Authentic Chingri Malaikari or Shrimps in Coconut Base

'Chingri Malaikari' or shrimp iin coconut base is a highly acclaimed dish in Bengal. It is cooked in various styles and this is one I have learnt from my mother, liked by all my family members and gets made in no time. I like to use deveined and cleaned shrimps for this preparation. You can too. However, this time I cleaned and deveined the shrimps all by myself and that took more time than usual.

For this dish, take 2.15 lbs of shrimps. Wash them under cold running water and smear them all with some salt and turmeric powder. Leave them aside to be marinated well for a minute roughly. Simultaneously take a medium sized wok add mustard oil to it and let it be heated up evenly. Once done add all the marinated shrimp pieces and fry them well on each side for two minutes or so and keep them aside.

Chop up one fourth of a small onion and then use the rest to make a paste which eventually goes into the dish for a nice base as the curry need to thicken. Chop very well two fat cloves of garlic and leave them aside. Make a paste of two teaspoons each of ginger and garlic. Keep them aside for the cooking process. The dry ingredients needed for this dish are turmeric powder about one teaspoon and two teaspoons of red chili powder for added color but not heat. Along with it, add a little salt desirably to these and leave them on the countertop for later use. Leave aside a teaspoon of garam masala spice mix that includes cinnamon a stick, few cardamom pods around three or four and five cloves all made into a powder. If homemade garam masala mix is hard to achieve, use store bought ones and I sometimes do the same without the taste being compromised at all. We now make available a can of coconut milk ready and leave it aide as well on the countertop. Use organic coconut milk bought from a good Asian Market which serves it's purpose correctly.

Let the wok be hot enough before you add mustard oil and warm the oil up till it turns a little brown and flaming, Tip in all other ingredients one after the other. Chopped garlic and onions go in and lightly fry them until golden. Add ginger garlic paste and the paste of the left over onion. Sauté them occasionally until it all comes together evenly. Add a little pinch of salt to ensure the onions get done cooked quickly, a a trick we all know works. Add the dry ingredients together and stir altogether for a few additional minutes. Let it turn into an even mix and add enough warm water for a nice gravy and the consistency of which you can decide, depending whether you want it dry or more water based. The sauce at this point simmers away to make the gravy more thick. Let it be on medium to low flame. Once a desirable consistency has reached after bubbling away the curry for a good five minutes or so tip in all the fried shrimp pieces. Mix them all well and let it soak into the gravy as the sauce clearly finds its way into the shrimps' flesh lending them juicier. After a minute or two add aforementioned garam masala mix. All you need to do is pour in the coconut milk with four scoops of coconut cream scooped out generously. Let it all come together for a few more minutes of boiling. Check for salt if needed and give them an even stir before turning off the flame.

The final glorious touches given to this dish are a few. Tip in a couple or more slit chilies but I totally emit this since my child likes it just without any touch of green chilies; a little more creamy for the saucy goodness of the coconut gravy is all that she craves without it's saucy spicy unevenness.