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1
Heat the coconut oil in a wide, shallow pan over medium heat, then add the sliced onions, ginger matchsticks, slit green chillies, and curry leaves. Cook, stirring, until the onions are softened and fully translucent but have taken on no colour whatsoever, because any browning will muddy the pale, delicate broth that defines this dish. The contents of the pan must remain entirely pale.
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2
Add the turmeric and salt, stir through for thirty seconds, then pour in the entire quantity of second extract — the thin coconut milk — and bring it to a gentle simmer. The second extract goes in first because its leaner body can take heat without breaking, whereas the rich first extract cannot. The broth will look thin, translucent, and pale yellow at this stage; that is correct.
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3
Add the prawns to the simmering second extract and cook uncovered over medium heat until they curl, turn fully opaque, and are pink all the way to the centre. Pull the pan off the heat the moment they are just cooked through, so they do not tighten and turn rubbery before the coconut cream goes in. Do not extend the cooking beyond this point.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies: with the pan entirely off the heat, pour the thick first extract over the prawns and stir it in gently, so the residual warmth of the broth is enough to draw the cream through without driving it to a boil and splitting it into a greasy, separated slick. Do not return the pan to the heat and do not cover it, as trapped steam will raise the temperature enough to break the cream. The finished moilee must be pale yellow and clear enough that the prawns are visible through the broth.