instead, we need fresh coarse black pepper. Keep aside.


Step 2- Prepare the Sauce
In a separate bowl, mix tomato sauce, soy sauce and 2-3 tbspn warm water together. Add chili flakes to this mix. Also add fresh ground black pepper. Mix all well and prepare the sauce. Check the taste and adjust pepper, chili as required. Add a bit of salt. Careful with salt as we already used soy sauce. The taste should be a mix of bit sweet, tangy and spicy.
Using another bowl,  mix 1 tbspn of corn flour with remaining warm water. Keep aside.
Once the sauce is ready, we can start cooking.

Step 3- Cook Devilled Prawns
In a pan, heat 2- 3 teaspoons of oil. When oil is hot, add prawns and fry well until it is cooked and pink in colour. Then add ginger garlic paste. Once it starts to emit aroma, add onion, chili and bell pepper. Mix well.
Then add the sauce mixture and mix well. Mix until all combine well.
Once all mixed well, add corn flour mixture. Simmer till you get the desired sauce/gravy thickness.
Add some salt & pepper if required.
Serve it hot as a side or as an appetizer!
Garnish with some spring onions.(optional)