Celebrity Chef Saby Gorai shares his favourite onion prawn 'dolma' recipe

Thanks to the enduring legacy of Armenians in Kolkata, the City of Joy, the local cuisine has absorbed rich influences from this ancient Eastern European culture. A visible trace of this heritage appears around Christmas when local bakeries start brimming with varieties of dry cakes.

Another delicacy that has found its way on to the common man’s plate is the ‘dolma’. Also known as ‘tolma’ from the word ‘toli’, meaning grape leaf, the ‘dolmas’ were traditionally stuffed with meat or rice. ‘Potoler dolma’, a recipe from Bengali households, is widely believed to have been inspired from Armenian ‘tolmas’.

Sharing one of my personal favourites — onion ‘dolma’, stuffed with prawns and kasundi. The dish reminds me of the flavours I grew up with.

Onion prawn ‘dolma’

Ingredients

Prawns (deveined, tail on) (medium sized of 16/20 count)         8

Onions                                                                                                     4

Ginger garlic paste                                                                                 30 gm

Kasundi                                                                                                    50 gm

Coriander                                                                                                 20 gm

Green chillies                                                                                          6

Coconut milk                                                                                           200 gm

Salt                                                                                                           To taste

Method

Baking the onions: Take a baking tray and put enough salt to cover the tray. Peel the onions and remove the roots, cut the head without opening the onions. Place them on the salt. Bake on dry heat for about 20-25 minutes at 180º. Onions would be ready to stuff once these become soft and translucent.

Preparing the prawns: Take four prawns, remove their tails and chop them roughly. This will become the stuffing. With the rest of the prawns, keep the tail intact so that it is visible outside the onion.

Marination: Mix kasundi and ginger garlic paste together. Add salt. Marinate both batches of prawns. Roughly chop coriander, slit the green chilies in 1/2 (lengthwise). Add to chopped prawns mixture and whole prawns.

Preparing the onions: When the baked onions cool down, scoop out the inner layers. Make sure that the base of the onion is not open.

Stuffing the onions: Stuff the onion with the chopped prawn mixture, along with one whole prawn each. Make sure that the tail is exposed out.

Baking the dolma: Now, bake the 'dolma' at 180º for about 7-8 minutes or till the prawns are cooked.

Preparing the sauce: Heat coconut milk and add 1 tsp kasundi. Adjust the seasoning.

Serving: Carefully place the 'dolma' on the plate and drizzle hot coconut kasundi sauce on top.

— Chef Saby (Sabyasachi Gorai) was the recipient of the National Tourism Award given by the President of India. Also won the Celebrity Chef Award for 2024