A festive Bangladeshi dish where prawns are cooked inside a green coconut, absorbing its sweet, nutty flavours alongside aromatic spices.
Daab Chingri
Ingredients
- 1 green young coconut with soft flesh and water
- 1 cup prawns peeled and deveined
- 1 tsp turmeric paste
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp posto poppy seed paste
- 3 tbsp mustard seed paste
- 3 tbsp mustard oil
- 3 green chillies ground into a paste
- Salt to taste
- Flour and water to make a sealing paste
Instructions
- Using a sharp knife, slice off the top of the green coconut and reserve the cut-off piece as a lid. Pour out the coconut water into a bowl and set aside.
- Carefully scoop out the soft coconut flesh, leaving it intact against the shell; place the flesh inside the coconut cavity.
- In a separate bowl, toss the prawns with turmeric paste, garlic paste, posto paste, mustard seed paste, mustard oil, green chilli paste, and salt until evenly coated.
- Fill the coconut with the spiced prawns and return the reserved coconut “lid.” Seal the opening by applying a thick flour-and-water paste around the rim to create an airtight seal.
- Stovetop Instructions Place the sealed coconut on a very low flame and cook, turning occasionally, for about 3 hours, until the shell darkens and the flavours meld.
- Oven Instructions (alternative): Preheat to 200 °C, wrap the sealed coconut in foil, and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the flour seal, crack open the coconut, and scoop out the prawns along with pieces of the soft flesh. Serve hot with steamed rice.
Notes
Sealing the coconut with a simple flour paste traps the steam inside, allowing the prawns to cook gently in their own juices and the coconut’s natural moisture. Slow stovetop cooking yields a deeper, smoky flavour as the shell caramelizes, while the oven shortcut delivers a cleaner, more controlled result. Be cautious when opening the coconut-let it rest for a few minutes after cooking to avoid steam burns. This dish shines when served immediately, pairing beautifully with plain rice to highlight its rich, spiced coconut essence. In Bangladesh, chingri dishes are immensely popular and the love for coconut-based curries in the southern coastal areas like Barisal, Khulna and parts of Chittagong-makes Dab Chingri a much loved celebration dish. The availability of fresh prawns from rivers and saltwater, along with tender coconut meat, make this dish seamlessly into Bangladeshi coastal and deltaic food traditions. While Dab Chingri originated in Kolkata, it has become a shared heritage dish of Bengali cuisine on both sides of the border.