Shrimp Steamed in Mustard Coconut Sauce

Chingri Sorshe Narkol Bhape

The microwave oven has simplified life in more ways than one. No longer do I just heat left-overs or use it for defrosting frozen meat. We made this dish in a stainless steel bowl in a pressure cooker before the days of the microwave oven and it took 10-15 minutes along with another 10 minutes for the pressure to dissipate. In the microwave oven, it took exactly 4 minutes from oven to table!

Mustard oil may be a new cooking medium for some people, but the people in the state of Bengal in India almost exclusively use it for all their everyday cooking. It is available in most Indian markets and it is advisable to consult the store owner for the most pungent flavored mustard oil available in the store.

Extremely easy to assemble, the most difficult part is probably blending the mustard seeds into the finest possible paste. To remove some of the bitterness from the mustard seeds, it is necessary to cover them with salt and soak in tap water for 2 hours or so. Then drain and rinse the seeds in a tea strainer in several changes of water to remove the excess salt. I prefer to mix in the coconut milk powder (also available in Indian/Asian markets) after the mustard seeds have been blended to get the maximum flavor of coconut which also helps to tone down the pungency of the mustard seeds. The coconut milk powder makes the sauce thick and creamy.