Aayi’s Recipes Konkan/Konkani food blog, Indian culinary treasures

Shrimps/Prawns are called as Sungat in Konkani. Hinga uda/udak means asafoetida water. I didn’t know any recipe with any seafood prepared with asafoetida in it (there may be such recipes, but I didn’t know about them). I am a big fan of shrimps. So when I got this recipe from my regular reader Rajasi, I was more than happy to try it. She sent me 3 recipes, here is the first of them.

Here is what Rajasi had to say about this recipe “This is eaten as gravies, I guess. It should not be too thin in consistency. But when it is made in my household, I eat with chapathi, bread and rice. Though, traditionally this is served with rice. Only one thing about Hinga uda is that some people do not use coconut oil because of the health reasons. Using coconut oil is the most authentic way of making this curry and I personally can’t imagine drizzling any other oil on top of the gravy when boiling. So if they use any other oil, the taste may or may not change. I don’t know. This curry needs to be spicy and tastes even better next day”.

I liked the very strong taste of asafoetida and coconut oil in this recipe. People who don’t like the taste of asafoetida and coconut oil, please ignore this recipe. Thanks a lot Rajasi for sending me this unusual and absolutely delicious recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup shrimp
1 cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen)
5-6 red chilies (preferably Byadagi chilies and Kashmiri chilies which give color and spice)
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract (or normal tamarind to suit taste)
1/2 tea spn asafoetida
2 tea spns coconut oil
Salt

If the asafoetida smell is too strong, reduce the amount, but when this dish is ready, it should have a distinct smell of asafoetida and coconut oil.

Method:
Grind coconut, tamarind and red chilies to a smooth paste.
In a pot, mix the paste with shrimp. Add sufficient water and salt.
When the curry starts boiling, drizzle coconut oil and asafoetida.
Serve hot with rice or chapathi or bread.

Serves :2-3
Preparation time : 15-20mins