Sasha-aloo-chingri (cucumber with potatoes and shrimp)

I made a really spicy chicken curry,and was wondering what to balance the heat in the meal with. Cucumber seemed a good candidate. Now, I could make a simple salad, but I had some de-veined shrimps in my freezer too. They are my little minions and of great use when I want to transform a vegetarian dish into a non-vegetarian one. Sans hassles.

1. Clean (and thaw completely if frozen, in microwave for a few minutes) shrimps. Rub turmeric and salt and shallow fry in cooking oil. Set aside.
2. In the same oil, add kalonji seeds or panch phoran, diced onions, dice potatoes. And then the cucumber (takes very little time to cook) Add dry roasted , ground cumin-coriander, home-made garam masala and 1/2 tsp home-made ghee for aroma.
3. Add ginger, slit green chilies and the shallow- fried shrimps. Serve with generous amount of cilantro.

Other converted vegetarian dishes in my kitchen include:

1. Mocha chingri (Banana flower with shrimp)
2. Chingri diye mulo ghonto(radish with shrimp)
3. Chorra chingri (Taro root with shrimp)
4. Lau chingri
5. Pui Chingri
6. Fulkopi diye chingri (Cauliflower with shrimp)
7. Aloo pepe Chingri (Potatoes and green papaya curry)

Bonus recipe: Green pumpkin with shrimp  (Chingri diye Kacha kumro/ চিংড়ি দিয়ে কাঁচা কুমড়ো )

You can make similar curry with kaacha kumro, kalonji seeds (kaalo jeere), green chilies and ginger paste.