When I first met my husband, Arjun back in 2000 he would regale me with stories of foods he grew up eating, many with a heavy seafood emphasis, all of which sounded terribly exotic to me. My exposure to seafood up until college had been fairly limited and even 15 years ago I was still in a novice in the matters of delicacies from the ocean. I remember him mentioning this shrimp curry early on and it sounded almost Thai with its coconut milk base. On our first trip to India after we got engaged, Arjun’s grandmother made this shrimp coconut curry for us and I suddenly understood why, when he was thousands of miles away, he would talk about this dish. Its name, chingri maacher malai curry, was probably the first bit of Bengali that I learned just so I could request it again. It was slightly sweet, creamy, with soft spices and incredibly tender shrimp. I was hooked. While this dish is traditionally made with shrimp, it would be amazing with lobster too. Simply serve over Basmati rice with your favorite vegetable accompaniment.

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