Sungta Hinga Udaak

Shrimp gravy (Sungta hinga uda)

Sungta Hinga Udaak
Sungta Hinga Udaak

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

14 thoughts on “Shrimp gravy (Sungta hinga uda)”

  1. Oh goodness! I think this would be delicious. I love all the ingredients very much. I would love some nice fresh bread to dip in it. Thank you for such a delightful recipe!!

  2. Hi Shilpa,
    Oh wow! I am so honored! I am glad that you liked it. This was the recipe which is relished in my friend circle – hinga udak is a tad bit difficult for my friends (non-konkani) to remember so they call it “Orange colored Shrimp Curry”
    Thanks for trying!

    1. Lajwanti Shetty

      Hi Rajasi,

      The recipe is awesome, being from Mangalore I was always fascinated by the GSB recipes but could never make them as they were a bit different. The Dali Thoy & Sungta hinga uda are some dishes which you dont find in cookbooks as they are very simple home food. Kindly send me your wesite address so that I can have more of the Konkani dishes made at home .

      Regards
      Lajwanti Shetty

  3. we call this authentic konkani recipe “hummaNa”. Some people do call it “hinga uda”. This can also be made with boiled potatoes, just substitute the shrimp in this recipe with precooked potatoes.

  4. Like Manjula said this recipe is called ‘Hummana’…one of my foavorite recipes. What I do though is add Coconut oil and Asafoetida not when the curry is boiling instead after it is taken off the heat. This way I feel you get better taste of both! Small to medium shrimps and from the river will be heavenly!
    My mouth is watering already!

    Sher… next time try this curry with ‘Soyi polo’ or Idlis!

  5. I tried this last night, simply because I was too tired to make anything complicated. I loved it! So did my husband. 5 Stars to this one! Thanks a ton for posting! Also I’ll get Aayi’s recipes on my blogroll soon!

  6. Hi Rajasi, Shilpa

    I prepared this dish yesterday. I found very little grated coconut in my freezer, and had to add half portion of cashews.

    Cashews gave the dish an amazing texture and thickness (like north Indian dishes) but retained amchigel taste.

    It was probably the best dish I have ever prepared.
    I thank you a lot! Keep up the good work 🙂

    -Sachin

  7. Am very grateful for maintaining this E-repository of Konkani recipes. I am passionate about authentic Konkani cuisine and have this fear that over generations slowly our kitchen art will die. With more and more younger people going away to other shores it is difficult to have the right ingredients and exacting methods. Sigh

  8. This is called ‘kolumbichi upkari’, by Mumbaikar Saraswats. My Mums and Aji’s version of this is and was out this world.
    The only difference is they use fry finely diced onions until golden brown after you’ve added the hinga to The hot coconut oil.. same procedure thereafter except they use the traditional pathala raas (second extract from coconut) to cook the prawns in Followed by tamarind pulp and then add jada raas (1st coconut milk extract) Just as you turn the glass off.. cobrel tel to finish off.. lip smacking good!

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