Dried Shrimp Chutney

Dried Shrimp is a common and much-loved ingredient in a seafood loving coastal town of Mangalore. The most popular way to eat it is to roast it and coarsely grind it along with coconut & spices and serve the chutney along with rice congee (kanji/gruel)

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Mangalorean

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 5

Total Time 15

Servings

Author Shireen Sequeira @ www.ruchikrandhap.com

Ingredients

50 gm dried shrimp/jawla/galmbo
3/4 th small coconut grated or about 1-1/4 packed cups of grated coconut (*see note)

For the masala

5-6 dry red chillies *see note
1/2 tsp cumin jeera
2 pinches of turmeric powder haldi
1/2 or 1 level tsp tamarind paste or to taste
salt to taste just a little as the shrimp already has salt in it

For the tempering/seasoning

1 small onion finely sliced
oil for frying

Instructions

Wash the shrimp carefully and squeeze it dry (or place on a fine slotted colander/sieve) and drain. Dry roast it for a couple of minutes on a tawa on a slow flame until it lets out a nice aroma. Keep aside. Dry roast the coconut the coconut on the same tawa till again it lets out a nice aroma and then mix the two.
Dry grind the red chillies, cumin and turmeric to a powder. Add the tamarind paste and the coconut and shrimp mixture and swirl the mixer for a few seconds. (Add just about 2 tsp water just to get the mixer jar moving). Do not grind it fine. It should remain coarse (shrimp should be coarsely crushed and not ground). Remove the chutney in a bowl.
Heat some oil in another pan and fry the sliced onions till golden brown. Add them to the shrimp chutney. Serve with piping hot Rice Congee/Kanji/Pez

Notes

You can increase the shrimps upto 100gm if you like a strong taste of shrimp. If you like it 'coconut-y' then add more coconut. Ideally for 50gm shrimps, 1 packed cup of grated coconut works fine. You can use the proportions as per your choice, just ensure you adjust the spice level accordingly