Chingri Macher Bati Charchari ~ A Simply exotic Bengali Delicacy

Bengalis love for fish is well-known to everyone, but we just don't devour fish alone, vegetables are equally loved and devoured along with fish, too. Sometimes, fish and vegetables are cooked together and made into a finger-licking delicacy.

Today, I'll share such an amazing no fuss fish recipe which needs no cooking at all and anyone can cook it and fish and vegetables are cooked along too in this dish. Here the fish we use is Shrimp or prawn. But medium sized shrimps taste the best in this dish. And we add some veges too and we mix all the spices in a bowl and cook in steam.

This dish got the name" bati chorchori" as it is cooked in a bowl(bati in bengali) and Chorchori is a bengali cookinalong term refers to a vegetable dish with one or more varieties of vegetables cut into longish strips and lightly seasoned with spices like mustard or poppy seeds and flavoured with a phoron/tarka/seasoning. Sometimes fish are also added like in this dish. Here in this dish, all the vegetables and shrimps are mixed with all the spices and oil and then steamed in a steamer or pressure cooker.

Now Let's see how it is done...

You Need :
Medium sized shrimps : 10-15 nos.
Potato : 1, small, cut in thin strips lengthwise
Onion : 1, medium, cut into thin slices
Tomato : 1, small, cut into thin slices
Brinjal : few pieces, cut into thin slices
Pumpkin : few pieces, cut into thin slices
Green chillies : 2, slitted from middle
Ginger paste : 1 tsp.
Garlic paste : 1 tsp.
Turmeric Powder : 2 tsp.
Red Chilli Powder : 1-2 tsp.
Salt to taste
Mustard oil : 3-4 tblsp.

How To :

First, clean the prawns/shrimps well and marinate them with little turmeric powder and salt. Set them aside for 10-15 mins. After that, you can very lightly shallow fry them or you can use raw, it's upto you.
Cut the vegetables as shown in the below pic.
Now take a bowl that fit into your steamer/pressure cooker(yes, you can cook it in P. Cooker, too but steamer bring out the best taste). Add all the vegetables, prawns, ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, turmeric and red chilli powder, salt and 2 tblsp. of oil. Mix everything well using your hand, so that everything is well-coated with spices and oil.

Lastly, add 1-2 more tblsp. of oil and put the bowl in steamer, cover with a tight lid. Cook for at least 30-40 minutes or until veges are cooked if using a steamer. If you are cooking in p. cooker, then keep the bowl in cooker(take a high bowl for this and add water only upto half of the bowl, close the pressure cooker lid, do not put the whistle. Check water level after sometime, if water is less, add some.
Chingri macher bati charchari is done without much hassle.