Chingri (Prawn) Posto Malaikari..!!

Chingri(Prawn) Posto Malaikari..is a dish purely from Bengal..The name Malaikari always comes after chingri for all Bengalis..but this time I tried this very popular dish with a change in spices..& the main thing is that I added posto(poppy seeds) to it..I followed this recipe from a tv show..& I liked it very much . I enhanced the recipe by adding some of my own tricks &  tried it a lot of times..u can also try this out & surprise everyone @ lunch..:)

Ingredients :

Fresh jumbo prawns (head intact) -10 nos ; onion(2 med sized) paste ; garlic(8 med sized cloves) paste ; 1 tsp of ginger paste ; poppy seeds paste ; green chilies paste ; beaten  yogurt  2 tsp ; coconut milk ; garam masala powder ; turmeric powder ; bay leaves & whole garam masala   ; salt ; sugar ; mustard oil ; ghee.

Procedure :

1)Clean the prawns nicely & coat them with salt & turmeric powder.

2)Take a frying pan & heat mustard oil in it. Now fry the prawns in it.(Don’t fry too much)  Take the fried prawns in a bowl.

3)Extract juices from the pastes of onion, garlic , ginger.

4)Now we need to marinate the fried prawns with the above juices (extracted from onion, garlic, ginger pastes in step 3). Next add poppy seeds paste, green chili paste, 2 tsp of beaten yogurt, whole garam masala, salt & ghee to the marination. Cover the marinated fried prawns & keep aside for sometime.

5)Now start heating the remaining oil in the same pan with pinch of sugar & as it caramelizes..then add bay leaves(2 nos.) & just over the bay leaves (not directly into the fry pan) add 1 &1/2 tsp of garam masala powder.

6)Now add the marinated prawns along with the marinade.Cover the frying pan with a lid & allow it to get cooked for 5 min in low –medium heat. As the gravy thickens add coconut milk into it. Check out for salt & sugar as per ur taste…

7)Stir the gravy  for 2 mins  & turn off the gas..

8)Serve this delicious Chingri Posto Malaikari with hot steamed rice..:)

[  Note :- U can sprinkle coconut flakes on top before serving. If u want to avoid green chili paste, u can add whole green chilies into the marination .Don’t fry the prawns too much or they will get stiffened]