Wednesday 4 July 2012

Chingri Machher Malaikari

Chingri Malaikari or Prawn Malaikari
is a very famous and popular Bengali entrĂ©e served with white Rice or Pulao for lunch or dinner on special occasions.  “Elegant Bengali Classic” – that definitely sums up this dish. It is so delicious


What You Need
Prawns ~ 1lb of the larger size, get fresh ones, see above why I got some with heads on
Onion ~ I made a paste of a large one and used about 5 tbsp of the paste (yipe, I noted the measure)
Garlic ~ 1 large clove coarsely chopped
Ginger ~ 1 tsp
Green Chillies ~ 6 slit
Coconut Milk ~ 1 can
TejPata or Bay Leaves ~ 4 small
Elaichi or Cardamom ~ 4
Laung or Cloves ~ 6
Darchini or Cinnamon ~ 2 smallish sticks as in picture
Red Chilli Powder
Turmeric Powder
Salt
Little Sugar



How to Do It
Clean the prawns and mix it with turmeric and salt and keep aside for about ½ hour
Meanwhile grind the onion to a paste.
Heat oil in Kadai/Frying Pan
Lightly fry the prawns so they turn golden in color, do not deep fry like other fish
As soon as the prawns turn a pale golden take them out put them on a paper towel.
In the same oil, add the chopped garlic.
As soon as the fragrance of the garlic rises, take out the garlic from the oil so that the oil is now garlic flavored but there is no garlic in the gravy.
Add TejPata or BayLeaves
Coarsely pound the Elaichi, Laung & Darchini with a pestle and add them too
Add the onion paste when you see the whole garam masala crackling
Continue frying the onion with a little bit of sugar till it turns brown in color or the oil separates from the paste
Add the ginger paste and cook the masala.
Stir and add the can of coconut milk
Add a little water (about 1/3 of the can) in the can, mix well and add it too.



Add Red Chilli Powder, very little turmeric powder and salt.
Add the green chillies
Mix well and cook the gravy.
When you see the gravy slightly bubbling add the fried prawns.
Cook on low for some more time till the gravy thickens and acquires a creamy consistency.
Serve with white Rice or yellow Pulao