Chingrir Malaikari is a traditional Bengali dish in which the Prawns cooked in a coconut milk based curry with whole spices and other ingredients. Mildly sweet in taste, it’s flavourful and a favourite Prawn Curry among Bengalis.
Being a popular dish, the recipe varies little bit from family to family. I’m sharing my version here, which I’ve learned from my mother-in-law. Interestingly, the usage of turmeric powder is optional for this Prawn curry, while without turmeric powder, we usually don’t cook non-vegetarian food items in Bengali households. The natural colour from the Prawns gets infused into the curry, which looks more appealing, that’s why we don’t add turmeric powder while we make it, my MIL told me this once. However, it’s no hard and fast rule, according to their preference, some people add it some don’t. What matters is the taste, the subtle coconut milk balances the level of spices beautifully in this dish, resultant in one of the most loving dishes of Bengal.
Chingrir Malaikari / Bengali Prawn Malai Curry
Chingrir Malaikari is a traditional Bengali dish in which the Prawns cooked in a coconut milk based curry with whole spices and other ingredients. Mildly sweet in taste, it’s flavourful and a favourite Prawn Curry among Bengalis.
Ingredients
- 500g- Chingri / Prawn (I used medium-sized prawns)
- 2- Onion (medium-sized)
- 1 tsp- Garlic paste
- 1 tsp- Ginger paste
- ½ tsp- Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp- Cumin powder
- ½ tsp- Coriander powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp- Sugar
- 1 cup- Thick Coconut milk (read notes)
- 1 tsp- Kashmiri mirch powder
- 2 Green chillies (halved)
- Mustard oil
For tempering
- 6- Choto elach / Green cardamoms (roughly crushed)
- 4- Lobongo / Cloves
- 4- Dalchini / Cinnamon 1" pieces
- ½ tsp- Golmorich / Whole black peppercorns (roughly crushed)
- 2- Tej pata / Bay leaf
- 2- Shukno lonka / Whole dry red chillies
- ½ tsp- Gota jire / Cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp- Garam masala powder
Instructions
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Add salt and ½ tsp turmeric powder to the prawns, mix well and keep aside.
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Make a paste of the onions by using a food processor, and keep aside.
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Heat ½ cup of mustard oil in a deep frying pan/kadai and fry the prawns over medium heat. Fry them in batches, four prawns at a time. Fry each batch for 2 minutes, remove from the kadai to a bowl, and keep aside.
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In rest of the oil (there should be 3 tbsp oil in the kadai to make the curry, if not add some more oil at this stage), temper with the ingredients mentioned for tempering, and sauté for a few seconds.
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Next, add the onion paste, and sauté until light brown in colour.
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Add ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, kashmiri mirch powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt. Mix well, add some splashes of water to dissolve the spice powders, and keep stirring the masala until it starts leaving oil.
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Next, add ½ cup of warm water to this, mix well and add the coconut milk. Mix and give this a quick boil over medium heat.
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Reduce the heat, add the prawns. Mix and cook for 10-12 minutes.
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Add sugar and garam masala powder, mix gently and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl.
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Serve hot with steamed rice.
Recipe Notes
- If I’m not using freshly made coconut milk, then I love to use Dabur Coconut Milk for this recipe, it works quite well here.
- In my recipes, I use 250 ml cups. 1 cup = 250ml.
Helpful info. Fortunate me I found your web site by chance, and I am surprised with it. And Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Caron 🙂
The prawns used here are peeled or shells intact?