Chingri maach die mulor tok/ambol

Tok or ambol is utterly a ghonti delicacy. Everytime I use to visit my mamabari in Midnapore, I was served with different toks, in which the speciality was the protein. For eg. chuno machher tok, machher dimer tok etc.

Yes, my mother is absolutely ghonti while my late father was bangal. Therefore, me and my sister is “banti”😂😂😂, funny isn’t it??? Our family residing in North Bengal, our kitchen was predominantly bangal. Also I, was more inclined towards the bangal preparations. So, at my mamabari when my mother use to slurp the tok served, me and my sister use to find ways to skip eating the tok. It is much later, when I grew up and started taking interest in Bengali cuisine, started admiring it. Hence, this time I ventured in recreating one of those toks from my mamabari. The recipe was told to me by my mother, as exactly it was prepared by my late dida (grandmother).

while my dida use to never add sugar to ambol, I used very little in mine. The added sugar balances the sour and salt of the dish.

Although, I have uploaded many chutneys on my blog, plastic chutney, aamer chutney or amsotto khejur tomato r chutney, tok is slightly different from chutney. While chutney, partcularly kancha aamer chutney is sweet(with lots of added sugar), ambol is sour(like its name says “ambol” means acidic). While ambol is runny, chutney is mostly thick or jelly like. Tok is particularly served in summer and is said to keep your body cool, so it is served cold. To further reduce, the heat quotient, she use to never add green chilies or dry red chilies to it. This being the perfect time to eat tok, what are you waiting for? Go and prepare it in your kitchen. Enjoy!!!

Cuisine: (Bengali)Indian

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Servings: 2

• 3 medium radish/ mulo skin scraped and cut
• 8-10 shrimps
• 1/2 teaspoon of paanchforon
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons of tamarind pulp
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 2 tablespoons of mustard oil

Directions

1. Sprinkle some turmeric powder and salt on the shrimps, mix them well and leave them aside for 10-15 minutes
2. In a kadai, add the oil. Once the oil is hot, saute the shrimps and keep them aside.
3. Now to the same oil, add the panchforon and wait for the aroma to fill your kitchen.
4. Then, add the radishes to the kadai and saute them lightly.
5. Add the turmeric powder and a cup of water and continue cooking on medium flame.
6. Add the tamarind pulp and sugar to the kadai followed by the shrimps.
7. Cover and cook till all the radishes are cooked properly.
8. Do not dry out the gravy. Tok or ambol is mostly runny.
9. Turn off the flame and let it cool completely. Tok or ambol is served cold.

Step by step instructions to prepare Chingri maach die mulor tok/ambolChingri maach die mulor tok/ambol

Sprinkle some turmeric powder and salt on the shrimps, mix them well and leave them aside for 10-15 minutes. In a kadai, add the oil. Once the oil is hot, saute the shrimps and keep them aside.

Now to the same oil, add the panchforon and wait for the aroma to fill your kitchen.

Then, add the radishes to the kadai and saute them lightly.

Add the turmeric powder and a cup of water and continue cooking on medium flame.

Add the tamarind pulp and sugar to the kadai followed by the shrimps.

Cover and cook till all the radishes are cooked properly. Do not dry out the gravy. Tok or ambol is mostly runny.

Turn off the flame and let it cool completely. Tok or ambol is served cold.

Thank you for stopping by. If you like the recipe do not forget to hit like. If you prepare this dish and publish your photos on Facebook and Instagram do tag #theepicureanfeast. Also for queries, you can mail me epicureanfeast2019@gmail.com