The first time I tried garlic butter prawn curry was when my friend, Maw Maw, made some for her son and let us try a little bit. My children were hooked! As was I. I asked her how she made it and she simply said to make a Burmese prawn curry and then add some garlic and butter to it. She says she just gets the prawns from the deli already marinated in garlic butter and cooks with that. She never uses frozen and only fresh prawns but I think it works just as well with frozen. Just make sure you defrost it first and pat it dry.
So I made my own version of her garlic butter prawn curry and it’s safe to say it was a hit with the family. But it is one of those dishes that makes you want to eat more rice just to soak up all that golden gravy goodness so we ended up eating double the rice we normally would. My husband said it could easily work with some crusty bread to dip into the sauce. I can also see this working well stirring into some cooked pasta as well. The possibilities are almost endless.
Serves 4 as a side
Prep time 15 mins
Cook time 15 mins
60ml neutral oil
1 onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder
500g peeled prawns
30g garlic butter (I used Lardass roasted garlic butter or alternatively, you could use butter with a clove of freshly crushed garlic)
1 tbsp fish sauce, or to taste
Coriander, chopped for garnish
Chilli flakes (optional)
Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic and tomato. Let it cook until softened and starts to brown a little at the edges (around 5-10 minutes).
Stir in the sweet paprika powder and turmeric powder. Then add the peeled prawns. Cook until it is just cooked so it’s not too rubbery. If your prawns were a bit wet and released too much moisture into the gravy, take out the prawns after it has been cooked and reduce the sauce further until oil starts forming on the surface.
Then add the garlic butter, add the cooked prawns (if you’ve taken it out), taste and add the fish sauce accordingly. You may not need to add much as the prawns are usually quite flavourful and salty on their own. Garnish with coriander and serve immediately.
More Prawn Recipes
- Prawn hargow (crystal prawn dumplings)
- Squid ink pasta with prawn
- XO sauce prawns with finger lime
- Thai prawn glass noodles
- Seafood boil with creole seasoning