Macher jhol

I love Bengali language and culture. At times I am called a Bengali because of my glasses and my round, chubby face.My hubby grew up with Bengali friends so he loves their cuisine. And so, finally I decided to try macher jhol. I am no fan of fish especially the curries and stews we make. I hate the raw smell of fish however, I love it fried. And that is precisely what attracted me to this curry. The fact that Bongs and Oriya's fry fish and then cook it with gravy intrigued me. So I decided to try this dish from scratch. Frankly there is something about the way you pronounce macher jhol that excites me. It sounds even sweet from a Bong who  pronounces it with rounded tilt. Recently mustard oil has entered my kitchen and I am experimenting quite some dishes with it. I have come to realise that there is something about mustard oil that takes away the raw flavour of fish and pork so lately I am learning how oil and meat create distinct flavours. And my verdict is that mustard oil does wonders with fish and pork. My views could be liberal because I owe no favouritism to any oil. But if you want to cook like the bongs, you need to use their oil, so I got no clue if sunflower oil or coconut oil would make this dish taste the same. Something else that's fascinating with cooking the bong style is the fusion of veggies into non veg cuisine. This has been a trend in my family too which is quite Un-Keralite style. But the Bongs surprise me with their fusion of  potatoes and cauliflower in fish curries. For this fish curry I too have used potatoes and though I was skeptical about this, my mom loved it.This is my first attempt and I have modified a bit based on the ingredients I had. I hope this comes closer to the real dish.

Ingredients for Macher jhol

Fish ( I used a fish called para)- 1 kg sliced
Onions- 2 sliced
Bay leaf- 2

Ginger garlic paste- 3 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Coriander leaves- 1 sprig

Turmeric powder- 2 tsp
Chilli powder- 2 tbsp
Mustard oil- 6 tbsp( to fry fish 3 tbsp, to make gravy 3 tbsp)
Tomatoes- 5 large ones puréed
Potatoes cubed- 3 large


Directions


Marinate the fish using turmeric and salt and set aside for half an hour.Heat the mustard oil let the fumes off for 2 minutes before frying the fish.

 You can fry them shallow if you like it that way but I fried them deep. Now fry the diced potatoes and drain them aside.

In the same pan heat rest of the oil and add bay leaf followed by chopped onions. When the onions are half done,add the ginger garlic paste. Saute well and when the onions turn golden brown add turmeric and chilli powder. Traditionally a paste of mustard seed is added but I did not have this with me so I omitted this step.

Now add the puréed tomatoes to the onion gravy and add salt. Let the gravy simmer for a while. I used my own purée from fresh tomatoes, many also use tomato paste readily available in the market. Once  the gravy has thickened add the fried fish and potatoes and cook it for ten minutes on slow fire. If you want more gravy add a cup of water before adding the fish and potatoes.

Garnish with chopped corainder( Cliantro) leaves and serve with hot piping rice.I loved the whole idea because the fish was deep fried and this was so different from any other fish curry I had ever tasted.I love potatoes so it did not matter to met that my potatoes where soaked in fish gravy. I hope to experiment with more veggies next time. Hope my Malayalee friends will break their traditional stereotypes on fish curries and experiment this.And to the rest of you daring ones it should not be a big deal.Till next time ciao, ciao.