To begin making the Srilankan Prawn Curry recipe, clean and devein all the prawns removing the head, tail and remove shell. To devein the prawns, make a long slit from the head of the prawn to the middle of its spine and pull out the black vein.

In a bowl marinate the prawns with lime juice and a pinch of salt, while we cook the spice mixture.

To prepare the coconut spice mixture, take a frying pan, add grated fresh coconut (or dessicated coconut depending on whichever you are using), fennel seeds and whole coriander seeds and dry roast over low heat, until coconut turns golden brown and starts giving out a lovely, sweet coconut smell. This usually takes a minute.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. To the cooled mixture, add pepper powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, curry powder, turmeric powder, red chilli flakes and grind to a coarse paste with two tablespoons of water. Set aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and fry until golden brown.

Add minced ginger and garlic to the onion, stir for a minute.

Add ground coconut spice mixture and stir for 2 minutes. Add 50ml of water and allow it to reduce completely. This will help to cook the spice mixture and remove the raw smell. Add salt as per your taste keeping in mind that we have marinated the prawns with a pinch of salt already.

Do not burn spices, so keep stirring constantly and cook on low flame. When the spice mixture has thickened, add the prawns marinated in salt and lime juice. Cook for 3 minutes.

Add thick coconut milk, stir well and cook on low heat until slightly thickened and oil starts floating on top. Add curry leaves, stir to incorporate and coat the prawns in the gravy, remove from fire.

Serve Srilankan Prawn Curry with Steamed Rice for your weekday meal. You can also serve some Kachumber Salad with it to complete your meal.