Goan Ambot Tik Curry Recipe

Prawn Ambot Tik Curry – Easy Goan Prawns Curry

Let me show you how to make a delicious Goan ambot tik curry. A popular curry in Goa, it’s made without coconut and has a deep dark red colour. It can be made with fish with few bones like shark, pomfret or sole fish or else with prawns.

The name comes from the two main flavours  of the curry. ‘Ambot’ means tangy and “Tik” means spicy, in this case, medium spicy.

And like most Goan curries, the tangy and spicy prawn ambot tik curry tastes even better the next day! It goes well with bread or plain fluffy white rice.

Some other interesting prawn recipes to try out would be my lip-smacking Goan prawn masala, and delicious prawn pulao. And if you want to check out another non-coconut based Goan curry, do try to make the tasty Goan jeerem meerem fish curry.

Ingredients

400g (40 nos) prawns (1 cup cleaned prawns)

1 tsp salt

½ tsp turmeric powder

Curry paste

7 K chillies (Or 2 tsp K chilli powder)

5 cloves

12 peppercorns

1 inch piece cinnamon

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 inch piece ginger. sliced

6 garlic cloves. sliced

Tamarind, 1-inch lime-size ball

¼ cup warm water

1 tbsp vinegar

Curry

2 tbsp oil

1 medium size onion chopped

Curry paste

1 slit green chilli

1 ½ tsp sugar

5-6 dried kokum skins

Salt to taste

Procedure

1. Clean, de-vein, and wash the prawns. Marinate them with the salt and turmeric powder as you proceed with making the curry.
2. Add the warm water to the tamarind. Let the tamarind soak and soften for about 20 minutes.
3. Then add the dried Kashmiri chillies, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, and cumin seeds to a grinder jar. Grind all of this to a fine powder. Add the ginger, garlic, the soaked tamarind along with the water it was soaked in, and the vinegar to the dry spice mix in the grinder jar. Grind to a smooth paste adding a little water if necessary.
4. In a pot, heat the oil. Add the onions and fry them till they become light brown. Add the curry paste and sauté this for around 2 minutes. Add in the marinated prawns. Sauté these for 3 minutes.
5. Next, add the rinsing of the grinder jar, and 1 cup of water. Give the curry a stir and add the green chilli, and kokum skins. Stir everything and bring the curry to a boil. Cover the pot and cook the prawns in it on medium heat for around 3 minutes. Add the sugar, and salt to taste. Turn off the heat. Cover the pot and let the curry rest for half an hour to let the flavours of the prawns and the spices blend into the curry. Re-heat the curry before serving it out.

Enjoy!