One of the main reasons I love Kolkata is because of the fish we get here. Its so fresh and one can get restaurant grade fish quality even in the small neighborhood produce markets. I have been eating all sorts of fish from the time I have landed in Kolkata. If you follow my blogs you would know that recently I had gone to Meghalaya. Over there also while others in the group had chicken or veg, I was the only one who opted for fish every chance I got. And I was so happy I did. I am crazy about seafood and this long stay in Kolkata is proving to be a boon.

A couple of days back mom had got some lovely golda chingri (giant river prawns) from the market. I kind of pestered her to get these big prawns because they were the only thing remaining to check out in the list of fish in Kolkata. I wanted to initially make microwave bhapa chingi with these as a weekend special. But yesterday we had a random plan and went to City Center 2 and then to Eco park in the evening. CC2 was not to talk about - usual mall in any metro city. I had visited CC2 last about I think 10 years ago when it had just opened and reaching it was a nightmare. I had expected the look and feel would be better after such a long time. But it kind of seemed okayish. In fact I still love City Center 1 better. The vibe over there is much premium than CC2. There was only one plus of the CC2 visit, there was a sweet festival going on there in which all famous sweets from different corners of Bengal were being sold. We got one each of the most popular sweets back home. In the evening we went to Eco park. Eco park is huge and it might probably take a whole day to cover the entire park. But I didn't want to do that much in the strong afternoon sun. The biggest USP of the park is the 7 wonders and it looks stellar in the evening. Hence I had targeted evening time only. And I was not wrong. The illumination around the 7 wonders are absolutely spectacular. I think I will write a separate post covering my visit there. We intend to again visit the park and try covering some more interesting areas like the Japanese Garden or the Eiffel Tower.

Since yesterday the Chingri making plan was cancelled, I took that up today. I was in a mood to do some elaborate cooking so instead of a microwave chingri I thought of making malaikari with these beauties. I have already posted one version of Chingri maikari previously on my blog. But it had Shah jeera which is not a very conventional addition in malaikari. Also I had used garlic in it. Now a days I do not add any garlic in my malaikari. Ginger itself gives a nice aroma to the dish.You can check out the other recipe here.

So this recipe is an absolute traditional take on malaikari. Time and again I have mentioned in my blog that for some of the most traditional recipes I follow Lila Majumdar's book. I also checked out Supriya Devi's ( Utaam Kumar's wife) book and she had mentioned a similar recipe. Most of the malaikari recipes you would find now a days suggests adding curd. While I do like curd in certain gravies, malaikari has a very distinct aroma of coconut milk, adding curd to the gravy would alter the traditional flavors and taste I feel. So in this recipe I have not added any curd. The key to a good malaikari gravy is frying the onion till they release oil. Check out the recipe below:

• Golda Chingri / Large Prawns with shell and head -  3 or 4
• Onion - 1 medium
• Ginger Paste - 1 tsp
• Cinnamon - 2 " stick
• Cardamom - 3 bruised
• Cloves - 2 bruised
• Coconut milk - 1 Cup
• Tej Pata (Bay Leaf ) - 2 small 
• Green Chilli - 2 (slitted)
• Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Sugar as per taste
• Mustard Oil

For this recipe I had used Maggi Coconut Powder. I used 2 spoonful of the powder and added it to a cup of full cream milk. Now microwave it for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir in the milk powder properly taking care no lump is formed. You can also use the canned Coconut milk readily available in any supermart. Else if you want to use fresh coconut milk then you can scrape the coconut and add hot water to the scraped coconut. Make a thick paste of the scrapings and strain it to get the coconut milk. However it doesn't make much difference in taste even if you use the market available milk or powder. So it's entirely your take whether you want to indulge into the extra effort of extracting coconut milk from fresh coconut or not.

Procedure

1.  Carefully de-vein the prawns. Marinate with salt and turmeric. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes. 

Tip: I use a kitchen scissor to cut open a vertical slit on the back of prawn shell.  Then make a fine vertical cut with a sharp knife to expose the veins. Then using a toothpick I pull out the vein. 

Note: In this recipe I have kept the entire shell on the prawns. If you like you can remove the shell form the mid section. But keep the head and tail intact for a nice look.

2. Heat mustard oil in the skillet. When the oil heats up toss in the marinated prawns. Fry till they turn pink for 45 seconds each side. Due to the presence of the head and tail the prawns will curl less.  Overcooking the prawns would make them rubbery hence take care not to cook them for long. Keep the fried prawns aside.

3. Chop the onions and make a paste of onions with a little water. Make a paste of ginger and 1 green chilli separately. Keep aside.

4. In the same skillet in which you fried the prawns, add more mustard oil and let it heat up. When the oil is hot enough add the bruised cardamom and clove, cinnamon stick and bay leaf . Fry for a few seconds until fragrant.

5. Add the onion paste and sauté till the raw smell of the onion is gone. 

Tip: Add a pinch of salt to the onion paste, it accelerates the cooking process of onion.

6. Add the ginger-green chili paste and fold in. Cook with frequent stirring till the onion releases oil. You can also add a bit of water in between to keep the onion from sticking to the skillet.

7.When the raw smell is gone add the turmeric powder and chilly powder. Mix everything.

8. Add the Coconut milk now. Add sugar as per taste and adjust the salt level. Let the gravy simmer for 3-4 minutes covered, so the gravy gains some body. Give it a toss occasionally to prevent the masala sticking to the skillet. Add a little warm water if things turn dry. Let it cook until oil floats up.

Note: This gravy is supposed to be a little on the sweeter side. 

9. Now add the fried prawns into the gravy and cover and cook for 3-4 minutes on low flame and not more than that else the prawn will become rubbery and hard. Adjust the salt and sugar level at this stage. The gravy is supposed to be a thick one with a predominant sweet taste. 

10. Add garam masala powder and close the lid. Let the gravy sit inside till its time to serve. As the gravy sits the rich aroma of prawns and coconut milk will gradually bring in the soul of the dish together.

Serve it with steamed rice or a pulao of your choice. Since this is a very rich gravy, a rice with mild seasoning would go better with this