Chingri Malaikari
Subtle but rich in flavour, chingri malaikari—giant tiger/freshwater prawns cooked in creamy coconut-milk curry—is a Bengali treat.
- Cooking time40 mins
Calories292kcal
Chingri malaikari is an iconic Bengali prawn curry made by cooking large tiger prawns (bagda chingri) or giant freshwater prawns (golda chingri) in a super-subtle, super-creamy coconut-milk sauce. Don’t be fooled by the elegant appearance of this well-loved Bengali treat—chingri malaikari is looks deceptively complicated to cook, when in reality it is easier to make than even chicken or egg curry!
The provenance of the name of this chingri macher recipe is often misattributed to the word ‘malai’ meaning ‘cream’, which recalls the coconut-milk base in which the prawns are cooked. However, it is more likely that this prawn recipe seems to have made its way into Bengali kitchens through contact with Malaysian traders; so ‘malaikari’ is actually ‘Malay’ curry, over time transliterated as ‘malai’ curry.
In this detailed video, we show you how to prepare a gorgeous, creamy chingri malaikari, starting from a walkthrough of how you can clean and devein giant tiger (bagda) or freshwater (golda) prawns yourself, at home. With this step-by-step recipe video at your disposal, satiating your chingri malaikari cravings has never been easier!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my onion paste turn bitter?
This recipe uses onion paste instead of sliced onions because the goal here is to get a creamy sauce. Even though it may seem like onion paste would cook quicker than chopped onions because it is already disintegrated, frying onion paste properly takes and equal amount of time and patience, if not more! You must cook it completely until the raw smell of onions goes away. If your onion paste is tasting bitter, it is likely that it has not been braised adequately and is still raw. The paste may also turn bitter if it frequently sticks to the pan and burns.
Do I have to keep the prawn legs and shells on, like in your video?
We keep the bright, peacock-blue legs of tiger prawns on for purely ornamental purposes. They are quite slender so the jhol doesn't penetrate them anyway. You can discard them if you like. For large prawns, we prefer to cook them with the shell on. The shells not only add flavour to the sauce, but also protect the prawns from overcooking and turning rubbery. If you don't prefer to have the shells on, you can discard them as well.
What's the difference between first-press and second-press coconut milk?
To extract fresh coconut milk, first grate the coconut, then grind it in a blender with an equal amount of hot water. Pass this paste through a cheesecloth, and squeeze the bundle well to extract as much of the thick, first-press coconut milk as you can. This has the most flavour. To the remnants of the grated coconut, you can add hot water once again and blend it to extract second-press coconut milk. This is thinner, and less flavourful, than the first-press coconut milk.
On average, each coconut yields about 200 g of grated coconut, which will give you roughly 300 g of thick, first-press coconut milk. If you want to learn how to extract fresh coconut milk from whole coconut, see chhola'r dal'er halwa video we made with Salma!
Can I use packaged coconut milk for this recipe?
A lot of the packaged coconut milk available in India contains stabilisers such as starches and gums to keep the milk emulsified. This tends to make the cooked sauce quite slimy. But luckily, these days, there are good Thai coconut milk brands available in New Market in Kolkata, as well as online.
In the US, UK, Europe, etc., your best bet is to visit your nearest Thai or Asian grocery store to shop for these products! Saptarshi posted about this in detail in our community, along with info on some of our favourite coconut-milk brands.
Can I prepare this in advance for a party?
Yes, malaikari is very easy to prep in advance of a party or a large gathering. You can fry the prawns and make the base of the sauce (before adding the thick coconut milk), and store the two separately. When you are ready to serve, simply finish the sauce and simmer the prawns in it. This will ensure that the prawns don't turn rubbery from multiple reheatings.
Books in this recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg bagda or golda chingri (giant tiger or freshwater prawns)
- 50 g vegetable oil
- 10 g ghee
- 200 g onion paste
- 20 g ginger paste
- 4 g turmeric
- 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
- 75 g yoghurt
- 6 pcs green chillies
- 300 g coconut milk (first-press)
- 200 g coconut milk (second-press)
- 24 g salt
- 36 g sugar
- ½ tsp bengali garam masala
Method
- Shell and devein the prawns, leaving the flavourful head intact. You may remove the stomach of the prawn, located near its head. We are leaving the shells on, but you may peel them off if you like.
- Coat prawns with 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp turmeric powder, and set aside.
- In a grinder jar, add onions and blitz them to a fine paste. Also extract coconut milk, reserving the first-press (thick) and second-press (thinner) milk in separate jars, and keep it ready.
- Heat vegetable oil in a pan. Once hot, lower the prawns one by one, and fry them in batches for about 45 seconds on each side. The longer you cook prawns the tougher they’ll become, so remove them from the heat immediately and set aside.
- Now add ghee to the residual oil. Temper with dried red chillies, bay leaf, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon.
- Add onion paste along with sugar, and fry for about 8 minutes until the onions are brown.
- Add ginger paste and fry for another 3–4 minutes, after which add turmeric and kashmiri red chilli powder. Stir intermittently so that the spices don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. When they do, add a splash of the thin, second-press coconut milk to loosen the mixture up and help fry it. Also add three slit green chillies and salt now.
- Once oil starts separating from the spices, beat the yoghurt until it is lump free and add it to the pan. Drop the heat and stir vigorously to prevent the yoghurt from splitting. Cook it for 3–4 minutes.
- Add the second-press (thin) coconut milk and simmer for about 2 minutes before adding the first-press (thick) coconut milk. Once it comes to a boil, add the fried prawns.
- Allow the prawns to bubble in the curry, covered, for no more than 5 minutes.
- Finish off with garam masala before serving.
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