It’s incredibly simple to create this delicious dish from India. Although the name “malai” means “cream,” coconut milk gives this meal its creaminess. This recipe hails from Bengal, a region renowned for its seafood. Include some steaming basmati rice with it.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom seeds
- 3 whole cloves
- 3 (1-inch) pieces cinnamon stick
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 whole cloves
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 2 (1 1/2-inch) pieces stick cinnamon
- 1 onion, grated
- 1 ¼ teaspoons ginger paste
- 1 ¼ teaspoons garlic paste
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ cup finely chopped tomato
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 pound tiger prawns, peeled and deveined
- 1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter) (Optional)
Instructions
- To prepare fresh garam masala, in a coffee grinder, grind cardamom seeds, 3 whole cloves, and 3 cinnamon sticks to a fine powder. Set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 4 whole cloves, 4 cardamom pods, and 2 sticks of cinnamon and fry for a few seconds (take care as cloves tend to pop out of the pan). Stir in grated onion and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook and stir until liquid dries and onion no longer smells raw, about 5 minutes. Add ginger paste and garlic paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Stir in turmeric and cayenne pepper. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are soft, about 5 minutes. Pour in water, cover the pan, and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Pour in coconut milk and stir well. When mixture is just below boiling, stir in prawns. Sprinkle mixture with almost all of the fresh garam masala powder, reserving a pinch to use as a garnish. Gently stir to combine. Do not cover the pan at this stage, as coconut milk will curdle.
- As soon as prawns are pink and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes, add ghee. Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle reserved garam masala over the dish and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 343 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 14 g |
| Cholesterol | 175 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 71 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
So good! I doubled the recipe and made enough for my household. It takes some time and patience to make, but it’s absolutely worth it!
My husband loved this. To me, I was expecting a thicker sauce… but that’s ok. However, the recipe needed a lot more salt than it called for. It’s a good dish, I just prefer thicker sauce so I’ll stick to Indian or Thai recipes.
Really liked this! It was a lot of work, but the freshly ground spices added so much flare! I did add a sliced red bell pepper, peas and 2 grated carrots.
Can add shredded carrot, raisins, or any veggie that’s not bitter. If using a garam masala paste instead of powdered spices, use ~2 tablespoons.
Very simple and easy to make recipe. I made a small change by frying the prawns first. And also giving some dry red chillies and bay leaves in the first portion.
I give this a A-. It felt a bit bland to me. I added a few pinches of salt and it really brought the flavors out. The sauce was a bit thin also. I may try it again and tweek a few things as the flavor was wonderful.
One minor correction – the word Malai in this recipe is derived from Malay. Reason- this recipe came to Bengal from Malayasia. Bengal, despite its topography and rich culinary heritage, has surprisingly ignored coconut in its recipes.
It’s pretty easy to make but to me it just seemed like it was missing something. Like maybe if you added some carrots or something. It had great flavor and it was different. I didn’t have any ghee so I skipped that part. I served it over sticky rice but I’m sure basmati rice would be better.
This is just awesome! I used to eat this in a nearby Bengali restaurant and was craving it for a while since I can’t go there anymore. Made it for dinner tonight and it was just the same. Thank you!!!