Jhinga Makhani is a very popular Indian curry where Jhinga or Shrimp is cooked in a well balanced buttery gravy. I learned how to make this gravy from the very talented Sanjay Thumma of vahrehvah.com.  This base gravy is so delicious that you can use this to also make fish, crab or even chicken.

Onions, whole spices, Chillies, Ginger & Garlic paste, Tomatoes, Cashews are sautéed in Butter, pressure cooked, then pureed, strained and returned to the pot. Sugar & Fenugreek is added and the shrimp is cooked in the gravy. Finally, this is finished off with some heavy cream.

What I love about this recipe is that you can make your base gravy ahead and cook your seafood right before you serve it so it’s not overcooked. You can also make it and freeze it ahead and add seafood and finish off with cream when you’re ready. It’s great sopped up with some crusty bread or also served with long grained Basmati rice.

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, don’t worry you can make the same recipe on your stove top, it will just take a lot longer and require you to keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.

Jingha Makhni

5 from 2 votes
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Ingredients
  

  • 1 stick butter 1/2 cup
  • 1 bay leaf 2, 1 inch cinnamon sticks, 10 cloves and 3 cardamoms
  • 2 sliced red Onions
  • 15 red dried Kashmiri chillies cleaned and deseeded
  • 5 green Chillies
  • 1/2 a cup of raw Cashews
  • 1 tbsp. of Ginger and Garlic paste
  • 2 cups diced red Tomatoes
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 cup Water & more as required
  • 1 lb Shrimp
  • Pinch of sugar
  • 1 tsp Fenugreek leaves Kasuri Methi
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions
 

  • Turn the Instant Pot on saute mode and heat the butter
  • Saute the Onions and allow them to sweat
  • Add the whole Spices and the Chillies
  • Add thegreen Chillies
  • Add the Ginger and Garlic paste
  • Add the raw Cashews and the diced red Tomatoes
  • Add Salt to taste and Water and pressure cook for 10 mins
  • Once done, open the lid and allow it to cool
  • Add this to a food processor once cooled completely, and puree till smooth
  • To get a smooth gravy, pour this through a sieve
  • Any solids can be put back into the processor with a little water and processed again
  • Once strained, pour it back into the pressure cooker pot on saute mode and allow it to heat
  • Add the Fenugreek leaves(Kasuri Methi)
  • Taste for Salt and add Salt to taste and a pinch of Sugar
  • Once it comes to the boil, add the Shrimp that has been cleaned and deveined
  • Cover this and allow the Shrimp to cook
  • Finally finish off with the heavy cream and mix this in