#prawnrecipes

Chingrir malaikari, a quintessential bengali preparation made with large tiger prawns (bagda chingri) or giant freshwater prawns (golda chingri) in a creamy coconut-milk sauce. While we were child, special fried rice and polao used to be always our favourite. Therefore, my mother used to often create polaos from the sauces of the curries that she prepared. One of her creation was malai chingrir…

Prawn Hoisin Stir Fry with Coconut Rice https://snapshotandsnippets.com/2014/10/prawn-hoisin-stir-fry-with-coconut-rice/

Prawn Hoisin Stir Fry with Coconut Rice

Apa De Camarao

For those of you who didn’t know “Apa de Camarao” literally means “Prawn Pie or Prawn cake” and as the name suggests, this dish is very typical of Goan or Portuguese cuisine. 

So my sister tells me that our grand-mum used to make this dish when we were kids. I, however, don’t remember eating it (maybe it had something to do with the fact that I despised seafood for a large chunk of my life!! I know, I know.. what kind of fake Goan was I, you ask? haha! welll, that’s a story for another day....)

I was always fascinated by the name “Apa de Camarao” and being the quirky kid that I was, happily compartmentalised it as a dessert in my brain (which it’s not!) Sigh! !  So.....maybe my Portuguese/ Konkani isn’t that good!!... I’d still make a great tour guide for restaurants in North Goa, any day!

So, when my sister decided to make this for us one day, I thought why not feature her recipe on my blog?! And it did turn out pretty damn awesome, for a first try !

I do have a suggestion or two: You can also try a balchao masala for the prawn stuffing... because, technically speaking from what I have read about this dish: It seems to have a very simple stuffing. So if you want to be a little innovative, or to give it more flavour or if you like a spicy stuffing.. you can tweak it a little bit..that’s up to you.

Here’s my sister’s version of it :

Note: You will have to prepare the dough 8-9 hours before you bake it.

INGREDIENTS

For the Dough:

350 Grams Maida (flour)

Coconut Milk (as required)

1 & 1/2 Egg (for the dough)

2 Tablespoons Oil + (a little over for the final kneading)

1 Teaspoon Salt

2 Teaspoons Ghee

1/2 Cup Water

1 Tablespoon Dried Yeast

A pinch of Sugar

For the Prawn Stuffing:

400 gms Fresh Largish Prawns (cleaned & washed)

1 big tomato (chopped finely)

2 big onions (chopped finely)

1 Teaspoon Garlic & Ginger (paste)

2 Teaspoons Chilly powder

3/4 Teaspoon Cumin powder (Jeera)

3/4 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder (Haldi)

1 Teaspoon Salt 

3 Tablespoons Chopped Coriander Leaves (fresh)

A dash of coconut milk

3 Tablepoons Oil

METHOD

For the dough:

Start off with putting the yeast in a bowl. Simultaneously, heat some water to less than boiling temperature and pour the water over the yeast. Then add the sugar and mix it well. 

Keep it aside for about 5-8 minutes. Once the yeast is bubbling, that means it’s ready to be used.

In a large dish, blend the flour, the eggs, salt, ghee, coconut milk, oil and yeast. Start kneading into a dough and keep adding coconut milk as and when required. 

Do not use any water for the dough; use coconut milk only, if it’s too sticky, you can use some oil to get the dough off your hands.

Once the dough is ready, oil a Ziplock packet/Air tight packet inside and put the dough into it.  

Now, you have to keep the dough aside for 8-9 hours to rise. (Some people keep it to rise overnight) Make sure you keep it in a warm place for it to rise…(what better place than the kitchen!)

For the prawn stuffing:

First chop up the cleaned and washed prawns into halves. Keep them aside.

Then, start off with frying the chopped onions and tomatoes in a bit of oil in a pan. After a few minutes add in all the masalas: chilly powder, turmeric, cumin, salt and mix it all well.

Add the chopped prawns to the mixture. Then add the ginger & garlic paste, mix it and stir well. You can fry this mixture on a high flame for a few minutes.

After a bit, turn down the heat, add in the coconut milk for flavour, as required (make sure you don’t make it too watery) cover the pan and cook it till the prawns get done, then mix in the chopped coriander leaves and turn off the gas.

For the baking:

Choose a baking dish (with a removable base) and oil it well.

Pre-heat your oven for about 10 minutes at 180°C

Split the dough into two equal pieces.

Roll out one piece big enough to cover the base and sides of the baking dish.

Spread the prawn stuffing evenly over this base layer.

Roll out the second piece of dough and cover the stuffing with it.

You can use a fork and seal the edges of both the layers together.

With a silicon brush (refer to the picture) use some egg for egg-washing the top layer of the pie.

Now it’s ready to go into the oven. With the temperature at 180°C   First turn on the bottom heat only, till the base gets done (about 15 mins)

Then change the temperature to 150°C and switch to both top and bottom heat for another 10 mins.

Then switch to only top heat to brown the top (approx. 10 mins) Then, it’s ready to serve ! 

 TIPS:

1. Serve it right out of the oven, because it tastes best when the bread is hot. You can add some butter to the bread while eating. (like I do)