CHINGRI MALAI CURRY

Bengalis love chingri malai curry, small sized prawns cooked in creamy gravy. This is a mildly spiced, yellow coloured dish which is easy to prepare and quick too. It gets its creaminess from coconut milk and melon seeds paste. Cashew nuts can also be used.

The given weight of prawns is after cleaning and deveining. I have used readymade coconut milk in this recipe. Coconut milk can be very easily prepared at home. Make a fine paste of grated coconut with a cup of water. Strain it through a sieve to get thick milk of coconut. This first extract is the best

Recipe for Chingri malai curry

Ingredients for Chingri malai curry

• 250 gms small prawns (shelled and deveined)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 tbsp melon seeds
•  1 onion (finely chopped)
• 1 tomato (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 green cardamoms
• ¼ + ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp coriander seeds
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• 1 pinch of garam masala
• 2 green chillies (roughly chopped)
• Salt to taste
• ½ cup mustard oil

How to make

Marinate the prawns in some salt and turmeric powder for 10 minutes.

Heat mustard oil. Fry the prawns for not more than two minutes. Keep aside.

In the same oil add bay leaves and cardamom pods.

Add onions. Cook till translucent.

Now add in the ginger garlic paste. Saute for a minute.

Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and cumin powder. Mix well.

Add in the tomato and cook 3 to 4 minutes till it turns soft.

Add in the prawns and saute for 3 to 4 minutes on medium heat.

Reduce the heat to low. Pour in the coconut milk and mix well.

Season with salt. Sprinkle garam masala. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Serve with parantha, rice.

RASMALAI FROM SCRATCH

Rasmalai is a soft, spongy, juicy dessert. It is the most popular Bengali sweet, made with chenna or homemade cottage cheese and soaked in saffron and cardamom flavoured milk.

The process of making rasmalai is very simple, but it does require an honest effort. No substitutes or shortcuts work. I have done a number of trails and couldn’t understand where I was going wrong.
Here is the secret to a perfect rasgulla for rasmalai.

Firstly, perfect chenna results into perfect rasgullas. The chenna shouldn’t be too dry or too moist. Refer to my previous post to make chenna at home. Secondly, it requires a good ten minutes of kneading or rubbing the chenna. For best results this step should be done with hands only.

Cow’s milk is considered to be the best. I have tried full fat milk, toned milk and cow’s milk, the results are almost the same. One liter milk will yield 12 pieces of rasmalai.

Recipe for Rasmalai

Ingredients for chenna

• 1 litre milk
• 2 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar

Ingredients for Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 cups water

Ingredients for Ras or Rabdi

• 1 litre
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Few strands of saffron or kesar
• ¼ tsp cardamom or green elaichi (crushed)
• 8 to 10 pistachios (for garnish)
• A pinch of lemon yellow food colour (optional)

How to make chenna

Bring milk to boil. Lower the heat. Add lemon juice or vinegar and give it a gentle stir. Wait for a minute.

If the milk doesn’t curdle add more lemon juice.

Remove from heat when you can see the curdled milk and clear whey separated.

Pass it through a sieve lined with muslin cloth. Wash the chenna under running water.

This will prevent from overcooking of chenna and also remove the tartness of lemon juice.

Squeeze to get rid of the moisture.

Remember too less or too much moisture is not good for Bengali sweets.

Take large plate and knead the chenna by rubbing it between the palm and the plate as shown in the picture.

Continue this process for at least 10 minutes. The fat in the chenna will help to turn it into a soft dough.

For testing, take a small portion and roll it to form a ball. If it doesn’t have cracks it is ready or knead for few more minutes.

How to make rasgullas

Meanwhile, for sugar syrup put the sugar and water in a deep pan and bring it to a boil.

Divide the chenna dough into 12 portions.

Roll them between the palms and flatten with slight pressure.

As the syrup begins to boil drop the chenna balls one by one such that the boiling doesn’t subside.

Let it boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Put it on medium high heat so that the boiling continues all throughout.

After 20 minutes the rasgullas will swell up to double the size.

Let the rasgullas rest in the syrup for 5 to 10 minutes.

Take some ice cubes in a bowl.

Transfer the rasgullas in the ice bowl with some sugar syrup.

Let it come to room temperature. Keep it aside for 20 minutes.

How to make Ras

Put some strands of kesar in warm milk and set aside for few minutes.

Rub the strands lightly.

Heat the milk for ras.

Simmer on medium heat for 7 to 8 minutes. Here we do not want the milk to reduce much. We want the ras to be light and runny.

Add crushed cardamom and kesar to the milk.

Add sugar and lemon yellow food colour (optional).

Stir till the sugar dissolves.

Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes on low heat. Remove from heat

Now gently squeeze the rasgullas and put them in the ras.

Once the ras comes to room temperature, put it in refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours.

Serve chilled. 

ANGOORI RASGULLAS

Angoori rasgulla also called as chenna angoor is one of the popular Bengali sweets. The mini soft and spongy are quite a favourite with kids and adults too.

I have been trying to get the perfect recipe for a long time now. After trying a number of recipes, I have got this tried and tested the recipe with some important tips.

Soft and spongy rasgullas can be made with the cow as well as buffalo milk. The first important step is to get the right type of chenna, not too moist and not too dry. Homemade chenna gives the best results. Refer to my previous post of Homemade chenna to get it right. Remember not to boil the milk once split. Immediately wash the chenna with cold water. Here we want to stop the cooking process of chenna.

Secondly, ensure that the sugar syrup is always boiling. The rolling boil shouldn’t subside as it may change the texture of rasgullas.

Chenna made from one-litre milk yields almost 40 rasgullas.

 Recipe for Angoori rasgulla

Ingredients for Angoori rasgulla

• 1 litre milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups water

How to make

Refer to my previous post to make Homemade chenna.

Rub the chenna with your palm for 10 minutes continuously. The chenna will come together like a soft dough.

To test the chenna, take a small portion and roll it into a ball. If the ball is soft and doesn't have cracks it is ready or else rub it for few more minutes.

Divide the chenna into 2 equal portions. Further, divide one of the portions into 20 portions and roll them into balls.

Add a hint of pink colour to the other portion. Mix well.

Divide the pink chenna into 20 portions and roll them into balls. Cover and keep aside.

For the syrup put sugar and water into a deep saucepan and bring it to rolling boil.

Now add chenna balls to the syrup, two at a time. Remember the syrup should be continuously boiling.

Now let it boil for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat. Transfer to another bowl.

Once the rasgullas come to room temperature, keep in the refrigerator.

Let the rasgullas sit in the syrup for atleast 4 hours. Serve chilled.