Kerala Prawn Pickle Recipe, Chemmeen Pickle, Spicy Prawn Pickle – Kannamma Cooks (2024)

This recipe is from my friend Aparna. Appu is my batch mate from my post graduation days. She used to bring big bottles of Prawn Pickle every time she came to hostel after vacation. That was the first time I tasted Prawn Pickle. We all would devour on her bottle and it will be over very soon. Our senior Pramod would come to see Aparna at the hostel. He always brought flowers when he came to see her. The room would have some flowers all the time. I have this memory of Pramod bringing his pens, pencils and a ruler nicely packed in an empty Pringles box for semester exams. Pringles was not readily available those days at shops in India. It had to come from the middle east or USA when someone visited you. I used to save my empty Pringles boxes like a treasure and used it to storestationery. I was surprised to see another person doing the same thing just like me. Appu and Pramod are now married with two children. Wonderful memories. OK. Back to the pickle. This recipe is a flavor bomb. Here is how to do Kerala style Prawn Pickle.

Clean, Peel and de-vein the prawns. We use small prawns for this recipe. Add in the salt and turmeric and mix well. Set it on a strainer for the excess water in the prawns to drain. Let it marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat quarter cup of oil in a pan and add in the prawns and the red chilli powder. Fry on low flame for 5 minutes until cooked. Remove from heat and set aside.

The ginger and garlic are 50% of the weight of the prawns in this pickle. I have used 250 grams of small prawns today. I used 60grams each of garlic and ginger. Run the garlic and ginger in a small mixie jar without adding any water to coarsely crush them. Do not make it into a paste. Just coarsely grind. Set aside. Add the remainingoil in the pan and add in the ginger and garlic mixture.

Saute for two minutes. Add in the chopped green chillies and continue to saute until the garlic and the ginger are nicely roasted. About 5 minutes on medium flame.

Add in the masala powders and the salt and fry for a minute.

Add in the prawns, vinegar and quarter cup of water. Do not add all of the vinegar at once. First add the 1/4 cup of vinegar and taste it. Add more if you think you might need more. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, the mixture would become slightly dry and the oil would start to float on top completely. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool for an hour.

Transfer the mixture to a ceramic or a glass jar. Use only a glass or a ceramic jar for making this recipe. Metals and plastic containers tend to react to the pickle and hence using them is not recommended.

I refrigerate my pickle. You can store it refrigerated for upto a month.

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