Prawn Bhaja with Basil Mint Pesto

Ingredients list for Prawn Bhaja with Basil Mint Pesto

• 1 cup Prawns (medium) cleaned, deveined and roughly chopped
• 8-10 Fresh basil leaves
• 7-8 Fresh mint leaves
• for shallow frying Oil
• 3 tablespoons Gram flour (besan)
• 4 tablespoons Rice flour
• 1 tablespoon Semolina (rawa/suji)
• to taste Salt
• ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon Red chilli powder
• 1 tablespoon Ginger-garlic-green chilli paste
• 1 teaspoon Mustard powder
• Juice of ½ lemon
• to taste Crushed black peppercorns
• 7-8 Fresh coriander sprigs
• 3-4 Garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 3-4 Walnuts

Method

1. Put prawns in a bowl, add gram flour, 2 tablespoons rice flour, semolina, salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and mustard powder and mix well. Add lemon juice and some water and mix well. Divide the mixture into equal portions.
2. Take remaining rice flour, remaining semolina, salt and crushed peppercorns on a plate and mix well.
3. To prepare basil mint pesto, grind together torn basil leaves, torn mint leaves, coriander leaves, garlic cloves, salt, crushed peppercorns and olive oil to a paste. Add walnuts and some water and grind again to a fine paste. Transfer into a bowl and set aside.
4. Heat sufficient oil in a non-stick pan.
5. Take each portion of prawn mixture, coat with rice flour-semolina mixture and shallow-fry in hot oil till golden and crisp. Drain on absorbent paper.
6. Serve hot with basil mint pesto.