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28th July, 2017
THE METRONOME/ BLOG POST 20
After a longish break from my Kitchen Recipe Songs, here's Chingri Malai Curry - an evegreen seafood dish from Bengal - prawns in a mild and aromatic coconut milk curry! There's been a huge number of requests for this one from all of you - and very specifically from my little sister in London, Shabnam Dutta Sahi, whose super popular breakfast show on Sunrise Radio, "The Shabnam Sahi Show" many of you living in London may be familiar with.
This is the simplest, quickest version of this dish I've ever come across I think - and once again, this is from the collection of recipes my late Thakuma gifted me long ago. Feel free to customise it further if you wish.
Since the ingredients for this curry can be easily found in most coastal regions, at least in India, I've laced this song with a Konkani rhythm and flavour, in the hope that anyone on any coast with access to prawns and coconuts will give this delicious prawn curry a try.
The story goes, that the Malai in Malai Curry refers not to milk cream or Malaai, but to Malay, suggesting that this curry, with its very typically coastal flavours, might have made its way to Bengal from Malaysia many years ago.
You can make this with fresh or frozen prawns - I generally end up using frozen ones. You can try it with shrimps as well, though I personally prefer the prawn version. And for a change, this recipe digresses from the usual mustard oil and uses ghee (clarified butter) instead. The coconut milk - you can make it yourself from scratch, with a coconut, a grinder/ food processer and a strainer, the painstaking and messy way - or simply use one of the ready-to-use powder of liquid options available in the market.
Chingri Malai Curry is best had with rice - I'm having it here with ghee bhat, or rice made with aromatic whole garam masala and dry fruits fried in ghee.
SONG AND VIDEO CREDITS :
Song written, composed, performed and produced by Sawan Dutta
Video created by C.B.Arun Kumar and Sawan Dutta
SONG LYRICS :
Chingri, Chingri, Chingri Malai Curry
Chingri, Chingri, Chingri Malai Curry
Take fresh or frozen prawns, fresh would be nice
One onion ground to paste, one onion sliced
Take chilli (powder) and turmeric (powder), add water, make a paste
Use ghee instead of oil, for the better taste!
Heat ghee in pan, add bay leaf (1) and clove(3)
Cinnamon (2 inch long sticks) and cardamom(3), stir on the stove
Add onion slices, fry on medium flame,
Add ground onion and the paste, and do the same
Chingri, Chingri, Chingri Malai Curry
Chingri, Chingri, Chingri Malai Curry
Add prawns and stir, but if you overcook
The prawns taste like hawaii choti, says every book!
Extracting fresh coconut milk makes me mad!!!
Market has ready-made, and taste is not bad...
Thin coconut milk add fresh or from can,
Add salt and sugar and simmer in the pan
Thick coconut milk next, the aroma is heady!
Simmer for a few minutes, Malai Curry Ready !
Guests coming home to eat? No need to worry!
Chingri, Chingri, Chingri Malai Curry!