Shrimp(Chemeen) Masala Fry Skewers
Shrimp aka Chemeen is a delicacy to most Keralites. It is very common to make them into a curry based dish in none other than coconut milk or how you would make fish curry with red chilly powder and tamarind. This however is a spicy marinaded shrimp fry on skewers, a dish that you can indulge once in a while! I wanted to come up with a dish that tasted like the shrimp fry you would get in toddy shops back in Kerala. "Karimpumkala" is my favorite toddy shop, not that I'm an alcoholic or anything, just letting you know. LOL!"Extra spicy and hot that you have tears running down your face"  was want I wanted this dish to be. Crazy huh??? Try it and see for yourself....

Ingredients
For Marinade
Shrimp-1lb(deveined and cleaned under running water,tail left on)
Chilly powder-2 tsp
Turmeric-1/2tsp
Garam masala powder-1 tsp
Black pepper-1 tsp(crushed fine)
Lemon juice-from an entire medium sized lemon
Salt (I use Lawry's Garlic Salt)


Coconut oil
Curry leaves-4 sprigs
Shallots-10(thinly sliced)
Bamboo skewers (soak them in water for 10 min or else they will burn)


Directions
1. Make a paste with the chilly powder,turmeric powder,garam masala,black pepper powder,salt and lemon juice.


2.Coat the shrimp in this marinade and keep it aside covered in the refrigerator for a few hours. The longer the better!


3.Now take the soaked bamboo skewers and thread 4-5 shrimp on each skewer. 


4.Once all the shrimp are on skewers you can heat up a shallow non-stick pan pour some coconut oil and after oil has heated through place 3-4 skewers at a time in the pan making sure they are not over crowded.


5.Shrimp cook relatively quick. After a few minutes ,check to see if the under side is browning up,if so you can flip the skewers over and brown and cook the other side. I'd say about 5 minutes on each side.


6.Once all the skewers of shrimp are done you can put the sliced shallots and curry leaves into the remaining of the masala that you used for the shrimp and get them all coated well.


7.Fry them up at the end. Sauteing them in the coconut oil will give the dish an extra burst of flavor especially being coated in that spicy marinade too! Don't forget those fried up masala bits on the bottom.YUMMY!!!


8.Serve this on top of the skewers. 
ENJOY while they are hot! This is a great starter especially with any hard liquor or cocktail. Trust me you will need something ice cold to wash this down with.


I advise you to make this dish in a well ventilated kitchen. All that masala and oil will make your smoke detector go berserk! *Also deveining of shrimp is very important before cooking it in any dish. I remove both the sand vein(the one along the outer side) and the blood vein which runs along on the inner side and rinse it under cold running water before marinating.