Chingri Maacher Malaikari is an old Bengali Classics. I have grown up in this East Indian State (West Bengal), having to eat (and loving every bite and moment of it) this simply marvelous dish in every special occasions, be it be a birthday, or a houseful evening guests. My dad would have to go to the Sunderbans for work, and we all waited till late night knowing that he would get the fresh jumbo prawns/shrimps and next day would be the grandiose Chingri maacher malaikari.
This is cooked with coconut milk, which is very easily available here in cans making the process much more easy and faster.
Here I am sharing with you the way my mom always cooked chingri maacher malaikari.
Ingredients:
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1 lb uncooked deveined Prawn/Shrimp
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1.5 tablespoons of ginger paste
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2 Small Green Cardamoms
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2” stick of Cinnamon
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2 Bay Leaves
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3/4 can Coconut milk
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Salt to taste
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½ teaspoon of sugar
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1 teaspoon of turmeric
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1 teaspoon of red chili powder
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2 slit Hot Green Peppers.
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2 tablespoons Ghee (Clarified Butter)
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1 teaspoon oil
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1 tablespoon of shredded coconut(optional)
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1/2 teaspoon Jeera/Cumin seeds
Preparation:
Shell the Shrimps and toss with 3/4 spoon of turmeric, little bit of salt and half the amount of red chili powder. Let it sit for about 20 minutes.
Heat about the oil and lightly sauté the shrimps till they are almost done.
Heat the Ghee. Add the cracked cardamoms, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks. Once they start sizzling, add Cumin, the green hot peppers and the ginger paste.
Fry for sometimes till the ghee leaves the sides of the pan, only a minute or two. Be careful and see that the paste does not burn and turn dark brown.
Add the sautéed Shrimps, sugar, salt, and the rest of the chili powder and turmeric and the coconut milk & the shredded coconut. Simmer this till the coconut milk start getting creamy. You will see little bubbles coming up.
Gently stir for some more time and when the gravy coats the spoon you will know that its done.
Serve with white basmati rice.
Good one! One can also add tamarind water while preparing the gravy. Tamarind water can be added before adding the coconut milk. It gives a sharp and subtle taste to the gravy.
The ‘Malai curry’ originated in the Malabar/Konkan part of India where the usage of both coconut and tamarind is very common in everyday cooking.
Thanks for enlighting me on the Origin of this recipe.
I will try it with tamarind. that would be something new.
Thanks for visiting.
wow Siddharta ! nice subtle input ! tamarind should make the taste more tingling…..have already tried this recipie of Soma’s..will now try your suggestion of it.
Tried this recipe…After a long time cooked really tasty shrimp curry….So easy and quick…It just took few minutes….
This looks like it’s worth trying. Hope it doesn’t take too long.
I am in love with all your shrimp recipes
This one was so quick and rich. The aroma was to die for and yup my guests polished off their bowls to the utter shock of the Anti-shrimp husband 
making this today Soma! Hope it comes out good
[...] it, until I visited Soma’s blog: eCurry. Among the huge variety of flavorful dishes, I saw Chingri Maacher Malaikari (Jumbo Shrimps in Cream of Coconut) and I immediately knew that I had to make this dish and share it with you guys. Chingri means [...]