PRAWNS IN POTATO ONION WITH HOT RED CHILI POWDER (With veg option)

What is husband's privilege ? Well simple ..when wife calls and tells " cook something which I like and I am back home from clinic in 20 min... food should be ready ....I am hungry 

Any pronoun, like " something" if not preceded by a noun, puts me in a difficult situation...And more dangerous is to guess what is meant by " I like "....

well it is done ..a bong dish with green prawns, potato , onion and a typical bong tempering and a dash of lemon to add that tang which ladies like ...

After a long time I had dressed some shrimps ( remember my tigers?) , to eat them raw with a Wasabi dip fortified with raw garlic and extra hot green chili paste and a dash of vinegar and light soya ...

But the fate ,of my darling tigers  and mine too were else where ....

So had to use the shrimps in a phony dish , in 18 minutes flat... 

THE RECIPE : Nothing new , a traditional Bong dish of prawn cha-chadi , with little modification in sombora ( tempering) . The recipe is destined for piping hot rice.

INGREDIENTS 

1. Dressed green shrimps 200 gms 
2. Potato , one medium 
3. Onion , one large, sliced to 3 mm thick.
4.green chili 4+3  ( hot) 
5. Red chili powder extra hot 1 level tsp.
6. Kashmiri chili powder ...1 heap tsp.
7. Turmeric 1 level tsp
8 . Mustard oil 3 tbsp ( more the merrier). + 11/2 tsp to be added raw
9. Lemon juice 30 ml ( optional) 

For Tempering 
1. Nigela ( Kalo jeere) 3/4th tsp
2. black pepper 6, just smashed flat and broken
3.  green chili 3 
--------------------------------------
PROCESS 
marinade prawn with salt and turmeric ( 1/2 tsp) 
Cut potato into 7 mm X 7mm , long pieces
Slice onion thin

Ingredients 

 Heat oil in a Kadai to smoking , cool a bit , add the tempering. When the green chili change color, add the onion  

Tempering and onion added 

Saute the onion to translucence ( dont fry to brown) and add the potato

Potato added

Saute for 3-4 minutes and add the red chili and turmeric powder and salt and fry for few minutes

Spice added and saute

Add water , to submerge the potato and cover. 

Water added

When the potato is almost cooked , add the prawns and bring to high heat . 

Prawns added 

Add green chili. It should dry up in 2-3 minutes. Dont over cook the prawns . Add lemon juice and remove.

Almost ready 

Now eat as it is or with hot rice 

Vege option 
You can try, fast fried Tofu julienne, long strips and 8mmX8mm 
Also fast fried paneer goes well with this recipe...
Or just use the potato 

TIGERS IN DRAWN BUTTER SAUCE WITH GARLIC AND PARSLEY

Once upon a time I used to cook lots of Italian dishes. It stopped for various reasons like long absence from home, kids are no longer demanding, great Italian food joints around etc. With pasta culture moving in fast along with chowmins on street sides; Italian condiments, fresh seasoning, good imported pasta etc are now available everywhere including at my small time neighborhood grosser.

The other day I went to the biggest wholesale fish market of North India to pick up fresh shrimps at half the price and landed up with lots of fish. So I thought I would use up some prawns with Italian dish as I was tired of eating Bong and Southern prawn dishes. The dish turned out to be very nice.

THE RECIPE

This is a fast recipe, prawns cooked in drawn butter sauce and spiced with black pepper, garlic and Parsley. ( I have used here dry parsley with basil, as I could not get the fresh parsley here,  please use fresh parsley or cilantro) 

INGREDIENTS.

Tiger prawns large ( about 25 per 1/2 kg with head ), cleaned, deveined with tail remaining (You can use the deveined frozen ones.)

Butter 2tbsp ( about 25 to 30 gms.)

Extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp.

1 tbsp flour for dusting prawns.

Smashed and finely chopped garlic 2 level tbsp

Parsley finely chopped 3 level tbsp.( you can use cilantro, dry Italian seasoning) 

Salt 

Paprika flakes 1 tsp

Drawn butter sauce 75 to 100 ml 

for the drawn butter sauce 

butter 30 gms + 30 gms ( approx )

flour 2 level tbsp

Freshly ground pepper 1 level tsp

lemon juice 1 tbsp

water 100 ml

salt .

 PROCESS

Dry the dressed prawns and mix flour , leave aside.

In a thick bottom pan, add olive oil and butter ( 25-30 gms) and warm to melt the butter and disperse. Dont heat too much.

add the prawns, salt , saut'e, spread  and leave for 5 minutes covered. ( This step you can do in an over proof flat baking dish , in low heat broil mode)

Drawn butter sauce  

In a thick bottom pan, dry roast the flour and cool it in a separate dish. ( dont burn)

Add 30 gm butter and melt. Add the cooled flour, pepper powder, paprika and mix .

Add water bring to boil while stirring continuously.  Continue for 4-5 minutes , add the remaining butter  , stir to make a smooth sauce. 

Add salt, garlic , parsley and lemon  juice to the sauce and cook for another 2 minutes on low heat.

Add the sauce on the prawns and mix well under high heat till the prawns are coated with sauce. ( This step should not exceed 2 minutes. Prolong heating may break the sauce emulsion.)

Sauce added 

Serve immediately. ( I ate with a bunch of spaghetti under the prawns with a drizzle of EVOO and grated parmegiano Reggiano )

Happy eating!!.

CHINGDI, NARKEL BATA, ( Shrimp, coconut paste)

The other day when I landed at CR park fish market, I saw my friend selling tiny fresh water shrimps. These shrimps are 2 to 3 cm long and white transparent.  These are rare commodities and associated with top of the line Bong dishes like Lau chingDi, Pui ( malabar spinach) chingDi, thinly sliced potato and chingDi bati cha-chadi with mustard paste and oil etc.

There is another type, bata, ( paste) like coconut chingDi paste, chngDi Poppy seed paste , chingDi, coriander leave and garlic paste and so on.

Most tiny shrimp dishes in Bong cooking , has to be cooked with head, scale on. Just wash and use. Big prawns, scaled, be-headed are not useful for this type of dishes, as they wont impart the prawn flavor.

 THE RECIPE

This recipe I learnt from my MIL and refreshed my memory on phone yesterday. Cooked it to surprise SOMEONE , who is a master in all bata ( paste) dishes. This is simple paste of fried shrimp, fried red chili, coconut, green chili and onion. As a variation I have added roasted poppy seeds, which is absolutely optional and MIL doesn't use it.

INGREDIENTS

Tiny shrimps  1 cup, washed and drained. marinated with pinch of salt and turmeric powder.

grated coconut 1 cup

red chili 2, cut to small pieces 1 cm

Onion 1/2 cup, chopped to small pieces, suitable for grinding.

green chili 4 ( more the merrier) 

Poppy seeds 1 tbsp ( optional) 

salt

oil to sauté shrimp 1 tsp 

PROCESS

Roast the poppy seed and keep aside.

Take oil , heat and add red dry chilis and fry,  followed by the shrimps.

Sauté for 3-5 minutes and remove on to absorbent paper.

In a dry grinder , grind the poppy seeds to this add the fried shrimps grind to a dry paste and remove. ( No water is  needed)
Grind the grated coconut , need not be very smooth, add green chili, onion and salt then further grind. Remove and keep aside.

Mix the shrimp paste and coconut and give a final grinding. Normally water is not needed. It comes from the onion and coconut.

Eat with hot rice. 
Variation:
Tiny dried shrimps , soaked in water and then fried and ground gives a great taste too.
I have a good mind to give a southern touch by adding Curry leaves and Udad dal in the seasoning before adding the shrimps.