Shorshe Chingri Bhape (Steamed prawns in mustard- green chilli sauce)

Golden beauty

Since my arrival in KL, I have had an amazing food journey. This city is a melting pot of culture & thanks to that I have experienced not just Malay but Korean, Thai, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Cantonese, Singaporean & many more such cuisines. So mostly when the husband & I go out on weekends for dinner, we end up gorging on these. Someday I really wish to learn how to cook authentic Indonesian cuisine. I am so much in love with it because of its resemblance with Indian food, especially in the use of spices. Every dish bursting with flavours & there is a generous use of peanuts, cumin, chillis, coriander seeds, coconut, lime, shallots & peppers. See I told you! We Indians use all these ingredients for our daily meals.

Prawn Satay is one of my favourites. I have always had a weakness for prawns & this dish is exceptional but if you want to get the authentic taste then you must try it at some local joint instead of a fancy restaurant. I promise to share an authentic recipe of this dish soon.

So yes why am I telling you all this is because today I’ll be sharing a brilliant prawn recipe. An authentic dish from Bengal, India. I love how my ma or my mashi (mom’s sister) makes it & I am simply going to recreate it without making any changes. I guess few things are better left untouched to preserve tradition & nostalgia in my case 🙂

So Shorshe Chingri it is! This is a quintessential dish which every bengali worth his salt will have on the menu on any special occasion. The tartness of the mustard sauce will make your tastebuds dance 🙂 The word ‘shorshe’ means mustard & ‘bhape’ means steamed in English. So this dish is originally prepared in a steamer but I made it in a microwave & it tasted equally good.

Juicy succulent prawns

Ingredients:

Ingredients for the dish

• 15 medium to big sized prawns
• 2 tbsp black mustard seeds
• 4-5 green chillis
• 4 tbsp mustard oil
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

For this recipe its very important to use fresh prawns. Avoid frozen ones if possible.

Such beauties 😉

Now wash the prawns & remove their shells. Carefully de-vein them. This step should be done without fail to avoid any allergic reaction.

Now for the mustard paste- take 2 tbsp of mustard seeds in a bowl. Add 1 green chilli, some salt and a little warm water and keep aside for about 30 mins. Grind them into a smooth paste. You can add some more water if the mustard is too pungent for you. These days, mustard powder is readily available in the market & you just need to add some water to make a paste and use it.

Now in a microwave safe bowl, add the prawns, salt, turmeric powder, slit green chillis, mustard paste and mustard oil. Mix well and keep aside for 30 mins.

All set to go in the oven

Now cover the bowl with a lid and cook for about 4-5 mins on high power. Take it out, give it a good stir & again cook for another 4 mins. Don’t overcook as the prawns will become hard.

Just before serving, drizzle some mustard oil for that extra kick. Serve hot with rice.

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