Chemmeen Curry

Chemmeen — prawn or shrimp in Malayalam — is everyday cooking of Kerala's coastal fishing communities, Christian, Muslim and Hindu alike, in a region whose backwaters and sea have made shellfish a staple. What marks the dish as unmistakably Keralan is kudampuli (Garcinia gummi-gutta/cambogia, the Malabar or 'fish' tamarind), whose halved rind is sun-dried and smoked to a leathery black and used in place of ordinary tamarind as a souring agent that does not muddy coconut. It is closely related to but distinct from kokum (Garcinia indica), the souring fruit of the more northern Konkan and Goan coast. The curry has no single recorded origin; it is regional home and toddy-shop fare carried by tradition.

Plump prawns curl in a thin, deep orange-red gravy stained dark where the kudampuli has steeped. The first taste is sour and salty, a tang with a faint smokiness quite unlike the round sourness of tamarind, then chili heat rises, then a low coconut sweetness and the grassy lift of curry leaf underneath. The prawns are sweet and just-firm, not rubbery. Coconut oil rounds the edges. Spooned over plain rice or mopped up with appam, it is bright, hot and savory, and like many Kerala curries it tastes deeper the next day.

Kudampuli is load-bearing: it stays cleanly acidic at coconut-simmer heat, where lime juice would turn bitter, and it sours the gravy without curdling coconut milk the way yogurt can, so it is the coastal souring agent of choice. Its sun-drying and smoking give it the characteristic dark, faintly smoked sourness; soaking the rind in warm water first releases the acid into the curry. Prawns cook in only a couple of minutes and toughen if overdone, so they go in late and are simmered just until they turn opaque and curl. Coconut, added as thick milk near the end or as a ground paste, thickens and enriches the thin gravy; if thick coconut milk is used it is warmed below a boil to keep it from splitting. Coconut oil carries the regional flavor.