Easy Garlicky Chingri -- for Dugga Pujo

Durga Pujo is not a time to cook your own food. I mean ideally Ma Durga does not cook on these five days. Neither does Lokkhi, Saraswati, Ganesh or that Karthik? Maybe Baba Shib does, but then again I am not sure.So why should you , tell me?

And then if you do cook, who is going to eat it? I mean after eating bhoger khichuri at the pujo pandal, tons of phuchka just outside the pandal, egg roll on the left of the pandal, mutton biriyani only a few steps away from the pandal, fish kobiraji ordered by phone from the pandal, how will you eat the food cooked at home?
Thus it has been logically proven that there is ABSOLUTELY NO-NEED to cook during the Pujo days. QED!

But for us mere mortals, living away from such overdose of pandals, life is difficult.

Durga too understands our problem and mostly visits us only during weekends. During the week she is "chakki pishing and cooking dinner". Our relatives back home smirk at our plight and thank their stars that they did not go and get a visa stamped. They rustle their heavy silks, bite on their kashundi smeared fish kobiraji, pat their heavily powdered nose and lament, "Aha, ki koshto, Ashtami teo ranna korte hochche re?"

We look away from their kashundi-fied selfie, take deep breaths, think how claustrophobic the crowd in the pandals would make us feel and how all that phuchka can end in nothing good but gelusil and choan dhekur. "Jak baba, eikahnei bhalo achi", we reassure ourselves and contemplate on ways to make a mid-week Saptami dinner more interesting.

And then when the fall air carries with it a fragrance of wood smoke, we carelessly let our minds wander away to the pujo pandals of our childhood where amidst the heavy fragrant smoke of Dhuno, Ma Durga's face came alive with gorjon oil and after hours of fasting for anjali, steaming hot Khichuri in shaal pata doled out at the back of the mandap tasted no less than amrito.

For mere probashi mortals like us, bravely straddling two cultures and geographic locations (kind of like Ma Durga who lives in some cold snowy mountain and then visits her home in hot humid flat lands of Bengal) , we need some quick, easy, tasty recipes for Pujo.

And what can be easier and tastier than  Chingri aka Prawns, Bengals' second love after Ilish. Every probashi Bangali, is sure to have a huge bag of frozen shrimp/prawns in their freezer. That is their life saver on any day. And with that we can make this quick, easy dish in no time on a weeknight.

Max 30 minutes in time. 100% in pure pleasure.

To lace with hebby Pujo, Pujo nostalgia just light some sandal infused incense.

Easy Garlicky Chingri

Defrost 12-15 jumbo shrimp. Toss in sprinkles of Turmeric powder and salt.

Chop about 8-10 cloves of garlic. Mince would be best but do your best

Chop quarter of an onion in thin slices

Slit 4-5 green chilies

Heat Mustard Oil to smoking.

Add the
chopped garlic
4-5 slit green chilies

Saute until you get the flavor of garlic.

Now add the onion and saute for 4-5 minutes until onion is soft and pink

Add the shrimp and saute until shrimp is no longer raw.

Add
1/4th cup of water
1 tsp of lime juice
lots of chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste
a pinch of sugar

Let the sauce simmer for a 6-8 minutes. Taste and adjust for spices. Usually I do not add any other spice to this dish but you can add some red chili powder

Serve hot with rice.

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