[ RECIPE ] Chingri Malai Curry

After the success of cooking my first authentic curry from scratch I thought I would build on the ‘kitchen confidence’ momentum and try a second. It’s a great buzz when you’ve got a challenge to face, you feel the nerves, the anticipation and know what you have to do, but when you finally achieve it you’ve just got to keep on going.

For today’s curry recipe there are less steps involved compared to the Murgh Makhani however there’s no compromise on the flavour of this dish. It originated in Bengal and is based on a coconut curry sauce. I’m not a fan of King Prawns so I substituted them for Chicken Thighs but use whichever you prefer.

I hope you find the time to create this wonderfully authentic, tantalisingly pleasing curry dish, brought to you from my home to yours. Enjoy!

– Ingredients

5cm Fresh Root Ginger (roughly chopped)
10 x Garlic Cloves (roughly chopped)
6 x Onions (roughly chopped)
100ml x Vegetable Oil
2-3x Chicken Thighs (per person, quartered) or…
800g x Large Freshwater Prawns (peeled and deveined)

1tbsp x Ground Turmeric
1tbsp x Salt
3 x Cinnamon Leaves or Bay Leaves
2tbsp x Ground Cumin
4 x Green Chillies (split lengthways)
200ml x Coconut Milk
1tsp x Sugar (optional)
5 x Green Cardamom Pods (seeds removed and ground)
2tbsp x Ghee (or Olive Oil)

– Method

1. To make the ginger and garlic paste, blend them together in a food processor and then set aside in a small bowl. Combine the onions with the 100ml of the vegetable oil to make a seperate paste.

2. Season the chicken thighs/prawns with half a teaspoon of the turmeric and the salt.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large casserole pan and cook the chicken thighs for 12-15 minutes until golden brown (for the prawns, briefly sear then remove and set aside)

4. Heat some more olive oil in the same casserole pan and add the onion paste with the bay leaves or cinnamon leaves. Cook them for 10 minutes on a medium heat until they are lightly brown and stir occasionally.

5. In a bowl, mix together the cumin, turmeric, ginger-garlic paste and 150ml water and then add the mix to the browned onions.

6. Reduce the heat and continue to cook for an extra 5-8 minutes.

7. Add the remaining salt, the green chillies and chicken thighs/prawns and cook for a few more minutes.

8. Finally add the coconut milk and cook for a further few minutes until the prawns are just cooked (the chicken thighs should be ready by now but check). Add more water if required to avoid the dish drying out and then sprinkle the cardamom powder.

Serve with rice and naan

(Source:  ‘Curry’ – Dorling Kindersley 2006)