Best Of Bengali- Chingri Malai Curry

I'm not sure what it is that has landed Bengalis with the title of seafood lovers (perhaps the dozens of fresh water rivers that vein themselves through the land?) but it seems to have stuck. I have to confess that my palate is not made for dry-cured fish or the crispy fried head of an ilish mach, but I can share in the love of fish cooked in light spices. The first mistake I made when learning to cook seafood was that I used the same amount of ingredients as I would with meat. Being less dense, most seafood takes less time to cook through and less spice too! 

Today's recipe is a simple prawn curry where the spices are stewed with the addition of a little coconut milk, which prevents ingredients taking over from the awesome flavour of prawns. It is a traditional way of Bengali cooking but it can be added to meat curries as well: marinate in coconut milk and spices to tenderise the meat or add a spoon or two to reduce the heat from the chilli powder.

Servings: 5-6 people
Prep+cooking time: 40 mins-1 hr (depending on if your prawns are pre-peeled and veined)

Ingredients

For grilling the prawns

• 500g tiger or jumbo prawns, peeled and cleaned

• pinch of turmeric, salt, pepper and red chili powder

• 1 tbsp mustard oil, plus extra for the curry

For the malai curry

• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced

• 3cm cube of ginger, finely grated

• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 cup plum tomatoes (roughly 200ml)

• 2 green chilis, halved

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 1 tsp black peppercorns

• 1 tsp cumin powder

• 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

• salt, to taste

• fresh chopped coriander leaves

• 1 cup natural yogurt (roughly 200ml) A great alternative is coconut milk

Optional: 1 red or yellow pepper, cut into 1 inch strips

Instructions

1) Wash and devein the prawns. In a bowl, coat them with the seasoning. In a non-stick frying pan, lightly grill in a drizzle of mustard oil. You'll know they've cooked through when they turn pink and begin to curl into themselves. Leave the prawns to one side.

3) In a separate medium sized pan, heat the mustard oil over a medium flame. Fry the onion, ginger, garlic and all the spices for 5 minutes until the harsh onion smell disappears. 

4) Once the onions are soft and golden, add the tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes on a high heat. You should begin to see the oil separating and the onions taking on a red tint. 

5) Add the yogurt and fried prawns while reducing the heat to a low flame. Cover the pan and leave for another 15 minutes.

6) Once you are ready to serve, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and a few swirls of fresh yogurt.