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–+ servings
prawns in creamy coconut sauce

Chingri Macher Malai (Bengali Prawn Curry)

This is a classic Bengali dish from Kolkata and a staple in any Bengali household. It’s really creamy (from the coconut milk and desiccated coconut), tangy, spicy and sweet and all of these notes of flavour are balanced out excellently. Not to mention, it’s so simple to put together and an absolute winner for an easy weeknight meal.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Main Course
Cuisine Bengali, Indian
Servings 4 people
Calories 559 kcal

Equipment

  • medium sized fry pan or wok

Ingredients
  

  • 13 king prawns

Onion paste ingredients

  • 1 whole red onion
  • 2 whole green chilli
  • 1 tsp ginger paste
  • 1 tsp garlic paste
  • 2 tbsp dessicated coconut

Cooking prawn curry ingredients

Aromatics

  • 2 pods cardamom
  • 1 bark cinnamon
  • 2 whole dried chillies
  • 3 whole cloves

Rest of curry ingredients

  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • 1 and ½ tsp tomato paste diluted with a splash of water

Instructions
 

Preparation

  • Wash, devein and deshell your prawns, leaving the ends of the prawns on.
  • Chop up your onions and slice your green chillies. In a blender add your chopped onions, green chillies, garlic paste, ginger paste (you can use fresh garlic and ginger if preferred) and dessicated coconut. Blend until you have a smooth texture. Add a splash of water to the blender to loosen the paste up.
    Put your diluted tomato paste together by combining your tomato paste and a splash of water.
    Place this to the side.

Cooking your curry

  • In a wok or karahi add some oil and add in all of your aromatics and allow that to toast until fragrant. Once fragrant, add in three tablespoons of your onion paste and allow that to cook for two or so minutes.
  • Add in your diluted tomato paste and mix well together. Add in all of your masala and cover, allow this to cook for around 5 minutes.
  • Add in your coconut milk and let it come to a simmer. Once it has reached a simmer, add in all of your prawns and let that cook for a further 10 minutes or so. It should reduce to a nice thick gravy

Notes

the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.

Nutrition

Calories: 559kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 41gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 28gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 328mgSodium: 3945mgPotassium: 930mgFiber: 7gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 1762IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 244mgIron: 8mg
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