Shorshe Chingri Bhapa ~ Steamed Prawns in Mustard Sauce

What You Need

Prawns ~ 12-14 large sized ones. I used fresh ones, you can use frozen too
For the Paste
Mutard Seeds ~ 3 tbsp
Posto or Poppy Seeds ~ 3 tsp
Green Chilli ~ 3
Salt ~ a pinch
Soak in warm water for 30 minutes and then grind to a paste
The Mustard-Poppy Seeds Paste ~ use almost 3/4th of the paste, makes little less
than 1/2 cup. If the paste is too pungent for you, you can sieve the paste and
use the more liquid mustardy water mixed with a little of the thick paste.
Narkel or Grated Coconut ~ 1/2 cup fresh or frozen. You can use more if you want
Yogurt ~ 1/4 cup thick beaten yogurt. Use 1/2 cup of yogurt for more gravy-ish d
ish.
Sugar -- 1/4 tsp for a light sweet edge

Turmeric Powder -- 1/2 tsp

Sorsher tel or Mustard oil ~ 2 tbsp
Green Chilies ~ 8-10
Salt -- to taste
How I Did It
Wash and shell the prawn and devein them as explained here in an earlier post on
Prawn Malaikar
Mix the prawns with salt and turmeric and keep aside for half an hour
Make a smooth paste with mustard seeds, poppy seeds, 3 green chillies, a little
salt and water.
In a container which you can steam or which you can put in the pressure cooker,
mix the prawns with mustard paste, yogurt and salt according to taste. I also ad
d just a pinch of sugar.
Slit 4/5 green chillies and add to above
Add 2tbsp of Mustard Oil to this, drizzle liberally on top that is
Add some fresh grated coconut to this. If using frozen grated coconut defrost an
d then use.
Now put water in the pressure cooker bottom and put in this container.
I have a Futura Pressure Cooker and I steamed for 1 minute. In this pressure coo
ker, after the full pressure is built the time has to measured (no whistles), so
I kept for 1 minute after the build up of full steam. In a whistling pressure c
ooker, you have to allow one whistle I guess
Take it out and serve with hot white rice. For an extra kick drizzle little must
ard oil before serving
Note on making Mustard Paste: When I didn t have a wet grinder to make my mustard
paste I used to dry grind the seeds in my coffee grinder and then mix the dry po
wder with a little vinegar, salt, and green chillies and keep for an hour or so.
The wet grinder serves the purpose much better and makes a nice smooth paste wi
th green chillies, and salt