Prawn
Lau chingri (prawns with bottle gourd)
‘Lau Chingri’ (bottle gourd – or ‘doodhi’ – cooked with prawns) is a classic Bengali prawn curry.
Ingredients:
- 1 doodhi (bottle gourd), about 500g/1lb 2 oz�600g/1lb 5oz, peeled, pith and seeds discarded, flesh diced into 1cm/�in cubes
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1� tsp salt
- 4 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 dried whole red chilli, broken, seeds and stalk removed
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1� tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- � tbsp garlic paste
- 400g/14oz prawn tails (head and shell removed), cut into 2�3 pieces
- 1 tsp ajwain seeds (carom seeds)
- 70g/2� oz green peas or petit pois (frozen is fine)
- 1 tsp sugar
- � ts ground garam masala
- squeeze lemon juice
- puris
Directions:
- Put the doodhi in a pan with half a teaspoon of the turmeric, half a teaspoon of salt and 250ml/9fl oz of water. Boil, covered, until the doodhi is cooked and most of the water is absorbed.
- In a separate pan, heat the mustard oil to smoking point, then let it cool for 2� 3 minutes. This is done to get rid of the extra pungency in the mustard oil. After 2�3 minutes, add the onion, dried red chilli and cumin seeds, then fry until they crackle and pop.
- Mix together ground cumin, the remaining turmeric and the red chilli powder with the ginger and garlic pastes and fry for a minute or so. Add the prawns, remaining salt and the ajwain seeds and cook for a couple of minutes on high heat. If the spices appear to stick or burn, sprinkle in some water and carry on cooking for a couple of minutes until the prawns are pink, cooked and coated in spices.
- Add the cooked gourd to the shrimp, reduce the heat and cook for another 2�3 minutes. Add the peas and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and oil begins to separate on the sides of the pan. Finish with the sugar, garam masala and a squeeze of lemon juice.
- Serve straight away with puris.