Daab Chingri

I was super busy due to moving home and it’s aftermath. In the mean time couple of our main festivals went by. Even though I was not able to blog I did manage to make something special. I captured the photos and jotted the recipe down and hopefully now that things are settling down, I will find more time to blog about them.

Daab chingri or green-coconut shrimp needs the coconut to be cut and stuffed. I was struggling hard to open the coconut when my husband jumped in for my aid. He got his drill out and actually dilled holes to finally tame the coconut. It was worth the effort!!

Ingredients

• 1 young green coconut (In absence of whole coconut you can use young coconut flesh available in the frozen section of Asian store)
• 15 medium sized prawns deveined
• 1 tbsp. black and yellow mustard seeds
• 2 green chilies
• 1 tsp. kalojeera (Kalonji)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsp.mustard oil

Procedure

Make a 2 inch by 2 inch square cut on top of the young coconut. Pour the water in a glass and reserve it for later use. Insert a spoon and scrape off the coconut flesh. Take out the coconut flesh and make a smooth paste of it using the coconut’s water.

If you are using packaged coconut flesh, make a paste of it with little water.

Make another smooth paste of mustard seeds and green chilies.

Heat oil in a pan and temper it with a spoon of kalonji seeds. Add chopped onion and garlic. Fry them on low heat till they turn soft. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Take clean prawns in a mixing bowl and one by one add turmeric powder, salt, mustard paste and coconut paste to it. At last pour the fried onion and garlic along with its oil. Mix well with a spoon. If required add few spoons of coconut water to it.

Cooking Process 1:

Cut the bottom end of the coconut flat so that it can stand up right.

Stuff the prawn mixture inside the coconut shell and seal the open end. I used folded banana leaves as a sealer, you can use flour dough to seal it. Pre heat oven at 400F and cook it for half an hour inside the oven.

Cooking Process 2:

Transfer the prawn mixture in a steel lunch box. Place the lunch box inside a pressure cooker. Pour 2-3 cups of water in the cooker so that the water level is halfway of the lunch box. Careful not to submerge the lunch box under water.

Close the pressure cooker lid and cook till 2 whistles come. Let the vapour release on its own before you open the lid.

Best enjoyed with plain rice…