Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi | Dried Prawns Chutney (Step by Step Pics)

Parenting isn't that easy as you see and every day is a new learning for me. I think this is what I sometimes feel my parents referred to as their vast experience in dealing with us. Today's kids are not easy to convince unlike our generation. The other day my younger son told me that he was selected for march past for school sports day. He wasn't very willing to do the same and told me to write a note to the class teacher so that there is a valid excuse to not participate. His reasons of not participating includes to be in the sun for half an hour practice daily and also his classmates were getting a note from their parents the similar way. I told him its good to participate in such events and you should feel proud to be part of it. The march past practice is just a week and then its the sports day. Though I was feeling bad as a mom for sometime that my decision might have hurt his feelings but am sure many moms here would agree with me that it may help in the long run.These new gen kids have developed an aversion to be in the hot sun for sometime too as kids hardly go out to play in the sun. We as kids grew up playing in the same sun, standing in assemblies, doing PT once a week but we hardly complained about such things and were happy to be out most of the time. The comfort level of kids are so high these days which makes me scary at times. Anyways, got him convinced to participate and in the later days,he wasn't complaining much about the heat, probably got used to it.

Anyways, that's not part of our recipe but I felt should pen down my thoughts and so just shared. Today's recipe is a traditional one from Kerala made with dried prawns. Let me be honest here, I have no fans at home of this recipe except me. I love this flavorful prawns chammanthi with some hot steamed rice. Mom used to make this at home and I loved relishing the podi. This is a coarse powder like chutney that you can sprinkle over steamed rice (nadan kuthari choru) and enjoy. There are different variations of making this chutney but I make my mom's version and have followed the same recipe. If you lie tangy flavors in this chutney,then feel free to add a piece of tamarind when you grind. If you love dried prawns flavor, then am sure you will love the chammanthi too.

Preparation time ~ 5 mins
Cooking time ~ 10 mins
Serves ~ a small bowl
Ingredients
unakka chemmeen (dried prawns) a fistful
grated coconut 1/2 cup
shallots 3-4
dry red chilies 4-5
ginger 1 small piece
curry leaves a sprig
salt to taste

Method

• Heat a pan and dry roast the dried prawns for 3-4 minutes on low flame. switch off and leave to cool slightly. Remove the prawn heads and tail slightly i.e the cleaning part. Keep the cleaned prawns in a plate aside.
• Heat the pan once again and dry roast the red dry chillies. If you wish you can add a tsp of oil to do so. Leave to cool slightly.

• In a blender jar, add the fried prawns and dry red chillies, pulse twice in the mixer. Then add the grated coconut, shallots, ginger and salt. Coarsely grind the mix without adding any water, the moisture in the coconut and shallots is good enough to grind the mix.
• Transfer to a bowl and serve with hot steamed rice.

NOTES

* Dried prawns have salt in them so add salt accordingly.

* If you like tangy flavor in chammanthi/ chutney then add a piece of tamarind too and grind. Mom makes it without tamarind and so I prepare this way.

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