Whilst the word malai usually refers to the use of cream in Indian recipes, in this instance it’s thought that the curry is a Bengali version of the curries cooked by Malaysian traders trading throughout the Bay of Bengal and over the years the word Malay transliterated to malai. We’re serving the curry with some typical Bengali accompaniments - aloo matar posto (a potato and pea dish flavoured with poppy seeds), a green chilli pickle, simply cooked spinach and coriander and mint raita. Achari is the Bengali word for pickle and some of the leftover pickle paste is used to make some fantastic, flaky breads known as achari parathas.

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