Batter Fried Golden Prawns

 

This dish is ideal for serving as a starter, it’s crispy and flavourful. It’s very easy to make with all the ingredients available in the kitchen. You can add fresh minced garlic or ginger or coriander or other herbs for the flavour. After the prawns are marinated it’s then dipped in the batter and deep fried. It’s has to be served hot with chilli or any sauce of your choice. 

For Marinating the Prawns

Ingredients 

12 medium size Prawns - clean the prawns keeping only the tail portion intact. Devine the prawns.

1 Green Chilli minced 

4 Garlic cloves minced

Salt to taste 

Method 

Take a prawn and with the blunt side of the knife, flatten the prawns by hitting the prawns gently, repeat the process for all the prawns. 

Add salt, garlic and chilli. Mix all the ingredients together. Keep the prawns aside till we make the batter. 

To Fry the Prawns 

Ingredients 

Marinated Prawns 

1 Egg

1/2 cup Refine / All Purpose Flour 

1/4 cup Corn Flour 

1/2 tsp Baking Powder 

Salt to taste 

Oil to fry 

Method 

Take a bowl, add the AP flour, corn flour, salt and baking powder. Mix all the ingredients together. Add the egg and little water at a time. Whisk and make a thick dropping consistency batter, keep the batter aside for 5 minutes. Meanwhile take a wok, add oil and heat the oil. Once the oil becomes hot, take a piece of prawns and dip the prawn in the batter. Repeat the process and fry the prawns until golden brown in colour. Remove the prawns on a paper towel. Serve the prawns with any sauce of your choice. 

Daab Chingri

This dish is one of the delicacy of Bengal.... The Prawns are cooked in the coconut shell. It’s generally made on occasions. The ingredients used in this recipe are almost same as prawn paturi or prawn bhappa... only difference here is, the coconut water and the coconut meat are added in this recipe and the cooked prawn gravy is filled into the coconut shell and grilled in the oven. 

There are different ways of making it.. many people add onion paste and  ginger paste while cooking the gravy... but I haven’t added these ingredients... Many a times after grinding the mustard, the dish taste bitter, to avoid bitterness, please strain the mustard paste. If you don’t have oven, it can be made in the pressure cooker. 

Ingredients 

500 grams big size Prawns, cleaned and deveined 

4 Green Chillies slit

1 Garlic clove

3 tbsp Tender Coconut Meat (Malai)

3 tbsp Mustard seeds 

Salt to taste 

1 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 cup Coconut Water

3 tbsp Mustard Oil 

Method 

Take a grinder and add coconut meat, 2 green chillies, garlic, mustard seeds, salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 3/4 cup coconut water to make a fine paste. Take a strainer and strain the paste and add remaining coconut water into the paste. Take a wok, add mustard oil and let it heat up. Meanwhile add salt and remaining turmeric powder on prawns and mix the ingredients together. Add the prawns into the hot oil, let the prawns cook until it changes its colour, add the remaining 2 green chillies and continue to cook for few seconds, pour the paste and continue to cook for a minute. Switch off the flame, take the coconut shell, add the cooked prawn gravy into the coconut shell, cover the top part of the coconut shell with foil, grill the daab chingri at 180 degrees celsius for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated oven. Once done let the coconut shell cool down a bit in the oven, remove the coconut shell from the oven, remove the foil and serve the daab chingri with steamed rice. 

Incase Otg is not available, the coconut shell can be steamed in the pressure until 2 whistles. 

Achari Veggi Garlicky Mayonnaise Dip

 

                   Achari Veggi Garlicky Mayonnaise Dip 

This dip can be enjoyed with any chips / Nachos or fries... served as starters. This is a tangy and a creamy dip, it’s very delicious. This dip can be kept in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. 

Ingredients 

2 tbsp Carrot grated

2 tbsp Beetroot grated

Few Coriander leaves chopped

1/2 cup Garlicky Mayonnaise or Plain Mayonnaise with crushed Garlic added

1/4 cup Hung Curd 

1 tbsp Any spicy Pickle Oil along with the masala

Rock Salt to taste 

Packet of Cheese Nachos / Nachos / Fries / Chips 

Method 

Take a mixing bowl, take garlicky mayonnaise, add the carrot, beetroot, spicy Pickle Oil, curd and Salt. Mix all the ingredients together well. Transfer the dip into a serving bowl and sprinkle little chopped Coriander leaves on the dip. Serve the dip with Nachos, Chips, Fries etc . 

Pomfret Macher Tel Jhal

This is a quick and easy Bengali recipe to go with steamed rice. This dish is one of our family’s favourite dish, my mother use to make it. It’s supposed to be bit spicy and tangy.

Ingredients 

1 big size Pomfret cut, sliced and cleaned 

1 medium size Tomato chopped 

2 to 3 Green Chillies slit

Few Coriander leaves chopped 

1/2 tsp Nigella seeds 

Salt to taste 

3/4 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 cup Mustard Oil to fry the fish

Few drops of Mustard Oil to drizzle  

Method 

Take the sliced pomfret pieces, apply 1/2 tsp turmeric and salt, heat the oil and fry the fish slices until brown in colour. Remove the fried fish pieces, keep it aside. Remove the excess oil and keep around 2 tbsp oil in the wok. Add the nigella seeds and green chillies. Sauté the nigella seeds for few seconds. Add the chopped tomato, salt and remaining turmeric powder. Stir and cook until the chopped tomato is mushy. Add a cup of water and let the gravy simmer. Add the fish pieces and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. Switch off the flame, sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and drizzle little mustard oil over the gravy. Serve this dish with steamed rice. 

 

Ilish Macher Bhappa

After a long time we managed to get Ilish from an online cold storage. We were very thrilled, after all it’s called the Macher Raja... King of Fish in Bengal, as it’s the tastiest fish. The fish was delivered whole, we had to clean and cut the fish... and I love cutting the fish. So quickly got into action, geared up with the cutting tools, cut the fish and made Bhappa Ilish - one of the classic traditional dish made with Ilish. 

 

Ingredients 

6 pieces of Ilisha Fish

1 Garlic Cloves

4 to 6 Green Chillies as per the spiciness you require 

Salt to taste

1 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp Chilli Powder - Optional 

1 tbsp Fresh or Desiccated Coconut  -  optional 

2 - 3 tbsp Mustard seeds 

1 tsp Poppy seeds - optional

2 tbsp Curd 

1 1/2 tbsp + 1//2 tsp Mustard Oil 

Method 

To make a paste, add mustard seeds, poppy seeds, coconut, 2 green chillies, garlic, salt and curd in a grinder and grind all the ingredients with little water into a paste. Strain the paste. Take fish pieces and apply salt chilli powder and turmeric powder on the fish, pour the paste and mustard oil on over the fish and coat the fish well with the paste. Add slit green chillies. Close the container and steam the fish for 10 - 15 minutes or add water in the pressure cooker, place the cooker stand and place the closed container inside the cooker and pressure cook with 2 whistles. Once done, drizzle the remaining mustard oil and serve it with hot steamed rice.