Daab Chingri or Bengali Prawns in Tender Coconut
This recipe is part of the series The Recipe I Mastered This Year
I have been watching cookery shows and collecting recipes since I was 13 years old. But somehow, early life choices (on hindsight, perhaps not the most sensible) did not make room for cooking in my life, except for occasional experiments.
These days, though I call it a mid-life crisis, I have started to devote more time to cooking, in an attempt to rekindle my passion. The kitchen is, after all, the most magical place in a home, where life’s best-kept secrets and spells, potions and powders, are sheltered.
One bit of magic, that I couldn't be more thankful for discovering, is the posto-shorshe (poppy seeds and mustard seeds) pairing. I think it is the most unparalleled combination - silky smooth posto and pungent shorshe. Food can often give you a high, and in this case, I don't mean metaphorically.
In my search for more recipes with this pairing, my friend Tannistha a true-blue Bengali, shared her Daab Chingri recipe, in which chingri or prawn is cooked with tender coconut (daab) and served in the coconut shell. This recipe is always a sure-shot show stopper at every party!
Soorya’s Recipe for Daab Chingri
Ingredients
200 g jumbo prawns
2 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 onion, juiced (ie, chop run in the mixer with no added water; strain the pulp to extract onion juice)
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 cup tender coconut meat
2 tbsp mustard Oil
1 whole tender coconut (small)
6 green chilies
Turmeric powder, a pinch
Salt, to taste
A small bit of dough (to seal and bake)
Method
Marinate the prawns in turmeric, salt, ginger garlic paste and juice of an onion for about 30 minutes.
Soak mustard seeds and poppy seeds in a few spoons of tender coconut water for 30 minutes
In I tbsp mustard oil, sauté the marinated prawns in a wok till three-quarters cooked
Make a paste of poppy and mustard seeds with two green chillies, salt and turmeric, in a blender.
Separately, make a paste of the tender coconut malai (or flesh inside the coconut). Now combine the two pastes, and add the prawn to this. Season with salt as needed. Add in two slit green chillies.
Now very carefully, cut the base off the tender coconut to create a flat surface on which the coconut can stand unsupported on a table. Similarly, cut out a square from the top, to form a lid that can be fitted back on the coconut mouth.
Transfer this prawn mix into the inside of the tender coconut. Cover with the makeshift coconut lid, and, using a bit of dough, seal the mouth like you would dum.
In a pre-heated oven, bake the stuffed coconut at 180 C for 40 min. (Alternatively you can pressure cook it for 1 whistle, or microwave on high for 10 minutes.)
Serve with hot white steamed rice.
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