Steamed Shrimp in Yogurt-Mustard Sauce (Bhapa Chingri)
Steamed Shrimp in the yogurt-mustard sauce is quite popular on the west side of Bengal. Today's recipe is an improvised version of the traditional dish. You can make this with Prawns instead of Shrimps without compromising the taste. This dish is commonly known as "Bhapa Chingri" in colloquial Bengali where "Bhapa" means "Steamed". There are some very distinct differences in cooking style and taste between the East Bengal (current Bangladesh) and West Bengal cuisines. Though with times both the cuisine has merged a lot, still there are some subtle differences. In my house, my dad's family originally comes from East Bengal. My paternal grandparents spent their life and my father spent a part of his childhood in Bangladesh before the partition. Whereas my mother's family belonged from what is known as West Bengal now. Thus in our own house, we have seen these two different cuisines to merge. In West Bengal Shrimps/Prawns especially jumbo prawns, giant tiger prawns are considered to be a delicacy. There are various mouth-watering dishes made out of these, among them this steamed shrimp in yogurt and mustard sauce is the easiest.
Steamed Shrimp sauce ingredients
Steamed shrimp ingredients are mixed together
Raw shrimp cleaned and deveined
Raw Shrimp mixed with sauce ingredients
Cooked Shrimp in yogurt mustard sauce As I mentioned before, I have improvised the original recipe to my taste. I like to add a little yogurt in the recipe for two reasons. One, it mellows down the strong flavor of mustard and second, it makes the sauce in the right consistency. This dish tastes out of the world with steamed white or brown rice. I have also added Poppyseed powder, as I have seen my mom doing. This can be optional, but definitely it adds another flavor which worth trying. I generally ground these powders dry in my coffee grinder. Keeping the shrimps tail is optional. I like it that way, as they help to preserve the shape better. The key to this recipe is to steam it at the right amount of time so that the shrimps are juicy and succulent. You can prepare this dish on the stovetop, in the microwave, in a conventional oven, in pressure cooker or as I preferred in Instant Pot. Read the full article
