My mother and Jackfruit fish with potol bata

Last few days, I was too busy to write anything. Last Tuesday, when my Brother-in-law left for their home in Assam the house became very quiet for a few hours (till the baby did not start screaming). Oh yeah, my boy has completed 4months and communication skill has reached a level where I get fade up with his continuous screaming and cooing. He will scream when he is happy or hungry or sleepy or irritated. 

See, all my topics, now a days, ends in my baby's story. May be all sleep-deprived nuclear-family new mothers are like that.

Last week we went to Pondicherry, with our 4month baby. The experience of this journey, I shall write in my next post. The interesting thing is, when everyone was worried about the baby, my mother was worried not only for my baby, but also for her one and only baby- ME!!! I scolded her for worrying so much, but I was happy to see there is always someone, for whom my health is no less important than my baby; otherwise, now a days, no-one thinks about me (yeah I am jealous- are you kidding!!!).

Me and my mother, we are not like other lovey-dovey daughter-mother. Most of the time, our discussion ends in "me getting irritated and Ma getting annoyed". She will say most of the time, my daughter is not a girl like. I will keep on thinking, my ma is too much dominating. But the fact is we both are like tom-jerry (can't decide who is Tom & who is Jerry). We cannot live a day without talking to each other. There was time, when I used to call my Baba and say, aajke jhogra hoi ni Ma-er sathe, bhalo lagche na, ache kothay heroine ( today didn't fight with mom, so not feeling good, where is the heroine). Yeah I call her other than MA, when I am in too good mood to argue with her.

Ma

My mother was a Primary school teacher. She was very good in teaching small kids, I had my personal experience also. She used to do all household works, cooking different food items for me and baba for breakfast and lunch, then within 10AM she used to reach school after a walk of 30mins. After the school time, she used to come home, taking care of my studies and our dinner. Her cooking is very good. No, it's not a daughter's words, these are the words of my cousins and my husband as well. She never taught me cooking, but a few things, I remember, she used to ask me to do, which I used to hate. One of them was, grinding spices in Shil-pata.

Pointed gourd grinding going on

She used to say, grinding spices using this stone, adds better taste and texture to any recipe. I realized recently, how true her words were. Day before yesterday i prepared Paka potol bata, using this recipe. This time I used the shil-pata, the taste as well as texture of the food was much better than last time. You can have, Paka potol bata or ripe pointed gourd coarsely grind, as a side dish. Recipe you can find here.

But in main course we had fish gravy. It was rohu fish, cooked in the gravy of jackfruit seed paste. You read it right. My husband was surprised whe he heard the ingredients of the gravy. It was unique and tasty. Back in our home, dried jackfruit seeds are available during summer. After eating the ripe jackfruit, we will clean the seeds with water and then seeds will be sun-dried. These seeds are used in many foods. Seeds are rich in iron, which is really good for health.

So here are the Ingredients required for the fish gravy.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Rohu fish - 4 pieces, big
2. Onion - 1 medium, peeled and chopped
3. Green chilly - 1 chopped
4. Jackfruit seeds - take out the dry outer layer, cut in 4pieces, 1cup full
5. Dry Coconut flakes - 2 tbsp
6. Poppy seeds - made paste using the shil-pata, 2tbsp
7. Mustard oil
8. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder
10. Salt
11. Water

Now the process of cooking.

• Wash the fish pieces. Marinate the fish with salt and turmeric powder. Shallow fry in hot mustard oil, in a kadai. Some people like, deep fry fishes even in curry or gravy. Keep aside the fried fish. Always fry fish in smoking hot oil. Using mustard oil, enhances the taste of fried fish.

• In the oil, if quantity of oil is more after frying fish then keep only 4tbsp oil in kadai and rest you can use later. Add chopped onions. Fry in medium heat, when onion becomes brown, add the chopped jackfruit seeds and chilly. Cover and keep frying in low heat. Stir occasionally. After 5mins, add the dry coconut flakes. Stir fry for another 3mins. Switch of the flame and make the mixture cool. Take this fried mixture and poppy seed paste in a small grinding container and make smooth paste. Add a little water if required.

• In the kadai, add 1tbsp oil, you can use the oil which was kept aside after frying fish. Add cumin seeds. When it starts to crackle, add the jackfruit seed paste. Keep frying in low heat. Once oil starts coming out, add turmeric powder and salt. After mixing everything, add water as per your gravy requirements. Add 2cups more water, than you require for gravy. Keep boiling the gravy, till it reaches the desired consistency.

• Add fried fish pieces. Stir once carefully. Keep the heat medium. After 2-3mins, switch off the flame. Gravy is ready.

• Serve with hot steamed rice.

So here is today's recipe with love of a mother. Keep loving your mother and enjoy your motherhood too. Bye.

Rui mach-er Kalia - Spicy Rohu Curry

A Bengali meal is incomplete without fish and the most popular among them is Rui or Rohu.  Rohu is easily available in any Indian fish market and also it is one of the most affordable fish you can find. There are a number of preparations for rohu such as Jhal (extra spicy curry), Jhol (a simple gravy with vegetables like Potato, Cauliflower & granished with Coriander leaves), Kalia (a spicy recipe in tomato & onion gravy), Bhaja (plain fry) & Dom (Steamed recipe in a mustard-poppy-curd paste).

I prepared the Rui maach-er Kalia after knowing it's popularity in my non-Bengali friend's home. There, they ask me the simple question, "what is the meaning of Kalia?" & I could not answer it. I know the dish but did not know how to make them understand. So I googled & found the name meaning and the proper recipe as well. In every recipe I found "garlic paste" but at our home, Ma always said "fresh fish does not need garlic & onions". So I modified the recipes & created my own recipe without Garlic & I did not make paste of onions. 

One interesting thing, I helped R to find his another favorite dish "Rui maach-er kali". Now R loves the dish so much that if I want to prepare kalia with some other fishes, R has no problem in doing some household works; what a help!

• Rohu Fish – 500 grms cut into medium sized pieces 

• Potatoes – 3 large, cut into long thick slices (many prefer to dice it in round shapes even)

• Tomato – 2 medium sized finely chopped

• Onion – 1, thin sliced 

• Ginger paste – 1 tbsp

• Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

• Cumin powder – 1 tsp

• Turmeric powder – 3 tsp 

• Red Chili Powder – 1/2 tsp (optional)

• Mustard Oil – For frying the fish & cooking

• Green chilies – 3 to 4

• Coriander leaves – finely chopped

• Salt & sugar to taste

Method:

1. Wash the fish pieces thoroughly in water and pat dry. In a bowl put the fish, add salt and turmeric and rub the spices in the fish pieces. Keep aside for 30 mins.
2. Once the fish pieces have absorbed the turmeric and salt, heat mustard oil in a kadai. The oil should be adequate enough for frying. 
3. Once the smoke starts coming slowly slide the fish pieces one by one. Make sure you don’t crowd them in the kadai. Also make sure the oil is well heated otherwise the fish will stick to the bottom of the kadai. 
4. Fry both the sides of the fish in medium heat. Once done, take the fish pieces out, drain the excess oil and keep aside. Now in the same oil add the potato pieces and fry them till they are light golden brown in color. Fried potatoes add a special flavor. 
5. Pour out the excess oil from the kadai in a separate dish and keep 4 tbsps of oil in the kadai. Rohu Kalia is a spicy and oily dish. So if you have excess oil, it does not matter. I don’t use fresh oil because, the smell & taste of the fish remains in the oil and makes the dish tastier. 
6. Now re-heat oil in the same kadai. Add whole jeera and let it splutter. Now add ginger paste, fry for some time. Add onion and fry till the onions become soft & little brown. Add finely chopped tomatoes and fry again. Once the tomato starts to cook, add cumin powder, turmeric, salt, sugar, red chili powder and slit green chilies. 
7. Fry the entire mixture for few minutes and keep adding water from time to time. Once the entire mixture has cooked add the potatoes and fish pieces. Add adequate water. Usually Rohu curry will have a spicy thick gravy. The amount of gravy depends upon your requirement 
8. In a medium heat let the fish and potato cook. Cover the kadai with a lid. Check from time to time and stir occasionally. Once the potato is soft and fish is done sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and stir once. Turn off the heat. 
9. Pour the entire content in a big dish. Garnish with coriander leaves and slit green chilies. 
10. Serve hot with white rice. Your Spicy Rohu Curry or Rui Macher Kalia is ready to eat.

Cabbage with Hilsa

Chhyanchra is a very popular delicacy from the Bengali cuisine made with mixed vegetable and fish head.  Chhyanchra is also popularly known as Chancharika is various other places. It is a authentic Bengali recipe that can be very lucidly described as a curry made of one or different types of herbs put together along with vegetables (mainly potatoes and pumpkin) and fish head. For more info click here.

Ingredients

half of bandhakopi \ cabbage

2 potatoes

1 tsp of turmeric powder

2 tsp of red pepper powder

2 tsp of coriander powder

1 bay leaf

½ tsp of panch phoron

1/2 tsp sugar

Salt as per taste

1 Head of Ilish (you can use other Big fishes)

For Ilish fish head:

1 tsp of Turmeric powder +some salt

Method:

1. Finely chop cabbage, cut potatoes in medium cube shapes and clean in water.

2. In a separate saucepan ,heat some oil, and fry marinated the fish head uniformly. Take out the fried ilish fish head, and take some of the cooking oil to add later in preparing chhyanchra.

3. Now in the cooking oil which comes out after frying ilish head , add some more oil 2-3 tbs , add panch phoron and bay leaf , let it splutter.

5. Now add potato pieces, fry them well , add all the masala ingredients, sugar and salt.

6. Add cabbage. Fry for 4-5mins.

7. At this moment add the ilish fish head and water/fish stalk if any (if you don’t feel like adding the  gravy, don’t add it , the chhyachra will be a bit dry).

8. Cover the pan & let it cook for 8-9mins. Do not forget to toss after every 2-3mins.

9. Turn off the flame and let it cool and serve with steamed rice or roti.

Veg-Fish

You may think how come a fish recipe is veg!!!!

This dish is a mixture of different seasonal vegetables & adding fish into them. So, what name can be best except this? I was bored with different spicy & rich dishes of fish. So wanted to have some veggies in my food, but my room-mate was into the mood of fish. So instead of preparing two different dishes, I cooked one & combined both of the two tastes. The dinner was without any argument as we both were happy with our taste-buds :)

Here is the recipe (a very simple one) which I followed. Hope to get your feedback :)

Ingredients:

Fish - 500gm, cleaned & washed

Potato - 2, medium

Carrot - 2, medium

Capsicum - 1, large

(you can use cauliflower, brinjal, Gourds, pumpkin etc.)

Onion - 1, medium, chopped

Chilly - 1, coarsely chopped

cumin seeds - 1/3tsp

musterd seeds - 1/2tsp

fenugreek seeds - 1/2tsp

turmeric powder - 1tsp

cumin powder - 1tsp

salt to taste

sugar to taste

oil

water

Method:

1. Marinate fish with salt & turmeric powder.

2. Cut your favorite vegetables (I have taken carrot, capsicum, potato, since these were only available in my kitchen store) into medium cubes or pieces.

3. Heat oil in a kadai n fry the fishes. Keep aside.

4. Now keep 2tsp oil in kadai\wok, keep aside remaining oil for future use. In the remaining oil, add cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds & musterd seeds.

5. When the seeds start to splatter, add onions & fry for 2mins on medium heat. Add the vegetables & saute for 3-4mins. Add the masala powders, salt, sugar, chilly. Fry for 2 more mins.

6. Add water (depending on amount of curry you want), cover the kadai & cook on low heat until bubbles appear. Now uncover & add the fishes. Cook for 3mins & turn off the heat.

7. Serve with steamed rice.

Fish Stuffed Snake-Gourd\Chichinge

We all love to have pakoda or fry in not-so-hot evenings. In Bangalore, most of the weekend evenings, when I have lovely company & weather is little cool or rainy, my brain gets stuffed with fried ideas. Anything, stuffed or fried, always goes very well with a cup of hot coffee. What you say!

Here is one of my stuffed pakoda, which you can enjoy with pudina chutney, tomato sauce or hot coco.

Ingredients:

Snake gourd 1 medium 

Fish (big) 100gm, cleaned-fried-bone out-mashed

Onion 2 cups, very finely chopped

Chilli 2, chopped

Oil

Salt to taste

Besan 1cup

Turmeric powder 1tsp

Coriander powder 1tsp

Cumin powder 1tsp

Chilly powder 1/2tsp

Method:

1. Remove skin of snake gourd, cut lengthwise into 2 pieces, then make pieces of 2inches (breathwise) from each half. Scoop out the seeds so that a boat like shape is formed for the filling.

2. Heat 1tbs oil and saute onion for 1/2 min. Add the chopped chilli and fry for a few seconds. Add the mashed fish and cook for 2 more minutes. Add salt and masala powders (coriander, cumin & chilly). Cook for 1-2mins. Stuffing is ready.

3. Fill each piece with the filling.

4. Mix besan, salt, turmeric powder with water to form a smooth batter. Dip each stuffed Bottle gourd pieces in the batter & fry in hot oil,in a pan.

Linking: Monsoon Of India and JCO.

Linking to JCO: I M Well Stuffed!

Fish Biriyani with Thekera

I have tried biriyani in different flavors, but this time I tried biriyani with fish & added a tangy flavor. So here is my recipe. Hope you enjoy it & send me some of your feedback :)

Ingredients:

1 large - Capsicum, cut into small diamond shapes

2 medium - Onion, chopped

3 cups thekera soaked water (soaked for whole night)

1 large - Carrot, grated

2 - Chilly

1 cup - Dhania patta, chopped

200gm - Fish

4 tbs - thekera paste

2 cups - Basmati Rice

Salt To Taste

Turmeric powder

1 tb spoon - garam masala

2 - bay leaves

1 tbs - Sesame seeds

4 - cardamom

2 - Cinnamon sticks

6 - raisins

Rice:Water - 1: 1 1/2

Method:

1. Wash & soak rice for half an hour. Soak kismis in water.

2. In the cooker heat refined oil; add bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, thekera water, drained rice and salt.

3. Cook on high flame & wait for the cooker to whistle once. Turn off the heat & let it set for 10-15 mins.

4. Spread rice on a plate to cool. 

5. Clean fish & marinate them with salt & turmeric powder for min 1/2 an hour.

6. In a kadai, heat oil & dip fry the fishes; keep in a separate plate. Keep the remaining oil in a bowl.

7. Take 3tbs of that oil (in which you fried the fishes) in the same kadai & add chopped onions. When onions become soft, add the vegetables. Add salt, dhania patta & chilly. Lower the flame. Saute for 6-7mins or until the vegetables become soft. Keep aside.

8. In that same kadai, heat 1tea spoon of that oil; add half of the cooked rice, add turmeric powder & saute for 3-4mins.

9. Now in the cooker, heat 1tbs of the fish-fried remaining oil. Add bay leaves, garam masala powder, sesame seeds & thekera paste.

10. Arrange a layer of the turmeric rice & then place the fishes and spread the remaining white rice over it.

11. Sprinkle lime juice, saffron with milk. Spread the fried vegetables.

12. Place the cooker (without the whistle) on heat & cook on medium flame for 5min.

13. Place the cooker in a kadai filled with water & cook on low heat for 10 min.

14. Garnish with dhania patta and fried onions. Serve hot. 

Fish Bhurji

This is a very popular food among my friends. We lave to have it with rice items.

Hope to find some feedback from you :)

Ingredients:

Fish - 200gm (marinate with turmeric powder & salt, fry in hot oil)

Onion - 1 large, finelly chopped

Garlic - 5cloves, chopped

Tomato - 1 large, finelly chopped

Capsicum - 1/2cup, chopped

Chilly - 2, chopped

Egg - 1, beat thoroughly in a cup

Salt

Turmeric Powder - 1tbs

Cumin Powder - 1teaspoon

Coriander Powder - 1teaspoon

Chilly powder (optional, if you want it to be more spicy add 1teaspoon)

Dhania patta - chopped, 1 cup, to garnish

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok. Add garlic & onion. Saute for 2-3mins.

2. Add capsicum & tomato. Add all the masala powders. Cover & fry in low flame until the capsicum & tomato become soft.

3. In the mean time, coarsely chopp (or roughly torn) the fishes. If you want to avoid the fish bones, remove them.

4. Be sure the vegetable mixture has become soft, but not deeply fried. Now add the fishes. Add salt. Saute for 4-5mins. Add the egg & saute for 3more mins. Turn off the heat.

5. Garnish with dhania patta & serve.

Spinach Fish

Now a days, I am having so much spinach in my food, the only reason is spinach is very much available in the market now. Anyway, this time one more fish recipe with spinach & the good news is, this recipe was liked by friends of my R. He has loved this fish recipe & now he wants to have the same recipe again. So I can say, the recipe is a hit :)

Here's my recipe.

Ingredients

100 grams of spinach, soaked in warm water, coarsely chopped

Brinjal - 1cup, sliced

Fish - 500gm (Rohu, Hilsa or any big fish)

Cumin seeds - 1tbs

Coriander powder - 1tbs

Turmeric powder - 1tbs

Green Chilly - 2

Salt

Oil

Water

Method

1. Take one whole fish and wash. After removing the head cut into steaks about 3/4 inch thick. Remove the scales. Rub 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 tea spoon of salt all over the pieces. Fry a little in hot oil in a pan.

3. Mix coriander powder and turmeric powder with 3 tbs of water.

4. Heat oil in a non-stick thick bottom pan. Add brinjal pieces. Fry it for 3min & keep aside. 

5. In that oil, add cumin seeds and green chilies and after about 1/2minute add spinach leaves; when this becomes soft add the masala powder mixture and stir for about 4 to 5 minutes. Keep the flame low.

6. When the paste becomes little bit dry and fried, add water. Now higher the flame. When the curry starts to boil add the brinjal pieces & fishes. After 5mins turn down the heat.

Corn Fish

Last weekend, I was at my friend's house. I took some corns with me (because I saw some fresh corns in the road while going to their place). So I thought to prepare the fish, which they bought one day before, with corn. I had no idea what spices I should use, but on my way of preparing the food, I decided about the ingredients which I needed. Yes, I do not follow any recipe most of the time!

Any way, this time, the fish with corn, came out very well & so here's the recipe.

But unfortunately, I could not take the photo. So I'll come up with a photo, when I'll prepare it next time.

Ingredients

Corn - 1/2 (big)

Fish - 500gm (Rohu, Hilsa or any big fish)

Cumin seeds - 1tbs

Coriander powder - 1tbs

Turmeric powder - 1tbs

Nigella seeds - 1tea spoon

Green Chilly - 2

Dhania Patta - 1/2 cup (chopped)

Onion - 1 big

Garam Masala - 1tbs

Salt

Oil

Water

Method

1. Take one whole fish and wash. After removing the head cut into steaks about 3/4 inch thick. Remove the scales. Rub 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 tea spoon of salt all over the pieces. Fry a little in hot oil in a pan.

2. Grind to a fine paste the corn seeds, 5 green chilies and 1/2 tea spoon of salt in an electric grinder. You will need to add water about 2tbs.

3. Mix coriander powder and turmeric powder with 3 table-spoon of water.

4. Heat oil in a non-stick thick bottom pan. Add cumin seeds, nigella seeds and green chilies and after about 1/2minute add onion slices; when the onions become soft add the masala powder mixture and fry with stirring for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the corn paste. Keep the flame low.

5. When the paste becomes little bit dry and fried, add water. Now higher the flame. When the curry starts to boil add the fishes. After 5mins add garam masala and.turn down the heat.

6. Garnish wth dhania patta and serve.

Tengra Fish with Thekera

In today's lunch, which was a weekend special, I wanted to have something sour but at the same time little bit less spicy. So I prepared one Assamese dish which fulfilled all my expectations.

Ingredients:

Tengra Fish - 4 cleaned tengra () Fish

Turmeric - 1 Tb spoon

Green chilies, Chopped - according to taste

Onion - 1 (small, chopped)

Jeera - 1/2 tea spoon (optional)

Jeera powder - a pinch

Dhania powder - 1/4th tea spoon

Mustard Oil

Salt to taste

The most important thing - Thekera

Method:

1. Put the "thekera" in a cup of water. A piece of thekera will give you one bowl of curry to serve one person.SO soak as much as you want. Keep for about 1/2 hour. For better tangy taste you can soak it whole nighte.

2. Mix the turmeric and salt with the fish. Fry the fish in oil lightly. Remove from pan.

In the same pan, Remove the extra oil, leaving about a table spoon behind and add onion; make the heat low.

3. When onion will be soft, add jeera. Put green chillies, jeera powder, dhania powder, turmeric powder & salt.

4. When fried, put the cup of water with "Thekera". Add extra cups of water (depending on the number of "Thekera" used). When it comes to boil, add fried fish and reduce flame

5. Let it simmer for some time (10-15 minutes), till the juice gets cooked and a tangy flavor comes out.

6. Garnish & serve with rice.