Chingri Kaliakari or Malaikalia, Its the Mother of Prawns Anyway!

So my Mum’s hybrid version of this chingri dish created some kind of buzz with my readers.

What was made by my Mum as an inventive, something-in-between a Kalia and a Malaikari turned out to be this head-turning stunner. We had it during our trip to India last month, and I was completely stumped by the way it teased me with its rich and silken taste, both at the same. I asked Mum, “What do you call this dish?” She said, “Its a no-name chingri. Just eat it.”

That was enough titillation for the food writer in me.

So here I am, writing down the recipe for you. Of course the creator of this recipe, my Mum has been adequately consulted about the ingredients and measurements.

Ingredients for Chingri Kaliakari or Malaikalia are:

*Thank you Sharmita Saha for the name suggestion.

12 large tiger shrimps/prawns (Use golda chingri if available)
1 medium size red onion, grated
1 large red, ripe tomato grated
Quarter cup grated fresh coconut (I use the frozen kind)
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon green chilli paste or use 2-3 whole (don't add if kids are eating!)
2 + 1 teaspoons turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon freshly ground garam masala powder (cinnamon, cloves, green and black cardamoms)
1 or 2 bay
4-5 tablespoons mustard oil
1 heaped tablespoon ghee
Sugar
Salt

Start by deveining and cleaning the heads of the prawns. I kept the tail on to make the shrimps looks pretty! Rub a couple of spoons of turmeric and salt.

Heat mustard oil in a wok. Add the prawns in batches and cook them on each side for a couple of minutes. Once the prawns turn pink, take them off the heat.

In the leftover oil, add half a teaspoon of sugar and let it caramelize. Take care not to burn it.

Add the bay, grated onions, garam masala powder and green chillies and mix. Cover and cook these ingredients on low heat for 7-8 minutes till the onions start turning light brown.

Now add the ginger-garlic paste and continue to cook covered for about five more minutes.

Next add the tomato and coconut, and mix. Add the turmeric and red chilli powder and continue cooking on low heat and covered all the time. It takes about 10-15 minutes of slow cooking for the raw taste to go away from the ingredients.

You will see little oil bubbles around the masala, season with salt and sugar and mix. Add the ghee at this point in time and cook for a couple more minutes.

Its safe to add water to your onion-tomato-coconut masala now. Add about one and a half cups of water and cover. Let this cook for another 7-8 minutes. Make sure you use gentle heat while cooking your masala sauce. We don’t want the onions and coconut to burn and give the dish a bitter taste.

One the gravy comes to a bubbling boil, slide in the prawns one at a time, making sure you don’t separate the heads from the tails.

Cook the prawns on medium heat in the gravy for about 6-7 minutes. Do a taste test and add sugar and salt if needed.

Serve your Prawn Kaliakari or Malaikalia with plain rice. And like most Indian dishes, it tastes even better the next day. In case you have leftover gravy, preserve it in the freezer. On another day, just sauté some shrimps and add to your leftover sauce and cook for 7-8 minutes. Voila! That saves you from all the grating and grinding.

Chingri Maacher Jhol-Jhal, Prawns in Spicy, Runny Gravy

Its the third time now that three different people/bloggers have stolen my three different chingri/shrimp/prawn pictures. So to lodge my protest against photo theft in the Blog world, I have made an easy, chingri recipe and watermarked each photo where its right in-your-face, remorselessly spoiling pictures. There! No chance of chori!

This jhol-jhal today is inspired from my other fish curry recipes.

Ingredients for Chingri Maacher Jhol-Jhal are:

8 large prawns (I have used smallish Golda chingri for my recipe)
2 medium size ripe, red tomatoes, cut into wedges
10 green chillies, slit lengthwise
2-3 stems of fresh coriander, leaves torn
1 +1 teaspoons turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
3-4 tablespoons mustard oil
Salt

Start by deveining each and cleaning the heads of the prawns. Retain the shells. With the shells, make a broth with about 3-4 cups of water. (I put the shells and water in a microwaveable bowl and cook for 7-10 minutes in the microwave.) This is a full paisa vasool method of extracting every bit of the flavour from the prawns.

Rub turmeric to your prawns and shallow fry them in hot mustard oil, for not more than 3-4 minutes, turning them once midway.

Remove with a slotted spoon and keep. Now make a runny jhol with the prawn broth, slit green chillies, tomatoes, turmeric and red chilli powder.

In the leftover oil from shallow frying the prawns, add this jhol and cook for 10 minutes, till the tomatoes are done. Season with salt.

Release the prawns into this jhol and let them cook on high for not more than five minutes.

Check taste and add salt if needed. Turn heat off. Sprinkle some torn coriander leaves and serve with plain white rice and a wedge of gondhoraj lebu. And pray someone doesn’t steal your baati of chingri. You can’t watermark bowls, now can you? ;-)