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Saturday, July 4, 2015

401st post :: Machcha Besara ~ An Oriya Fish Delicacy

     This is the 401 st post on this blog and it has to be a special dish. This fish recipe I'm sharing today, I  tried it for the first time. This recipe doesn't belong to my native Bengali Cuisine, but it belongs to Oriya Cuisine which is quite similar to Bengali Cuisine. So, one day while I was searching for some different fish recipe on the web, found this recipe, which I was aware of but never tried. After reading that recipe, I found that it's quite similar the way we, bengalis cook our fish, only differs by one ingredient, garlic. We never use garlic while cooking fish in a mustard paste gravy. While I had a little dilemma if I should try out that recipe, I found the same fish recipe in a cookbook by my dear blogger friend Sandeepa's cookbook, Bong Mom's Cookbook and I always trust her recipe without thinking twice. Then I went ahead with her recipe which was little different from what I found earlier. I have no idea about the authenticity of this recipe, but the result was so amazing, that I promised myself to cook my fish this way whenever I'm cooking with mustard paste from now on. I was amazed how garlic got blended with mustard paste. If you find "Bong Mom's Cookbook" in your nearby bookstore, don't miss it, you'll find amazing recipes and will get her humorous anecdotes as a bonus with it. I strongly recommend this book all Bengali food lover to try.  


Here goes the recipe
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You Need :
Fish ( Rohu or any freshwater fish) : 4 pieces
Potato : 1, sliced lengthwise
Yoghurt/Curd : 1/4 cup
Green chillies : 3, slitted
Garlic : 3-4 regular cloves
Black Mustard Seed : 2 tblsp.
Poppy seed : 1/2 tblsp.
Panch Phoron : 1 tsp. [ a mixture of five spices, mix mustard seed, cumin seed, fenugreek seed, black cumin(nigella) seed and fennel seed in equal quantity and use as panch phoron]
Turmeric powder : 2 tsp.

Salt to taste
Mustard oil : 2 tblsp.(for cooking) + enough oil for frying the fish pieces
Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing

How To :
  • Wash the fish well, drain excess water and smear the fish pieces with little salt and a pinch of turmeric powder. Keep aside for 20-30 minutes.
  • Soak the mustard and poppy seeds in water for 1/2 an hour, then grind to a smooth paste with a pinch of salt, adding very less water.[You can avoid adding poppy seeds if not available, I added as it helps to balance the somewhat bitter taste of mustard seed] 
  • Make a thick paste of 2 green chillies and all garlic cloves. Add yoghurt and turmeric powder in the paste and mix well to make a smooth paste. Keep aside.
  • Heat enough oil in a heavy bottomed pan/kadai to fry the fish pieces in it. Fry the fish pieces to golden brown from both sides, remove from oil and keep aside. Fry the potato slices in the same oil to golden brown and keep aside.
  • In another pan, heat 1-2 tblsp. oil, add panch phoron, wait they have changed the color to a golden brown shade and aroma comes out, then add one slitted green chill in there. Lower the heat at this point, add yoghurt-green chilli-garlic paste(while adding yoghurt in a curry, remember to lower the heat or remove the pan from heat totally to avoid yoghurt curdling) and mustard paste. In medium heat let this cook for 2-3 minutes.
  • Now add about 1 cup of warm water, add the fried potato slices and fried fish pieces in the curry. Cover with a lid and let it cook. Add little salt in the curry. When gravy thickens and potato slices are cooked through, check the seasoning and remove from heat.
  • Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.   





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