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Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

Dinner with Rukmini

Browse all of the recipes in Rukmini Iyer’s cookbooks by ingredient.

Chingri Macher Malai Curry: Prawn Malai Curry

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Chingri Macher Malai Curry: Prawn Malai Curry

This fragrant prawn curry, spiced with cinnamon, clove, cardamom and garlic, will be on the table in well under an hour.
Serves: 4
Total 35 min
Prep 10 min
Cook 25 min
Easy

Introduction from Rukmini Iyer

This was one of my mum’s favourite prawn curries before she became vegetarian – a lovely, lightly spiced dish of prawns cooked in coconut milk; my grandmother would always have it made for her on visits home. This is my version of a classic Bengali recipe by Pragya Sundari Devi, known as Kolkata’s Mrs Beeton. In her cookbook, published in the early 20th century, she wrote definitive versions of Bengali classics as well as Victorian recipes of the time, like mockturtle soup. I love this as it takes just minutes to put together – perfect served on a weeknight with buttery white rice alongside.

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter, ghee or oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, grated
2 inches ginger, grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
360g raw king prawns
juice of 1 lime
fresh coriander, to serve
Store Cupboard:
½ cinnamon scroll
5 cloves
3 green cardamom pods, bashed
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp sea salt flakes

Method

Heat the butter, ghee or oil in a large frying pan, then add the cinnamon scroll, cloves and cardamom pods. Fry over a medium heat for 30 seconds or so until fragrant, then add the chopped onions. Cook the onions for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown around the edges.

Add the grated garlic, ginger, chilli, turmeric and salt and stir-fry over a low heat for a further 2–3 minutes before adding the coconut milk. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 8 minutes until thickened.

Add the prawns and cook for a further 3–4 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. Squeeze in the lime juice, taste and adjust the seasoning and serve hot scattered with the fresh coriander.

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From the book: India Express: Simple and Delicious Recipes for Every Day

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