My favourite non-vegetarian item has always been fish. Mom tells me that the first thing I had at my “Annaprashan“, or the Hindu rite of passage, was fish even though they tried to push in rice LOL. In our culture, rice should be the 1st food which an infant takes during the ceremony but I just loved the smell and taste of fish. Throughout my childhood, I loved fish so much that I used to get upset if there was no fish during lunch any day. All this changed when I went to college. Then I realized, I only loved fish prepared by mom or at least prepared according to the Bengali way. My fish drought had begun ever since I started my engineering. But thanks to my better half, ever since our marriage we again started having fish and in our diet, it is an essential part as fish has one of the lowest (in fact nil in many cases) carbohydrate contest.

Continuing with being fishy, this was the second dish that Sumi cooked on her “being nutty” day. This is a classic Bengali dish which I have adored all my life. Only recently, ever since we started on the diet, did I stop having this. The reason being that the dish goes best with rice. For me any non-vegetarian curry without rice just doesn’t gel, especially fish. But that day we just went crazy. We were missing fish curry and we decided to have it without rice. The result was awesome and I felt like my life had come back when I tasted the fish curry.

Ingredients

• 8 slices of Rohu/Rui Fish (Indian Fresh water Carp) approx 800 gm
• 1 ½ Tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 3 Tbsp cumin paste
• 1 Tbsp coriander paste
• 1 Tbsp turmeric powder
• 1 Tbsp red chilli powder (as per taste)
• 1  medium onion thinly chopped
• 4-5 green chillies slit length wise
• Mustard Oil (a good amount)
• Salt as required
• 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Method

First marinade the fish with turmeric powder and salt. Set it aside for 15-20 min.

In a deep wok, add mustard oil, heat till oil smokes (not a good option usually, however since our main curry element is the mustard oil, we need to heat it properly else it imparts a strong smell).  Now add the fish pieces, fry on each side till light brown. Set it aside.

Discard the oil. Clean the pan or take another and add fresh mustard oil again (approx 100 ml) and heat it till it smokes. Reduce flame; add chopped onion, slit green chillies, add all the paste, fry till oil separates like about 4-5 minutes. Now add 100 ml of water, a bit of salt (required for gravy) and let the water boil and then add the fish pieces back and coat properly with the gravy.

Garnish with chopped fresh parsley leaves.

The oil added in the dish may seem a lot but this is the beauty of this dish. The gravy is very rich and tastes awesome with rice.

Related posts:

1. Tilapia Sorshe Dry
2. Doi Maach

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Macher Tel Jhol

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness

This blog is getting “fishy”. By that I mean, like true Bengalis, the majority of the next few recipes will be fish based. Now mustard is a very tasty and essential ingredient in Bengali cuisine. And in our case, its a perfect match even during our diet. However the way it is prepared differs among various regions of Bengal – this is particularly visible in the cooking of our moms. Sumi, however, has learnt both the ways and she even has a version of her own. Today’s recipe is Sumi’s style of making the fish.

Sumi cooked this 3 months back. It was raining and we were hungry. Just a day back we bought quite a lot of fish from Spar and being a weekend she planned to cook for the entire week That woman’s crazy. The problem is she’s my woman hehehehe, so I sat through the whole ordeal. But in the end it was a yummy one. She cooked around 6 dishes, 3 fish ones, 1 chicken and 2 veggies. I am sure we took a pic of the whole spread. But I can’t find it right now. Anyways this is one of the fish ones. Its downright yummy.

Note – Sumi used Tilapia fish here. You can use any other fish you like instead like Rohu, Catla or Hilsa.

Ingredients

• 2 Tilapia fish cut into half
• 3 Tbsp white mustard paste
•  1 tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp ginger paste
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 4-5 green chillies slit length wise
• Mustard Oil
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Method

Marinade the fish pieces with lemon juice, salt and turmeric powder. Set it aside for 20 min.

In a wok, add mustard oil. Heat till oil smokes, then reduce flame and add the fish pieces and fry them properly. It takes around 7-10 min to fry properly. Set the fried pieces aside.

Now add all the chopped onion, ginger paste,slit  green chillies, chilli powder and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the mustard paste and saute for ½ min in low flame and add the fish pieces. Sprinkle some water to coat the mustard properly with fish. Do not add more water.

Serve with 1 tsp raw mustard oil on top and chopped fresh parsley.

Related posts:

1. Doi Maach
2. Mutton Manpasand
3. Bread Poha

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Tilapia Sorshe Dry

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness

Well its been a long time and we have not added any recipe. One of the reason being Sumi and me being on a low-carb diet. Since its really a challenge to do it in Indian cuisine leave alone Bengali, we had to invent lots of dishes. I mean not invent but rather bend them to our tastes. One of the major problems of a low carb diet is what everyone calls a carb crash. Its just a good way of saying I cant take it anymore Well we had it too. And when we had it one such day we thought of having our all time favorite snack. There are various ways of making Poha. But we prefer having it with Bread, the reason being its easy to make. Oh and did I say its tasty

Ingredients

• Bread (approx 8 slices) – crumbled into medium sized pieces and sprinkled with water to soften.
• 1 big onion chopped into medium squared pieces
• 4 green chillies (or as per your taste) cut into diagonally thin slices
• 2 Tbsp groundnut
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 4 twigs curry leaves (approx 12 leaves)
• 1tsp Kitchen King powder or 1/2tsp chat masala powder (these already contain salt so be careful)
• Groundnut oil (1-2Tbsp enough for everything to cook and not stick)
• Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a wok and fry the groundnuts till golden brown. Remove the groundnuts and keep aside.

In the same oil, put the mustard seeds and wait for all of them to splatter.

Add curry leaves, fry for few seconds then add the green chillies and onions.

Add the chat masala or kitchen king masala (you can find these at any Indian store).

Add the bread pieces (after crumbling and softening with water as mentioned above), mix them with the remaining ingredients and then add salt and the fried groundnuts. Dont heat for long else the breads will stick to the wok.

Remove from heat. Mix everything well.

You can make it more interesting by adding boiled potatoes and peas too. Server hot.

No related posts.

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© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness

Fish is compulsory on the dining table of any bengali. We literally start our life with a fish preparation:) And suffice to say I love it too. This recipe is not exactly mine or Boombooms. It was made by my mother-in-law. Both my mom and mom-in-law make it a different and both taste heavenly. I wish one day I can say that for my own recipe Though whenever I tried it Boomboom told its very good. But I never believed him.

Ingredients

• 500gms Rohu Fish cut into medium sized pieces
• 1 medium sized onion chopped
• 1tsp mustard seeds
• 4-5 green chillies slit lengthwise
• 1/2tsp turmeric powder
• 1tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1tsp red chilli powder
• 300gms curd
• Oil as needed
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method

Wash the fish, mix salt and turmeric powder together and apply it on each of the pieces. Let it marinate for 15 mins.

Now shallow fry each of the pieces’ both sides till they turn light golden brown. Set it aside.

Add little oil in a wok, add the mustard seeds, green chillies, ginger garlic paste, onion, salt and chilli powder. Stir in high flame.

Add around 50-100ml of water to the mixture and let it boil in high flame.

Take around half of the curd (150gms), whip it light so that water doesnt go out of it and add it to the contents in the wok.

Now add the fish to the wok and cook it in low flame for 1 min. Turn the pieces to the other side and repeat.

Now put the remaining curd, add little bit sugar and salt. Make sure the curd remains thick so do not over cook.

Lay the fish in a dish and garnish with fresh coriander leaves and 1tbsp of raw mustard oil.

No related posts.

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Doi Maach

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness