Lau Chingri

Bottle Gourd with Shrimps

The addition of Shrimps (Kucho Chingri) to the humble Lau (Bottle Gourd) has elevated this dish to  an exalted position in the world of Bong gastronomy. The 'Lau Chingri' didnt stop at conquering the heart of the Bong gourmet, but inspired the cult folk song from Opar Bangla "Saadher Lau banailo more Boiragi" !

Coming to the recipe, here it goes :

Ingredients : 

Lau / Bottle Gourd- chopped into small pieces

Pumpkin julienne-a small qty ..about 1/3 the quantity of Lau

Shrimps-de-veined and washed

Panch phoron-1 tsp

Tej pata -1

Shukno lonka / whole dry red chili

Grated/paste of ginger

Holud/turmeric

Jeera powder

Green chili

Dhonepata / Coriander leaves-chopped

Ata (whole wheat flour)- 1 tbsp

Ghee

Salt

Sugar

Procedure :

1.Steam the chopped lau + julienned pumpkin

2. In a Kadhai, heat oil and season with Panch Phoron.

3. When the phoron is crackling, throw in Tej pata, Shukno lonka followed by the washed and de-veined shrimps.

4. After frying the shrimps add ginger, turmeric, jeera powder followed by salt and a pinch of sugar.

5. Now add the steamed chopped lau + julienned pumpkin into the spice mix in the kadhai.         

6. Stir it around..no water is to be added as white gourd gives out water.                                  

7.Keep it covered for a few minutes till the vegetables are cooked. Remove the cover...let the moisture evaporate.

8. Once the veggie-shrimp is done, sprinkle a spoonful of Ata to help dry up excess moisture and make the dish 'maakha-maakha'.

9. Finish of with dhonepata, slit green chilies and a dash of ghee.

10. Serve with steamed rice

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Shrimp Spaghetti with Basil, Mushroom , Tomato

With no respite from continuous week long rain, the fridge was a medley of a bit of this and a bite of that....1/2 a packet of cleaned and deveined Shrimp in the freezer, 8-10 cherry tomatoes, a bowl of sauteed (in butter) mushrooms and a handful of basil leaves lying in the fridge. Bored of khichdi, phyana bhaat, thought of assembling all these bits and pieces and making my girl's favorite spaghetti.

Easy, quick and tasty.

Ingredients :
Spaghetti - 500gms
Shrimps (cleaned and de-veined)- about 400-500gms.
Mushrooms - about 200 gms halved and sauteed in butter & pepper
Cherry tomatoes - 8-10. halved some. Kept some whole
3 large tomatoes - chopped
1 medium sized onion - finely chopped
Garlic cloves - 5-6
Whole dried red chili - 2 -3 chopped into small pieces
Salt
Pepper
Chili flakes made of homemade dry roasted whole red chilies
roasted cumin powder - a pinch
Pinch of sugar
Grated cheese (used processed cheddar)
Olive oil

Procedure :
1. Cook the spaghetti for 5-7 minutes in a pot (by added oil and salt to the water). Retain the water after draining the spaghetti.

2. Heat oil in a wok. Add the chopped whole dry red chilies , chopped onion and minced garlic to the heated oil.

3. Once the onion is light pink & translucent, add the shrimps and fry till light pink. Add salt and pepper.

4. Add chopped tomatoes and some of the halved cherry tomatoes into the kadhai/wok.Let the tomatoes cook on medium heat after adding salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Once the tomatoes are mushy add some of the water of retained after boiling the spaghetti. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes.

5. Add the mushrooms followed by half the basil leaves (torn/cut into small pieces). Add a pinch of roasted jeera / cumin powder, followed by chili flakes and pepper. Give a stir. Add some more water if needed.

6. Now add the boiled spaghetti and toss it around to coat it with the sauce. Now add the whole cherry tomatoes. Check the salt & spice level.

7. Garnish with basil leaves and grated cheese (Cheddar)

Spaghetti is ready to be served.

Bhaape Chingri ....Steamed Prawns

in a grated coconut-mustard gravy

'Bhaape' means steamed in Bengali. And Chingri is of course Prawns
A recipe so simple to assemble and cook and also fast if instead of the traditional steaming, microwave is used...which I do. But my Ma insists, that the taste of the authentic 'Bhaapaano' or steaming is far far more superior to our short-cut microwaving. Coming from her, and that too about culinary methods and expertise, I cant even dream of arguing...but time being a major constraint, I have to make do with the second best....

Ingredients :
Medium sized prawns - 1 kg
Mustard paste - 1 small bowl
Tomato - 1, chopped
Potato - 1 medium sized, diced into small cubes and sauted after being smeared with a pinch of salt & turmeric
Grated coconut - 1
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp or more
Kashmiri Chili - 1 - 1.5 tsp
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 2-3 chopped 
Coriander Leaves for garnishing
Mustard oil (a must to give the zing) - 3 tbsphe aut

Procedure :
If following the authentic steaming method....carry out the following steps in a steel container with a tight lid. If following the microwave menthod, use a microwaveable glass/ceramic container with a lid.
1. In the container mix all the ingredients listed above except the coriander leaves and pour the (only) mustard oil liberally.
2. Cover the container.
3a) Steaming - place the closed container in a bigger wok/saucepan. The bigger container should be filled with water upto 1/2 the level of the closed container.If a pressure cooker is being used, 2-3 whistles should be fine for the cooking to be completed..And in a regular steamer/wok, steam it for around 35-40 minutes

3b) Microwave the mix prepared in (1) for 7-8 minutes
4. Garnish with chopped coriander (dhonepaata) and serve with steamed rice.

Note :For added pungency / flavour of mustard (which we Bongs LOVE), drizzle about 2 tsp of mustard oil (kaancha tel) after completion of cooking and before garnishing.

Fried Jumbo Prawns in roasted tomato-cheese-garlic sauce, with Cinnamon Rice

My 'fishwallah' got me Jumbo Prawns (around 11 prawns weighing 2 kgs) one weekday morning. I was ecstatic but the joy and anticipation had to be shelved till weekend arrived.
Bored of the usual 'Malaikaris' (Prawns in Coconut milk) and 'Bhaape chingris' (Prawns steamed in mustard sauce), wanted to try out something new. And hence this experimentation.....

But a warning....it was a high on calories dish. Used Oodles of butter and also cream and cheese.

Ingredients : what I used ...

A.For the fried Prawns                                         1. Jumbo Prawns - 2 kgs (11-12 prawns)

2. Lemon juice of 2 small lemons
3. Salt
4. Pepper
5. Chilli flakes
6. Butter for frying

B. For the sauce
1. Tomatoes - 3 large sized
2. Onion -1 large
3. Grated Cheese - I used 2 cubes of processed cheddar
4.Garlic cloves - 5-6
5. Cream or full cream milk - 1 cup
6. Salt
7. Pepper
8. Basil leaves
9. Chilli flakes
10. Butter

C. For the cinnamon rice

1. Normal Sonamasuri rice we eat....basmati will add to the taste - 2 cups
2. Butter - 50 gms
3. Bay Leaf - 1 or 2
4. Cinnamon sticks - 5-6 long ones broken into smaller pieces
5. Nutmeg powder - a pinch
6. Sugar - a pinch
7. Salt to taste

Procedure : in the sequence i made.

Prawn Marination

1. The prawns were washed, cleaned and deveined the previous night
2. Marinate the prawns in lemon juice, salt, pepper and chilli flakes for 1/2 hour.

Making the Sauce :

3. I roasted the tomatoes over gas flame after slitting them at the top . Roasting/Grilling over charcoal will obviously add to the flavours.

4. In a wok, took a teaspoonful of butter, added chopped onions and the roasted tomatoes chopped and a pinch of sugar for caramelising. When the onion & tomatoes were nicely browned, took them off the wok, cooled and made a paste.
5. Then in a wok, again took a teaspoon of butter, added the onion-tomato paste, chopped garlic and mixed well

6. On low flame, added milk while stirring, followed by chopped basil leaves, followed by grated cheese.

7. To increase the tartness of the sauce, the lemon juice the prawns were marinated in , may also be added at this point

8. Finish off by adjusted the salt and sugar and a generous sprinkling of freshly crushed black pepper and chili flakes.
The sauce is ready.

Cinnamon Rice (I made it in Rice Cooker but can be made in the microwave too)
9. In a wok, take 2 tbsp of butter and when hot, add the bay leaf, broken cinnamon stick and a pinch of sugar

10. Add the previously washed and drained rice. Fry on high heat.

11. Add a pinch of nutmeg powder, followed by salt


12. Transfer to rice cooker. Add 4 cups of water (for 2 cups of rice). Add a tsp of lemon juice and set in on for cooking. For microwave, the ratio of rice:water should be slightly less than 1:2 i.e for 2 cups of water 3 1/2 cups of water.

The Star of the show : PRAWNS

13. Fry the lemon-salt-pepper-chilli flakes marinated prawns in butter.

Sit down for a divinely tasting, immensely high calories lunch!!

Chingri Machher Malaikari

Prawns cooked in Coconut milk

Away from Kolkata on Poila Boishaakh was indeed depressing and more so when the Bengali New Year was on a weekday! Bengali New Years Day or Poila Boishaakh celebration is all about families, friends meeting up, feasting on sumptuous food and indulging in Nirbhejaal Adda!

So just couldnt reconcile to the fact that the first day of Boishaakh would be spent working as usual....but there was no option! The best we could do and did was have a Naboborsho get-together in advance....so we invited our Bong friends over on Sunday afternoon...thereby advancing our Naboborsho by just three days. It was a wonderful afternoon and the adda rolled well into evening....

Coming back to the Chingri Maachher Malaikari...this was one of the main courses on that day. Cooking for lunch is always a high speed affair...one cannot afford the leisurely pace of a dinner party...hence photography was my last priority and hence forgot to click several steps or ingredients and the finished product was also photographed almost towards the end of the party...maybe I will amend the pics at a later date when I make this again !

So here comes the recipe :

Ingredients I used:
*Prawns (medium sized) -1250 gms (large prawns are better for this dish)
*Coconut - 1
*Onion - 1 large (finely chopped)
*Tomato - 2 small - finely chopped
*Ginger - 1tsp
*Garlic - 3/4 tsp
*Bay Leaf - 1
*Whole Garam Masala - 2 elaichi; 2-3 cloves; 1 medium cinnamon stick
*Haldi - 1.5 tsp
*Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
*Kashmiri Chilli powder - 1tsp
*Salt - to taste
*Sugar - a pinch
*Roasted and ground Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
*Ghee - 1.5 tbsp
*Green Chilli - 2-3
*Potato - 1 medium - diced into small cubes and fried lightly (this is totally optional...I like potatoes with anything and hence add it)
*Mustard Oil - 3-4 tbsp

Procedure : In the order I prepared :
1. Wash, clean and devein prawns. Marinate the cleaned prawns with mustard oil, salt, turmeric for 15 minutes

2. Coconut milk preparation :
a. Grate the coconut.
b. Put the grated coconut in a mixie and run it for 5-10 seconds
c. In a wok, mix the coconut paste with 1/2 glass of water and bring to a boil. Let it boil vigorously. Take it off the heat.
d. Once the boiled 'coconut paste in water mix' is cooled, pass it through a clean cheese cloth and squeeze out the coconut milk till the residue doesnt have any moisture in it.
e. Keep the coconut milk aside for use at a later stage.

3. Saute the marinated prawns lightly. Keep aside

4. Heat a wok; pour the mustard oil

5. When hot, temper with whole garam masala, bay leaf.

6. Add the garlic paste, finely chopped onions and a dash of sugar for colour (sugar caramelizes to give the brown colour)

7. When the onion turns a light brown, add ginger followed by chopped tomatoes. Stir well to do away with the rawness of the onion, tomato, ginger-garlic.

8. Add the turmeric + chilli powder + kashmiri chilli + salt (mixed with a little water to make a paste). Stir to cook the masala.

9. Add the cubed and fried potato. Keep stirring till the oil separates from the masala.

10. Add the coconut milk. Cook on low heat.

11. Add the sauted prawns. Stir to mix. Cover the wok with a lid and continue cooking on low flame.

12. Let the gravy comes to a boil and thicken to desired consistency (if too thick, water may be added). Add the slit green chillies.

13. In a skillet heat the ghee and sprinkle the roasted and ground garam masala and when it sizzles in the ghee, pour it on the boiling Chingri (Prawn) curry. Mix well.

The Chingri Maachher Malaikari is ready to eat with steamed rice.