Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Nadiya Rasa dia Chingudi Tarkari (Shrimp in Coconut Milk Gravy)


Ingredients

Shrimp (Chingudi in Odiya, peeled and deveined) - about 30-40
Salt - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Marinate the Shrimp with the above spices for atleast 30 mins. Depending on temperature outside, you can keep it back in the fridge after coating it well. Cover it with a seal-wrap.

Take a flat heavy-bottomed pan.
Heat 2-3 tbsp Canola Oil in Medium heat.
As it warms up, add the Shrimp in a layer and let it half-cook on one side. You will get a beautiful Orange color. Turn it over and let it cook the other side. You don't need to fully cook it since it will also cook in the curry later. Depending on pan size, you will never to shallow fry the Shrimps in multiple batches. To let you in on a secret, I sometimes fully cook a few of these babies and have them as-is. They taste awesome! Ah, if they are the fresh Prawns of Odisha, I can't imagine you not doing this... :)
Keep them aside. You don't need to place them on paper towel since it is tasty to add the oil back to the curry later.



I use my regular Onion/Tomato/Green Chilli/Ginger/Garlic curry paste to prepare this. It is roughly 2-3 Medium Onions, 2-3 Medium Tomatoes, 2-3 Green Chillies, 1 inch Ginger, 6-7 Garlic Cloves with as little water as possible.

No need to clean the pan used for frying the Shrimp. I reuse the same pan in order to not lose out on any of the flavors - that is why it is a good idea to use an appropriate dish when you start frying, something that can hold the curry while cooking.

Heat 1 tbsp Canola Oil or lesser if the pan still has some oil from the above shallow frying process.
Add 2-3 dry Bay leaves, 2-3 dry Red Chillies, 1-2 Cinnamon stick and 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds.
As the above whole spices sizzle, add the ground paste of Onion/Tomato/Green Chilli/Ginger/Garlic.

As the curry paste is half-cooked, add a little more oil if required. I try to add a dash of water instead and it usually helps continue the cooking process without burning the curry paste and without the need for the  added oil.

Add 4-5 tsp of Curry Powder, 1 tsp of Coriander Powder and 1 tsp of Garam Masala.
Adding a dash of Paprika Powder gives it a bright color.

10 minutes before you stop cooking, add 1/2 to 1 cup of Coconut Milk (I use canned ones and this is called Nadia Rasa and thus, the name) and mix well. The color is further enhanced with the addition of the Coconut Milk which gives it a nice golden color.


Enjoy with Rice\Roti\Naan anyday!

Funny note - Back home, little babies are also affectionately referred to as Chingudi! LOL!

4 comments:

Sanoli Ghosh said...

I know it is lipsmacking good. Once I had it in Baripada. Love this shrimp curry.

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

chingudi - any version is my favorite..
I love it just fried too!

runnergirlinthekitchen.blogspot.com said...

I love shrimps, fried, curry, in rice.. just love them.
Curry looks so tempting am sure will go great with rice!

~ PragyaN ~ said...

cant tell you how happy I am to see this post!! Chingudi in any of its form is always a delight for the foodies :) n the name itself brought back good old memories of childhood!