CHRINGRI MACHER MALAI CURRY(prawn malai curry)

hey frnds, m back. wishing all of u subho noboborsho, i.e.bengali new year. yas it was bengali new year, lst week. but that is not whts keepin me busy. m terribly worried & f***** up with my final collection. but amidst all of these not-so-happening incidents i did take out time to cook something. these days m often being tagged & cursed by my friends & family only for baking, & not "cooking", in the real sense of the term. but how do i distinguish, while cookbooks contain recipe for both"cooking" & baking. any ways, since it was a noboborsho, mainly a bengali affair, i decided to make something which is a traditional bengali dish.

i had read about this recipe many a times, have tasted at various occassions but have never really made it, since the sumptous dish always looked pretty difficult & complicated to me. but never mind. but i recipe i followed was from a book called" The Calcutta Cookbook" by Minashie Das Gupta- Bunny Gupta-Jaya Caliha. thye book not only deals with the various kind of cuisines calsutta is known for, with special emphasis on the bengali cuisine, but describes in detail the evolution of such cuisines. it talks about the evolution of bengali cuisine and its various age old recipes which are almost extinct today. the book also gives an interesting account of the various kinds of religious & stately communities who have made our kolkata their home. and yes together with all these diversified flavours is my united & unique kolkata. the book also supplies loads of recipes which are authentic, easy to make & tasty.
from this book, i came to know about the evolution of this malai curry.  Malai Curry or Malay curry as it is referred to in many old cookbooks, is originally from Malaysian, but i must say a very tasty adaptation from the malaysian cuisine. the name of this has definitely changed over the last 100 years, wuith so many changes taking place in kolkat's lifestyle. once "out of fashion" but now has make a successful unlike many ystryear actresses, & like many old fashion silhouettes.
now lets have a look @ d recipe.

ingrediants

• coconut milk                    150ml
•  large prawns                   500gm
• onion                               2nos
• bay leaf                           2nos
• cardamom                       2nos
• salt                                  to taste
• cinnamon stick                1"stick
• green chilli                        5-6nos
• cloves                             4nos
• turmeric powder              1/2tsp
• red chilli powder              1tsp
• mustard oil                      3tbsp
• ghee                                3tbsp

method:

• wash & de-shell the prawns.
• paste the onions and half of the green chillies separatly.
• now saute them in ghee(clarified butter) until they get a lovely golden colour.
• add the remaining oil to the kadai and add the cardamoms, cloves & bay leaf.
• now add the onion paste and fry till it attains a slightly brown colour.
• now add turmeric-chilli powder , green chilli paste and cook for sometime, till it leaves oil from the sides.
• now add the coconut cream/milk and mix well. 
• add seasoning. and cover it and cook on sim.
• once the mixture comes to a boil, add the fried prawns. with a final stir, and a tsp of ghee on top, your dish is ready.
• garnish with green chilli & serve.

well, well, there are additions and subtractions like all the other recipes. i had put in a bit of ground ginger & garlic while frying the onions, but not much. and i had also added a bit more of red chilly powder, since i like spicy food. you can also replace the ghee(clarified butter) with mustard oil. but remember to use a gud quality mustard oil, as it enhances the flavor of the dish. and keep the head on the prawns, it looks good while serving.
i hope even you people will love the dish as much as i do. and generally jumbo prawns are used for this dish, but since it wasn't available at the nearby , market on the day of poi-la-boisakh, so had to manage with normal big size prawns.try it.....