Prawn Gud Gud Fry is a traditional Mangalorean preparation that involves a few basic, everyday ingredients and a little labour of love to result in one of the most brilliant tasting prawns! Traditionally the dish involves prawns with their shell and tail intact but since that would have no takers at my place I used completely cleaned prawns. Although I had only seen this recipe in a couple of old Mangalorean cookbooks I hadn’t actually heard of it growing up. A few months ago one of my readers requested for this recipe and I promised her that I would definitely post it as soon as I could lay my hands on a good recipe.
When I finally tried the recipe last week I decided on a whim to shoot the video too! So do scroll down to the bottom of this post to view it! If you enjoy my videos please head over to my channel. Don’t forget to subscribe and also click on the bell icon next to it so you will never miss a new post!
Coming back to the recipe, I found it in a couple of Mangalorean cookbooks, especially my favourite one by J. B Lobo had it with the Konkani term mentioned too ‘Sungta Gudgudaunchi’ . I haven’t really found out the actual meaning of this term. I am aware that there is another similar terminology attached to mushrooms that grow after the first thunderstorm (god-godo) and so for the longest time I associated ‘gudgudaunche’ with something similar. Anyway, if you know the meaning of the term please do let me know! Write to me at [email protected]
You can also email me if you have any recipe requests and I’ll add it to my list of ‘Readers’ Requests’. This one was requested by Ruffina D’Souza. I hope you enjoy it!!
Have you tried these?
Super delicious prawn gud gud fry is made with a few basic ingredients and tastes so finger lickin' good no matter what you serve it with - rice, neer dosa, dosa or pulao. You can even serve it as a party starter/appetizer
- 500 grams approx 20 large prawns, cleaned & deveined * see notes
- 1 big onion finely sliced
- 1 ball (gooseberry size tamarind or 2-3 teaspoons of thick tamarind paste)
- salt to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons oil for shallow frying
- 3 long dry byadge chillies
- 3-4 kashmiri chillies
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
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Wash the deveined prawns in a couple of changes of water and allow to drain on a colander.
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Soak the ball of tamarind in 2-3 tablespoons of water for 7-10 minutes and extract a thick juice.
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Grind all the ingredients mentioned under 'For the masala' to a powder. Rinse the mixer jar with 1/4 cup of water and reserve it.
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Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the onions till golden.
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Reduce the heat completely and add the ground spice powder and quickly toss it about. Add the tamarind water and cook the masala on a high heat. Add the reserved masala water in parts
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Add the prawns and fry for 5-6 minutes (only if large prawns are used - if small ones are used 2 minutes are enough) on a medium high heat till the prawns are tender and juicy and the masala is thick and the oil starts to separate. Remove from the heat.
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Serve hot with rice and dal
Traditionally for this recipe prawns without the head, tail & legs are used (the shell is kept intact) but we prefer completely cleaned prawns and hence I used them.
500 grams is the weight of the prawns after being shelled and deveined. The weight before cleaning is approx 1kg. I used fresh prawns, you can use frozen ones too.
Perfectly cooked prawns are those that are tender to the bite, juicy and taste absolutely fresh. Overcooked prawns are hard and chewy and a nightmare to swallow. The thumb rule for cooking prawns (and squid) is '2 minutes or 2 hours' meaning, they should either be cooked for just 2 minutes or if you cross that mark then you need to cook them really really long. However, this is just a guide, the cooking time will slightly vary depending on the size of the prawns. For really small ones, cook on a high heat for just 2 minutes. For jumbo/tiger prawns you may need to extend the cooking time to 5 minutes or so.
Hi Shireen, what a coincidence!! U posted the prawns gud gud fry recipe today & I tried it as I was making prawns. Came out pretty well. My hubby & kids were licking their fingers.
Thanks a million for the feedback Pramila! So glad your family enjoyed it 🙂
Shireen I must tell u this. I’m a Mangalorean married to a Mallu for 23 yrs. My cooking was really bad until I got introduced to Ruchik Randhap few yrs back & since then I make at least one dish from ur website. Thanks a ton. Keep the gr8 work going.
Thank you so much for the kind words Pramila!! I am so happy to hear this 🙂
Shocking red prawns! Looks amazing, I am sure HD would love this… wondering where we can get those byadge chillies here.
Thanks so much Rafee! Sorry for the delay in responding! You will get byadge chillies at ‘Prince Sweets’ opp. Lulu Hypermarket in Karama. You could also check with Winny’s bakery/caterer opp. fish market Karama for the same
Lovely, Yummy and Mouth watering. Thanks for posting, Shireen. Will surely try it out next time I get prawns. My kids and hubby will surely like it.
Thanks so much Kristel! Hope your family enjoys it!
Wonderful recipe. Thank you Shireen. My family and I enjoyed the shrimps. Worth all the effort.
Thank you so much for the feedback Ruffina! So glad you liked it 🙂
Dear Shireen,
Will it taste the same if I use kashmiri chillies only and not byadge?
Hi Elizabeth,
Yes, the dish will taste less spicy and will have brighter colour to it 🙂 The byadge are just for the spice! Kashmiri will work just as well! I hope you like it!
Hi Shireen,
Thank you for this lovely recipe. Tried it out today and loved the fusion of flavours. The tango ness of tamarind with the spice of the chillies interspersed with the cumin & pepper flavour. Mine was a tad too spicy as I used Kashmiri chillies only but it would be a great spicy starter. Hadn’t heard of this mangy dish before. Enjoyed it!
Hi Lumina,
Thank you so much for your feedback! I am glad that you liked the gud gud fry! yes, even I hadn’t heard of it until a reader asked me if I could share a recipe and then I went to hunt for it 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to let me know how you liked it!
Hello Shireen,
Trust all is well with you and family.
I would like to make Bafat powder from scratch and have used your recipe to do so.
Unfortunately, the 2 Indian stores we have here in Cincinnati have never heard of Madrasii Chilies.
The 3 kinds they have in stock are:
Karnataka Byadgi
Kashmiri Chilies (as specified in your recipe), and
Guntur Sannam Chili.
I googled Indian chilies and was presented with the following;
o 1. Kashmiri
o 2. Guntur
o 3. Jwala
o 4. Byadgi
o 5. Boria
o 6. Sankeshwari
o 7. Naga & Bhut Jolokia
o 8. Mathania
o 9. Bhavnagri
o 10. Kanthari
o 11. Longi
o 12. Ramnad Mundu
o 13. Dhani
Shireen, would you be so kind as to let me know which, if any, are madrasii chili?
Hi Dino,
Thanks for reaching out to me. I have shared the names as I knew them. However, many years after posting the recipe I learnt that in Mangalore we use the short red chillies called as Harekala. They are not crinkly and have a smooth surface, they look similar to Dhani chillies as listed by you (I googled each of the chillies you mentioned to find something similar). You could take a look at my old post on Facebook. Hope it helps! https://www.facebook.com/ruchikrandhap/photos/a.364877703572546.81412.173974419329543/364877770239206