Cricketers and their favourite food

My tryst with cricketers began in 1976 when I was working with the Taj group of hotels. I knew Srikanth before he had tasted success. He was my brother’s friend. I discovered his food preferences much later, when he started staying at the Taj for cricket camps. He would request me to prepare his favourite dishes whenever I invited them all for dinner. I still do not know why I was always given the duty of looking after the cricketers whenever they stayed in our hotel chain. But that was instrumental in forging a few friendships for life. 

Taj Westend in Bangalore was famous for hosting the cricketers’ training camps. I had to keep unsavoury folks from the cricketers’ rooms and make sure the rules were not broken. I was also given the duty of taking them to Princess, the only night club in Bangalore then. These cricketers belonged to my generation like Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Srikanth, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and more. Out of these, I was friendly with a few and we still remain in touch. Many of them joined hands with me for social causes or events. Almost all of them were real foodies and loved different cuisines, yet Indian stayed  the favourite for most. While Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag love aloo paranthas, Kapil, Yusuf Pathan and Syed Kirmani loved biryani . Seafood was the hot favourite among the cool ones like Sachin, Ravi, Rahul Dravid, Anil and Sourav.  The boys from Tamil Nadu like Srikanth, Ashwin and Murali Kartik are vegetarians and love lemon rasam, dal chawal and special carrot podimas. 

However, my favourites have always been Rahul Dravid and Dhoni. Being grounded and simple, they both love their mothers’ cooking. Dhoni’s favourite is butter chicken with naan. Today, I’m sharing with you a dish Rahul loves, prawns varthadu.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 15 minutes | Serves: 3-4 | Calories: 210

Fresh medium-size deveined prawns: Around 35 (Marinated in turmeric, chilly powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, lemon juice and salt) 

Onions (sliced): 1/4 cup 

Shallots (chopped fine): 1/2 cup 

Ginger (shredded): 1 tablespoon 

Garlic (shredded): 1.5 tablespoon (grind with ginger in a spoon of oil) 

Curry leaves: 1 sprig washed well 

Coconut oil or oil of your choice: 1/2 cup 

Salt to taste 

Dry coriander (roasted and powdered): 1/4 cup or ground to a paste with the red chillies 

Fresh coconut (grated, roasted and powdered): 1/2 cup 

Fennel seeds/saunf/perinjeerakam: 3 teaspoon 

Green chillies (cut lengthwise into strips): 3-4 

Dry red chillies (roasted and powdered or ground): 4

Grated coconut: 1/2 cup 

Turmeric: 1/2 tea spoon 

Chilli powder: 2 teaspoon (optional) 

Cumin powder: 2 teaspoon 

Garam masala: I have used the homemade 7 spice garam masala using 1/2 Star anise, 2-3 cloves, 1/2 stick cinnamon, 2-4 cardamom pods, 1 bay leaf, 8 black peppercorns, 1 tablespoon cumin, all roasted and ground smooth. Add water while grinding. 

Lemon juice: 1/2 cup

Place a kadai on fire and pour some oil.  

When the oil is hot, sauté chopped onions after a minute or so. Then, add the cut shallots and fry.  

When half fried, add the ground ginger and garlic paste.

When golden brown, add the ground paste of garam masala.

Now add the red chilli paste, coriander powder and coconut powdered. If you find it difficult to powder, you can also grind the coriander and coconut to a paste of smooth consistency.

Add a little turmeric and salt. 

Add the slit green chillies. 

Add some more oil. 

After 30 seconds, add the prawns.

Add the prawns one by one. 

Prawns cook very fast and if not removed in time, they will become rubbery. It would take roughly three to five minutes for the prawns to cook. Remove and serve with fried curry leaves on top. Ideal with rice or rotis. Enjoy Rahul Dravid’s favourite prawn dish.