Prawn Malai Curry for a wholesome Bengali lunch: Recipe inside

Here's a super easy recipe for preparing Prawn Malai Curry at home. Take a look.

When it comes to food, Bengalis are always having a friendly and tasty fight between Hilsa and Prawn. While Mustard Hilsa is the special delicacy that travelled to Bengal and became an absolute favourite to Bengalis worldwide. Prawn Malai Curry or more aptly called Chingri Malai Curry adds absolute delight to a quintessential Bengali spread. Bengalis love their food more than anything else and Prawn Malai Curry is a star of a dish when it comes to a perfect lunch spread. And the best part of this dish is it is extremely easy to make and a fun dish to explore in the kitchen.

Prawn Malai Curry for a wholesome Bengali lunch: recipe inside (Unsplash)

We have curated an easy recipe of Prawn Malai Curry to prepare at home for your Bengali friends and make them drool.

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Prawn Malai Curry

Ingredients:

8-10 large prawns, peeled with head intact, deveined, and cleaned

¾ tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

4-5 tbsps mustard oil

1-2 tbsps ghee

2 bay leaves

3-4 cloves

1 inch cinnamon stick

3-4 green cardamoms

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 cup ground paste (1 large onion, 1 large tomato, 1 inch ginger)

½ tsp red chilli powder

2 green chillies + for garnish

½ tsp cumin powder

1 cup coconut milk + for garnish

Salt to taste

½ tsp sugar

Melted ghee for drizzling

Bengali garam masala for sprinkling + for garnish

Fried cashew nuts for sprinkling + for garnish

Fried raisins for sprinkling + for garnish

Steamed rice to serve

Lemon wedges to serve

Method:

In a bowl, take the prawns, add turmeric powder and salt and mix everything well. Set the bowl aside for some time. Then add mustard oil in a pan and saute the prawns for some time. Then heat the remaining mustard oil and ghee in the kadai and add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, cumin seeds. In it, add the ground paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, green chilli and cumin powder and saute everything together. In it, add coconut milk and move it till the fat separates. Then add salt, sugar and water and bring everything to a boil. Add the prawns and cook till it comes to a boil. Then switch off the heat, drizzle ghee, Bengali garam masala, fried cashew nuts, fried raisins and some coconut milk, and let it rest for some time. Garnish with fried cashew nuts, fried raisins, Bengali garam masala, coconut milk, and green chilli. Serve with steamed rice and lemon wedges.

(Recipe: Sanjeev Kapoor, Chef)