Chingri Mathar Kalia

The lockdown period has taught us a lot and in my case good things. I read the books again which I used to read as a kid. I talked to a lot of people whom I should have contacted earlier to say “thanks for being with me all these years”. Amongst other things, It helped me to revisit the delicacies we used to eat years back and ignored in the recent past. Today I think twice before making a decision about purchasing anything and everything. Talking about food and cooking to be specific, I don’t remember eating Chingri Mathar Kalia in recent times. Yes, I am not talking about the typical prawn curry but a curry cooked with prawn head. Neither I remember making two dishes using parts of a few prawns, curry with the head, and chingri malaikari with the flesh.

Chingri Mathar  Kalia used to be a family favorite when we were part of a joint family. The prawn head was available back then at a low cost. It was easy to purchase those to make the Sunday lunch special especially at the end of the month. It was not possible to arrange meat or supreme fish every Sunday. The kids, though, had an expectation of something special. We always got the special without compromising the budget. Chicngri Mathar Kalia is just an example. I can remember Chingrir Jhal, Khosha Bhaja, Mamlet-er torkari, Aam bhate, Paka Potol Bhate/ Bata, and also Mangshor jhol with less mangsho, and more potatoes and many more. I must mention, in recent years life was different, easy maybe and both of us forgot things we used to follow while growing up in our respective homes.

We had an eighteen membered family till 2003. The monthly grocery management followed by menu planning and to serve food on time to everyone and most importantly to manage everything within a budget considering all the bread earner’s financial condition was a tough job. Not all the earners were having equal financial conditions yet we were a joint unity. The kids were all to follow a similar set of rules, to eat similar food, and most importantly to live similar lives irrespective of the financial condition of the respective parents. The family separated in 2003  and we witnessed changes. I remember superior rice being purchased or changes in the menu. However, I don’t remember having Chingrir matha being cooked instead of the flesh or frequent serving of khosha bhaja after that.

I, though, left home in 2005 for higher study, followed by a job, and finally to build my abode with Mehebub. However, I never heard Maa talking about the dishes including chingri mathar kalia which used to be our Sunday’s Mangshor Jhol substitute! I heard that in the nuclear system they don’t cook those anymore at our Amherst street residence! I realized things have changed.

I and Mehebub talked a lot in the lockdown days and introduced a few things at home which were common in our respective home while growing up. On his part, though not from a joint family but from a humble background for sure. He studied in Ramakrishna Mission and my FIL was a railway engineer. Needless to say, Mehebub had a restricted hostel life and is way more controlled. We have started introducing Pasta to all the good things we as kids learned. She is gladly accepting the changes we have introduced at home. We have started growing flowers and veggies in our balcony and window garden just the way Mehebub’s mother does it in Dubrajpur. Pasta is responsible for watering the plants and also to fill the bird feeder whenever it is empty.

Coming the back to the prawn head curry, a few days back a friend, Ipsita posted pictures of Chingri matha bhaja on Facebook. I found that really interesting and while talking I took the reference of the Chingri Mathar Kalia. The discussion though was over, the craving was not. I asked Mehebub to pick a few prawn heads. We found that these days it is difficult to get only prawn heads in the market. Needless to say, we purchased the whole prawns and got the heads separated. I used the cleaned prawn (without head) to make malaikari the day before and the heads turned into Chicngri macher mathar kalia last Sunday. It was good the have the mangshor jhol substitute again.

I talked to Maa before cooking the Mathar Kalia. Maa told me that they used to call it Chingri Mathar Rosha at her maternal home (my mamar bari) though the recipe was almost the same. Big fat Golda Chingrir Matha ( head of freshwater jumbo prawns) with limited spices and potato chunks. Maa specifically emphasized on using fewer spices to not to make the curry spice-heavy. She told me that the Prawn heat itself is enough to make the curry flavorful. That is the reason in the recipe you will not see me using cumin powder or coriander powder. Even the garam masala was not added at the end to enhance the flavor instead it was added while cooking. In a way, this is a family recipe, though not an heirloom.