This dish always takes part in our Good Friday menu. Basically in all our neighbours and relatives menu. As how we stop eating meat during lent until Easter Sunday, almost all the ladies in our area/village used to cook this prawns and cashew stir fry as a special dish on Good Friday. My mother is so obsessed with doing this dish with lagoon prawns. However she mange to find these type of negombo lagoon prawns before Good Friday comes. And then me and my sister have to take off all the heads of these tinny prawns by sitting at the corner of the kitchen in whole day. Buy some cups of fresh cashews from old ladies who sells at the market few days before. In negombo area, before Good Friday arrives whole market and street vendors are busy with selling fresh cashews. Though cashews and prawns vendors comes with high prices and our moms are still obsessed with this dish, I mean they act like Good Friday doesn’t exist without this. 

If you cannot find these kind of tinny lagoon prawns, simply substitute with some other prawns in small/medium size. And in the same time, it is very hard to find fresh cashews. So simply soak your dry cashews in water overnight or at least 5-6hours before cook. Soaking dry cashews before cook helps to soften the cashews and easy to cook in less time. 

Here we don’t do the tempering at the beginning. Letting prawns and cashews cook with aromas will ruin the best look and crunchiness of aromas at the end. As how prawns release some water when cooking, we let prawns and cashews to cook first with spices in low heat with a lid. At this point we don’t add extra water or oil. Just let it cook by its own water. After few minutes we add all the aromas and oil and do the temper. Adding aromas at the last minutes will save overcooking your onion and capsicum. And you’ll have crunchy capsicums at the end. 

I found these tinny lagoon prawns from Saturday market, very rarely I do. The first thing that came to my mind was this dish. How can I get fresh cashews here…? Bought some dried nuts and soaked in water overnight and cooked this amazing childhood favourite cashews and prawns stir fry as how my mother does. Literally her version is more spicy than this and sometimes we find dried fish in her recipe. Huh…!! From where can I get..? Dried fish, maybe next time. Till then gonna enjoy this with some tempered dhal curry and white steamed rice. That’s our traditional Good Friday menu

1.soak in water 150g dry cashews overnight. After soaked, split the whole cashews and wash well. 

2.this was about 300g tinny lagoon prawns. Take off all the heads and wash well. Let sit in a colander to leave the excess water about 10 minutes. 

3.add all the prawns and cashews into a pot/pan along with 2,1/2tbs dried chilli flakes (adjust with your spicy level) salt, 1/2tsp turmeric powder, small piece of garcinia Cambogia (Goraka) small cinnamon stick. Mix all well. Cover and cook in very low heat about 4-5 minutes. Control in every 2 minutes and mix. 

4.prawns are almost cooked now.

5.add finely sliced 1 medium onion, sliced 2 capsicums, sliced 2 garlic cloves, pandan leaf, few curry leaves and 2tbs oil. Mix well and cook in medium heat about 3-4 minutes. And we are done.