Chingri Macher Matha Diye Chorchori / Bengali Dry Vegetable Curry With Prawn heads

Expect some more prawn dishes, as I am recovering from heavy doses of prawn addiction. According to me and my family the real taste of the prawns lies in their heads. And I really have no idea why, but their heads taste freaking juicy and tasty, every time I try them. So I feel real pity on them as well as on me, to throw them away. So I keep them, or side by side, I just cook up this chorchori, to prevent myself from this horrendous crime of wasting of one of the world’s tastiest food ingredient.

This chorchori or Bengli dry vegetable curry with prawn heads / chingri macher matha diye chorchori  is a family recipe, which I learnt from my aunt. In our home, seldom anyone throws away prawn heads, as they can make any chorchori delicious. You can replace the prawn heads with any actual fish heads...and do I need to say that they are extremely tasty too???

It is not necessary that you have to cook chorchori with lots of vegetables, but you can just use pumpkin and potato or eggplant and potato or just spinach leave, eggplant and potato. It can be any combination. I like my veggies kind of wilted, but you can prevent yourself from overcooking and keep their shapes kind of exact. You can also add some radish in this chorchori, which gives a nice crunch to the dish.

cubed pumpkin and eggplants

spinach leaves and spinach stems

shallow fried cauliflower and prawn heads

fry the pumpkin and eggplants with some salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder

add the spinach leaves

add potato, cauliflower and prawn heads

Chingri Macher Matha Diye Chorchori

Serves 4

Ingredients:

200gm pumpkin – peeled and cubed

3-4 small eggplants / ½ of a large eggplant – cubed

1 large potato – cubed

½ cup spinach leaves

½ cup spinach stems

¾ cup small florets of cauliflower

8-10 heads of tiger prawns

1 tsp panch foron (mix cumin seeds, mustard seeds, nigella seeds, fennel seeds and fenugreek seeds)

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

2 green chillies – broken into 2 pieces

Salt

A pinch of sugar

1 tbsp oil (preferably mustard oil)

Method:

Heat half of the oil in kadai and fry the prawn heads until they become orange. Once done, take them out of the pan and keep aside.

In the same oil fry the cauliflower florets and potato cubes separately, until they start to become golden. Once done, take them out of the kadai and keep aside.

Now add the rest of the oil and let them come to the smoking point.

Then add the panch foron and as they start to sizzle add the cubed pumpkin and eggplant. Add some salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Mix well, and let them cook. Stir occasionally, to prevent them sticking to the pan.

After 2-3 minutes, add the spinach stems and spinach leaves. Mix, put cover and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the raw spinach flavour is gone. Do keep a careful eye so that they don’t get burned. If you feel so, add little water to the cooking vegetables.

Once the pumpkin and eggplants starts to wilt, add the broken green chillies, fried potato cubes, cauliflower florets and prawn heads. Mix well and add a dash of water. Put cover and let them cook until the potatoes are cooked through. Check occasionally. If required add little water from time to time to prevent the dish sticking to the bottom of the kadai / pan.

Once the potatoes and cauliflower is soft from inside, taste and adjust the seasoning.

Put off the flame and serve hot with steamed hot rice.