Chingri Macher Malaikari

Chingri macher malaikari is definitely one of the most favourite dish among Bengali's. I'm always a prawn/shrimp/chingri fan... so, anything cooked with chingri is heaven for me. My mom prepares several varieties of dishes with chingri. Also chingri is a workaround for me to feed veggies to my husband.. Didn't get that? Well my husband doesn't have any fancy for veggies. So, I add a hint of prawns in some of my veggie recipes and it's an instant hit with him. See an intelligent way out!

Recipe:

Prawns (Medium sized) - 1 pound with tail on
Onion - 1 medium sized made into a fine paste
Garlic - 1 or 2 cloves chopped finely
Green chillies - 6 slitted
Turmeric
Salt
Red chilly powder
Sugar - pinch
Coconut milk - you can prepare it at home or buy a can

Garam masala
Bay leaves(tejpata) - 2/4
Cardamom(elaichi) - 4
Cloves(laung) - 4
Cinnamon(dalchini)- 2 small sticks
Garam masala powder - I prepare this with elaichi, laung and dalchini in a coffee grinder

How do I make it:

Mix the prawns with turmeric and salt and keep aside.
Heat oil in Kadai/Frying Pan and lightly fry the prawns so they turn golden in color and take them out and put

them on a paper towel.
In the same oil, add the chopped garlic (this is optional), tejpata, elaichi, laung and dalchini
Then add the onion paste when you hear the whole garam masala crackle
Continue frying the onion with a little bit of sugar till it turns brown in color or the oil separates from the

paste
Add Red Chilly Powder, very little turmeric powder and salt
Stir and add the can of coconut milk Add a little water, mix well and let the gravy boil
Add the green chillies
Mix well and cook the gravy.
When you see the gravy slightly bubbling add the fried prawns.
Cook on low for some more time till the gravy thickens and acquires a creamy consistency. Garnish with garam masala powder
Serve hot with Rice and enjoy this delicious dish!

Jilipi aka Jalebi

All of us from India have a special craving for Jalebi. Me being from a Bengali family have always seen my family members having a soft corner for sweets. Jilipi - that is what we call it in Bengali, is a favourite among all the sweet lovers. I always cherish those memories when I was a kid, and all of my relatives [mashi-mesho] used to gather at my Dadu-Dida's home for summer vacation and all of used to ponder what to have for breakfast. Then came in our mind to have this weird kind of breakfast. A jalebi sandwich, two peices of bread with a hot jalebi from the corner sweet shop inside it. Yummy... it really tasted good, try it out sometime. I am not a sweet lover but still thought of preparing this sweet dish at home. Here is the preparation, it's really simple trust me.

Ingredients

• 2 cups maida (All purpose flour)
• 11/2 tbsp. fine grained semolina
• 1/4th tsp. baking powder
• 2 tbsp curd (plain yogurt)
• 11/4th cups warm water
• 1/2 tsp. saffron threads
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 2/3rd cups water
• 1/2 tsp green cardamom seeds powder
• 11/2 tbsp. kewra water or rose water
• Canola oil for frying

How to Prepare

• Mix the maida, semolina baking powder, curd and 3/4th cup of the water in a bowl (i mixed it in a ceramic bowl).
• Mix well and then add remaining water and 1/8th tsp. of saffron powder, and whisk until smooth.
• Set aside for about 2 hours to ferment.
• Whisk thoroughly before use.
• Prepare string syrup by dissolving sugar in the water. Just before the syrup is ready add cardamom powder (you can prepare the cardamom powder in a coffee grinder and remove the rough parts).  
• Heat oil in a kadhai /wok. Pour the batter into a bottle which has a small opening (i took a small plastic oil container from walmart and cut out the nozzle lengthwise to get the perfect hole for the jalebi coils). Pour the batter into the kadhai to form coils. Make a few at a time. First time it might not be the perfect shape, so try to give the pressure to the container in a consistent manner so that the flow is uniform.
• Deep fry them until they are golden and crisp all over but not brown.
• Remove from the kadhai and drain on kitchen paper and immerse in the syrup.
• Leave for at least 4-5 minutes so that they soak the syrup.
• Take them out of syrup and serve hot.