Name: Prawns Balchão
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 800 g/1 lb 12 oz medium prawns/shrimp, cleaned and deveined; 1 tbsp salt; 100 g/3½ oz/scant ½ cup granulated sugar; 100 ml/3½ fl oz/scant ½ cup malt vinegar; 100 g/3½ oz tomatoes, chopped; 15 dried Kashmiri chillies; 15 garlic cloves, chopped; 4 tbsp chopped fresh root ginger; 4–6 green chillies, slit; 200 g/7 oz onions, finely chopped; 2 tbsp dried prawns/shrimp, roasted and ground to a powder in a pestle and mortar; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 170 ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup coconut vinegar or malt vinegar; 500 ml/17 fl oz/2 cups rapeseed/canola oil; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 2 tsp ground turmeric

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Yatra

By Rohit Ghai

Published 2025

About

This fiery prawn/shrimp dish is a delicacy from Goan cuisine, and is similar to a pickle. Balchão is a method of cooking in a spicy and sour tomato-chilli sauce – it is also frequently used with fish or pork. This simple, quick recipe can be made in advance and kept refrigerated for a couple of days in an airtight container. Serve warm as a main course with rice. If you prefer, you can use fresh tiny shrimp and the resulting dish will be more like a side dish or chutney that can be s