Chingri Do-Pyaza

"Shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. There's, um, shrimp kebabs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. There's pineapple shrimp and lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich... That's, that's about it."



This is what Bubba Blue had to say in 'Forrest Gump'. And so very true...now both my husband and I are shrimp devouts..lol. Even during the 3 year vegetarian phase that I was in (for someone who used to eat meat and comes from a family where pure vegetarians are considered to be missing out on the real thing...I did pretty well) , if I wanted to I could have eaten shrimps !

Ever since I have been in Hong Kong we have been binging on shrimps...prawns..lobsters...its sea food haven here. Yum yum yum....!

I have tried almost all kinds of dishes with shrimps or "ha" as they say in cantonese..the last one was a "shrimp burger" at McD.

Heres' a recipie from my mom's kitchen that I L-O-V-E....Chingri Do-Pyaza.

Do-Pyaza means double the amount of onions. Originally this style of dish comes from the hot grass-lands of Central India, where in summer people eat a lot of onions because of its properties to cure heat stroke.

Chingri Do-Pyaza

Ingredients-

500 gms of shrimp, cleaned and deveined

2 large red onions, sliced/chopped finely

1 medium sized tomato, finely chopped

1/2 tsp of turmeric

1/2 tsp of cumin seeds

1/2 tsp of coriander powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tsp cayenne powder

1 green chill, finely chopped

2 tbsp coconut milk

2 tbsp finely chopped coriander

salt to taste

3 tbsp oil for cooking

Method-

In a wok heat oil and add the bay leaf. Add cumin seeds, once they start to splutter, add the sliced onions. Sweat the onions till transparent and add the sugar.

Add the tomatoes and cook for a minute. Now add the ginger-garlic paste,turmeric,coriander powder,cayenne powder and green chilli. Saute for a minute, till the spices and oil separate.

Now add the shrimps and cook. Add the coconut milk and salt to taste.

Cover and simmer for a minute. Lastly, add the coriander leaves and serve.

Goes best with rice/lachedar paratha.

Note: This dish is a little on the sweeter side, so do not add too much of salt.

The dish turned out fabulous and the shrimps were juicy and finger-lickin' good.

However the best shrimp I ever eat is in Kolkata, my mum's chingri(shrimp,in bengali) curry. I haven't been able to duplicate it...nor do I want to really, so that my mom can spoil me when I go to my maayeka (mum's place) ;-p

One day while we were speaking on the phone, my mom sadly sighed that now she doesn't really need to cook for me as I could make all my favourites myself.Let me tell you that my mom gets joy out of making dishes that are our favourites. Its simple pleasures like this that she gets all excited about...actually don't we all !?!

Hence, I told her that her kadhi and chingri are unrivalled; and that she has to make it for me whenever I visit her. She was happy, I could feel it in her voice. Moms' are so simple and loving !

SHUBH DEEPAWALI

O Ram! The light of lights, the self-luminous inner light of the Self is ever shining steadily in the chamber of your heart. Sit quietly. Close your eyes. Withdraw the senses. Fix the mind on this supreme light and enjoy the real Deepavali, by attaining illumination of the soul.

Yes, Diwali the festival of lights...the homecoming of Lord Rama..and the beginning of the new year for the Hindus. So I was all busy,like many of my clan, in cleaning up the household.Every nook and corner cleaned and lit.Its a no-moon night, yet the lights of the world make this the brightest night of the year.

Here in Hong Kong, away from home and family (though they all call and send letters and cards which give a warm touch in this age of emails), it still does seem a little forlorn..no crackers( I was the daring one at home bursting the most dangerous looking 'bombs'...alas!) ,no diyas inside the house (fire alram !!)....however, alongwith the other Indians here, I shared the good cheer with my Chinese and Cantonese(HongKong Residents) friends too.

I gave them sweets that I especially made for the occassion. Jasmine Green tea and Coffee Marble cake and my favourite- Narkel Nadu. This is a humble benagli delicacy.Does not require too much of expensive ingredients.Its sweet coconut laddu with jaggery. The former dessert was an authentic and complete innovation...infact a tad bit of forced creativity...lol. Will talk about it at length in my next post. :-)

I love playing hostess and serving up delights to my friends and family. Quite a few times I have had bizarre requests of people who want to be my house guest/house arrest(whichever way as long as they are being fed) for atleast a month...lol.Infact when I was in Florida (USA), I was cooking for people at my place during Diwali and then again at their place when we went for Halloween and Thanksgiving...lol. It would be amusing if I mentioned that I had even offered food to my now husband, when I had first met him in the States! Thats another story though. '-)I attribute this from seeing my grandma (nani) and ma(mom) playing gracious hostessess, in my growing up years in Kolkata.

Both the sweets were so very well appreciated that I was overwhelmed. The Narkel Nadu was from my "place of birth" and the green tea and coffee delicacy was inspired from my "current place of stay". They looked so much in harmony, sitting on the plate, when I presented them to my guests, accompanied with some beguni and palak pakode.

Narkel Nadu

Ingredients-
1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
150 gms desiccated coconut (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups crushed jaggery
2 tbsp white (plain) sugar
1 tbsp coconut milk

Method-

In a deep pan(wok), heat the ghee. Now put the coconut and fry a little on low flame.

Tip:Be careful not to burn the coconut. Keep moving the coconut with a wooden spoon.

When the coconut leaves a little moisture and its nutty aroma(about after 30-40 seconds), add
the broken jaggery pieces and the sugar. Set the flame to medium.
The heat will melt the jaggery and the sugar. This is the labour intensive part. Quickly keep mixing the coconut and the jaggery together, till it becomes one sticky brown chocolate colour mixture.
(The mixing action can be tough as the mixture will be sticky.)
Now, add the coconut milk and mix further.
Remove from heat. Cool for about a minute. And start making ping pong sized balls with the mixture, while it is still a little warm. The mixture won't stick to your palms, but it will feel a little warm.

Store in a sealed jar. It has a long shelf life (as no water is involved in cooking it).

N.B. If you do not find jaggery, you can sunstitute it with brown sugar/palm sugar. It tastes
equally good. Almost toffee like. Enjoy!

P.S. This ones for you Sudeshna ("Here I Cook") ! For Event of the month on her blog-"Satisfy your Sweet Tooth". Trsut me I did...lol.

Also Sudeshna has been kind enough to encourage me with The Butterfly Award. Thanks Sudeshna! My very first award. :-)