Peyajkoli diye tyngra mach er jhal..

Exploring the affair of fish and Bengali would be nothing less than an epic. The varieties of fishes we eat is almost endless. And the way they are prepared also varies from one household to the other.  If you don't eat fish and rice everyday then there is a big question about your true 'Bong' blood. Fortunately or unfortunately I do fall in that category, and my other family members curiously ask me if I don't eat fish and rice for lunch and dinner then what other alternatives do I have? No it's not that I hate fish or don't like them, it's just I like to consume all other kind of proteins to keep a balance. And who wants to eat the same fish curry and rice everyday, at least not me. The commonest of common fish one cook in a Bengali kitchen is either Rohu or Katla, typically made into a simple jhol (curry) or sorse bata jhal (semi gravy with mustard paste). It surprises me how one can eat the same curry everyday without complaining. I try to eat fish at least thrice a week and that too of different varieties. As winter is offering us its bounty of vegetables, I love to combine the fishes with the goodness of the veggies too.

Spicy fish curry...puNti macher jhal

I definitely love to experiment with different cuisines, but when it comes to soul food, it is always fish curry and rice for me,  that's a confession of a hardcore Bong. The list of fishes cooked in a Bengali kitchen is quite long, from exotic Hilsa to small  fresh water fishes like PuNti, Mourola etc.. Yes, you may not get these fresh where I live now, but the local Asian supermarket  which I consider a treasure trove, many a times helps to resolve the craving for my soul food. It has endless varieties of both fresh as well as vacuum sealed fresh water fishes. Whenever I go to the Asian supermarket, I look around the fish section. Looking for something that  looks familiar, I  then reach out to our ever reliable  friend google to find out more about the fish and then accordingly go for it. I have not been disappointed till now.

I found this packet of small fish in the local Asian Supermarket. It was labeled 'Mud Carp' shipped from Vietnam. The fishes looked like my all time favorite puNti mach. I tried my luck and bought one packet. After cooking the fishes I was delighted. It was exactly like the puNti I know. I made some crispy fried fishes to go with steamed rice and dal and I also made a spicy dry curry.

For the crispy fry, you need to clean up the fish first. Scale the fish, cut the fins and clean the intestine (the belly part). The fishes  being small, it  does take a bit of time. After cleaning, wash the fishes well, smear with some salt and turmeric powder and keep aside for 30 min.

Heat oil (preferably mustard oil) in a deep pan or kadhai. When the oil is hot, fry the fishes. Do not overcrowd the pan. Fry till both sides are golden brown. Serve hot with some rice and dal.

I also made a spicy dry curry with these small fishes, a favorite of mine. We call it macher jhal in Bengali. It is a dry spicy curry. Macher jhal can be made in various different ways, with mustard paste, or with onion and tomato. I went for the onion-tomato way this time. And of course I used the mud carp for this. You can use any fish, carp, tilapia, swai, anchovies, cod, perch, prawns etc.

Things need to make macher jhal or spicy dry curry with fish:

• Fried small fish: 2 cups
• Onion: 3/4 cup
• Tomato: 1 large
• Coriander powder: 1 tbsp
• Red chili powder: 1-2 tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
• Dry red chilies: 2-3
• Green chilies: 3-4
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Mustard oil
• Fresh coriander to garnish

Steps of making macher jhal or spicy dry curry with fish:

1. In a pan heat mustard oil, when the oil is hot add dry red chilies. Add finely chopped onions and cook till evenly brown.

2. Add tomato, sprinkle little salt, cover and cook till tomatoes are done.

3. In a bowl mix turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder with few teaspoons of water. Add the spice mix. Cook till oil separates.

4. Add the fried fish, salt, sugar, green chilies, and little water (1/4 cup). Cover and cook for 5-6 min. Uncover and reduce the gravy. Sprinkle chopped fresh coriander leaves. Serve hot with steamed rice.

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Muri ghonto...fish head curry

Traditionally in Bengal, a newly married groom is welcomed with a huge cooked fish head as the part of his first lunch at in-laws. When someone serves you a fish head as a part of the meal, do you label it 'Bizarre food'? Need to check with Andrew Zimmerman. :)  For us Bongs, it's nothing scary or extraordinary, yes, the fish head has to be cooked.

Fish being the staple diet for the Bengalis, fish head is eaten in various different ways, especially the large fish heads of Rohu, Katla, Hilsa are considered delicacies and special dishes are made out of them. Cabbage with fish head (bandhakopi-muro), bottle gourd with fish head (lau diye muro), hilsa head with colocasia stems or leaves (ilish er matha diye kochur loti / kochur saak) are only few to name. The menu for special occasions like marriage, rice-ceremonies, birthdays is not complete without muro diye dal (lentil with fish head). 

Other than the above mentioned dishes, there is one more - Muri-ghonto, a traditional and popular Bengali dish. The word 'Muri' or 'Muro' stands for head. (There is another Bengali word 'Muri' which means puffed rice but the "Muri" in muri-ghonto should not be confused with puffed rice). The muri-ghonto I have seen my mother cook is with rice. They are some other muri-ghonto recipes that involves no rice, some use flattened rice (chire or poha) or just potatoes.

Here I will share the 'Muri Ghonto'-fish head with rice recipe just the way my mother makes it. This uses a special variety of rice named Gobindibhog. Gobindobhog is a fragrant rice cultivated in West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh. Gobindobhog rice imparts a particular flavor to the dish that is impossible to recreate without that particular variety of rice. Luckily we do get Kalazira rice in the Bangladeshi store, which is equivalent to the Gobindobhog. If you can't manage to get your hand any of these two variety, use good quality Basmati rice. If you are wondering how the rice looks like, here is a glimpse for you, this is Kalazira rice.

Muri-ghonto usually taste better with large fish heads, but I get only live tilapia fish here, so I prepared it with that. If you can get Rohu or Katla fish, go ahead and use,  it will definitely taste better. I did exactly the way Ma does, with a little more rice. She keeps the rice fluffy and like pulao, so if someone does not prefer to eat the fish head they can enjoy the rice. And I do have 'someone' at home who does just that. :)

Things needed to make Muri ghonto:

• Fish head of one fish
• Rice: 1 cup
• Potato: 4 small or 1 large
• Onion: 1/2 cup
• Garlic: 1/2 tsp
• Ginger: 2 tsp
• Cumin powder: 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
• Red chili powder: 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
• Nutmeg powder: 1/8 tsp
• Shahjeera/black cumin seeds: 1 tsp
• Cinnamon stick: 1 stick
• Green cardamom: 3-4
• Cloves: 7-8
• Bay leaves: 2-3
• Dry red chili: 2-3
• Green chili: 2-3
• Ghee/clarified butter: 1 tbsp and extra
• Oil: 3-4 tbsp
• Cashew nuts: 1/4 cup
• Golden raisins: 1/4 cup
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste

Steps of making Muri ghonto:

1. Soak rice for 20-30 min, wash well and drain. Soak raisins in water. It is preferable to make muri-ghonto with Gobindobhog rice. The closest possible is the Kalazira rice, easily available in a Bangladeshi store. If you can't manage to get any of them, use good quality Basmati rice.

2. Smear fish head with salt and turmeric powder. Using large fish heads will bring much better result. I used tilapia fish, the only fresh fish available here. It is best advised to use the head of rohu or katla fish. Try look for buffalo fish or German carp in Asian market near you. Make sure you clean the fish head well, discard the gills.

3. Fry the fish head well, till nicely brown from all sides. Take out with a slotted spoon and keep aside.

4. Peel and wash the potato. I like using small round potatoes, or else cut large potatoes in to quarters. Fry the potato cubes and keep aside. Fry the cashew nuts to golden brown and keep aside.

5. In the same pan you used to fry the fish head, add ghee (clarified butter), when the ghee melts, add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, green cardamom, cloves, dry red chilies, black cumin seeds, cook  for 1 min. I do add a little oil along with the ghee.

6. Add finely chopped onions and cook till it changes color. Add garlic paste and ginger paste, cook for 1-2 min. Add cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, mix well. Add few teaspoons of water if needed. Add the washed rice, mix gently. Cook for 3-4 min, add hot water to the rice. The amount of water should be double the amount of rice you are using, that is for 1 cup of raw rice use 2 cups of hot water.

7. As the water boils, add salt, fried potato, cashew nuts, raisins, reduce heat and cook over medium heat for 8 min. Add the fried fish head and mix gently. Add sugar, whole green chilies, garam masala powder, cover and cook for 3-4 min over low heat. I do not like to break the fish head as the fish head I was using was not that big, if you want you can break it into small pieces.

8.  Switch off heat. Sprinkle little ghee and nutmeg powder, cover and let it rest for 10 min. Serve hot.

Print Recipe

Muri-ghonto
Fish head curry with rice
(serves 3-4)
Ingredients:
Fish head of one fish
Rice: 1 cup
Potato: 4 small or 1 large
Onion: 1/2 cup
Garlic: 1/2 tsp
Ginger: 2 tsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Red chili powder: 1 tsp
Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
Nutmeg powder: 1/8 tsp
Shahjeera/black cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Cinnamon stick: 1 stick
Green cardamom: 3-4
Cloves: 7-8
Bay leaves: 2-3
Dry red chili: 2-3
Green chili: 2-3
Ghee/clarified butter: 1 tbsp and extra
Oil: 3-4 tbsp
Cashew nuts: 1/4 cup
Golden raisins: 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Procedure:
1. Soak rice for 20-30 min, wash and drain.
2. Smear salt and turmeric powder to the fish head, fry them, keep aside.
3. Fry potato cubes and cashew nuts, keep aside.
4. Heat ghee (clarified butter), add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, green cardamom, cloves, dry red chilies, black cumin seeds, cook  for 1 min.
4. Add chopped onions, cook till it changes color, add garlic paste, ginger paste, cook 2-3 min.
5. Add turmeric powder, cumin power, red chili powder, cook for 1 min.
6. Add soaked rice, mix gently, add hot (double the amount of dry rice), add salt, fried potato, cashew nuts, raisins, cook for 8 min.
7. Add sugar, green chilies, garam masal powder, cover and cook for 3-4 min.
8. Switch off heat, sprinkle ghee (clarified butter), nutmeg powder, cover and let it rest for 10 min. Serve hot.

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My MIL's Fish Curry

Maache Bhate Bangali...Fish Curry and Rice: Soul Food for Bengali

Fish curry and rice is something Bengalis can not do without. The list of fishes we eat is endless. Be it fresh water sweet fishes like Rohu, Katla, Mrigel, Pabda, Tyngra, PuNti, or  salt water fish like Hilsha, Pomfret etc. Different kinds of prawns are also very popular in Bengal.

Fishes are cooked in various ways, from simple maach bhaja(fish fry) to maacher jhol(light gravy) or maacher jhal (thick dry gravy).Bengalis also make  sweet and sour chutneys(mostly with small fishes like PuNti, Mourola or the fish heads) with fishes, called maacher tok with tamarind or green mango.

Today I made a simple fish curry, Maacher Jhol, the way my mother-in-law cooks, with tomato-cumin-corriander. My MIL uses either Rohu or Pabda to make this kind of curry, but I used fresh live Tilapia today.

I got live tilapia from Chinese Supermarket. The guys there clean and cut the fish, so no hastle for me. Here is what I did:

Things needed:

• Fish
• Potato
• Tomato
• Whole cumin
• Green chilies
• Ginger paste
• Turmeric powder
• Red chili powder
• Cumin powder
• Coriander powder
• Fresh coriander
• Salt to taste

I washed the fish and marinated the pieces with salt and turmeric powder. I let it marinate for 30-40 min.

Fried the fish till nice golden brown. I know some people like their fishes lightly fried but I like them nicely done.

Using the same oil, I fried the potatoes. The potatoes were cut lengthwise. I do not know if there is a guideline for how potatoes should be cut for a particular type of curry. But I have seen my Ma and Mom-in-law cut the potatoes lengthwise for such light curries (Jhol) and in cubes for rich gravies (Kaliya). So I follow the tradition.

In went the stilted green chilies and whole cumin seeds. Be careful not to burn the cumin seeds, if needed remove the pan from heat.

Next I added ginger paste and chopped tomatoes. Sprinkled some salt, covered and cooked in a medium heat till the tomatoes are done.

When the tomatoes are cooked I added turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Mixed all the masalas well, cover and cook in a low medium heat for 6-7 min. Gave a stir in between. Here I must tell you, I always make the masalas at home. Other than turmeric and red chili powder all the dry masalas are home made. That makes a lot of difference in the taste.

As the oil separates from the masalas I added hot water(depending the amount of gravy you need) and let it boil. As the gravy boils I simmered the flame and added fried potatoes and fishes. Then covered and cook for another 12-15 min. At the end added a handful of chopped green coriander leaves and 2 more stilted green chilies. 

Note: You can make this simple curry for your little one also, just do not put any green chili and red chili powder, it will taste the same. I do that for my daughter, and she loves this fish curry with a dash of lime.

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