Ilish Macher Tak - Hilsa in Sour Gravy

Ilish Mach is my all time favourite. Fried ilish mach…aha what a taste and that special aroma. When the fish is fresh from the market, I mostly think about Ilish bhapa. Bhapa ilish is easy to prepare but some people don’t like it. I was very disappointed that day when someone said bhapa ilish is horrible to taste. From that day I make sure to cook this only for those who can relish it.

Today as I read the Mourola macher recipe by Ushnish, I was relishing the taste of it in my mind. I love mourola mach. Reading it I felt I shall post my ilish macher tak I had cooked some days back.

This is a simple recipe where the taste of ilish dominates. For the sour taste you need tamarind and to go with it is haldi powder.

Ingredients:

Ilish pieces: 6-8
Tamarind: the size of a ping pong ball (soak in water)
Haldi powder
Red chili powder: a pinch
Dry red chili: 2 or even 1 if you don’t like some heat
Salt
Sugar
Oil
Egg Plant: 1 big size (optional) I didn’t have egg plant so didn’t add it.

Preparation:

Wash the ilish pieces.
Rub them with haldi powder and salt.
Soak the tamarind in water. You can use tamarind paste.
Heat oil in a kadhai. Fry the fish pieces, very lightly. Take them out and keep it aside.
If you have egg plant you can slice them into longish pieces and keep the aside. I did not have egg plant so didn’t add it.
Break the red chili into half and put it in the oil. If you are adding egg plant pieces, its time to throw them in and give it a stir. Add salt, haldi powder and a pinch of red chili powder and stir. Don’t fry the egg plants too much. Before it takes the dark pinkish colour add the tamarind juice and let it boil.
Add sugar as per your taste. It takes very little time for the egg plant to cook.
When the egg plant becomes soft add the ilish pieces. Let the gravy boil for a minute or two.
Now its ready to be served.
Ilish macher tak has a thin gravy which goes very well with rice and dal.

Ilish mach gives out oil so use very little oil for frying. If the ilish has given out its oil you can pour it out, add it to a little portion of the rice while eating. Add salt and get a different taste. For those who have not eaten this oil with bhat (cooked rice) they may not like the taste. A Bangal (those from East Bengal) likes it.

Wish you all A Happy New Year

Aloo Methi

I spend some time at night watching TV. With the Big Boss show coming to an end, just a wait and watch situation for me to know the winner. After a day’s work watching TV is just like a simple past time and of course some recreation. Yesterday there was a bunch of methi saag at home. My Baba always said, “One thing at a time and that done well”. Yesterday I felt the pleasure of doing two things at a time (watching TV and cleaning the methi saag), easy work, not a brain work indeed. But it doesn’t mean I say what my Baba said was wrong. You know watching TV is relaxing, and the saag can be separated from the stem without even giving it a look. A work which has the use of the mind and the brain will never give space for another difficult work. I firmly believe in what my Baba said. I think I'm being silly.

Let me move out of this and write about my  Aloo Methi.

Ingredients:
Methi Saag: 2 cups
Aloo: 5 medium size
Dry red chili: 3
Garlic: 5 cloves
Haldi powder
Red chili powder
Salt
Cooking oil

Simple preparation method:

Wash the methi leaves and let the water drain out. Once the water is totally drained out, chop the methi leaves and keep it aside.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Keep them aside.
Wash the garlic cloves, crush them and put them aside.
Place a kadhai on the burning fire. Add 2 tbsp cooking oil. I’ve used mustard oil. When the oil is hot enough break the dry red chilies into half and throw them in. Add the crushed garlic soon after and stir it till the colour begins to change.
Now add the cubed potatoes and the haldi and chili powder. Fry it for 3 to 4 minutes cooking over slow flame. The potatoes will get half cooked by now.
Throw in the methi saag and give it a stir.
Now add salt to taste, stir and cover it.
Remove the cover and stir from time to time. Cook till the potatoes are soft and mixed well with the methi saag.

It’s ready to be served with hot roti, paratha and rice.

Cabbage cooked with simple spices (Bandhakopir Tarkari)

Nowadays cabbage is available in the vegetable market throughout the year. But I think the winter cabbage tastes better. I prefer to use my Bonthi (the traditional vegetable cutter where you have to sit on the floor and cut the vegetables with the sharp knife that stands up attached to a wooden board which is supported firmly with the legs as you sit on it) as it is easier to shred the cabbage easily. This act may be easy for me but sound uninteresting for those who have never used such a typical traditional vegetable cutter.

For today’s Bandhakopi tarkari I used Ilish macher matha. You can cook it without adding fish head, make it simply Vegetarian. The recipe you see in the picture is cooked with fried fish head (macher matha).

Ingredients: (without fish head)

Cabbage : 2 (medium size)
Potatoes: 2
Tomatoes: 2
Tej pata (bay leaves): 3 or 4
Garam masala (freshly ground home-made preferred): 2 tsp
Haldi (turmeric) powder
Jeera (cumin) powder (1/2 tsp)
Dhania (Coriander) powder (3/4 tsp)
Lai mirch (red chili) powder (the heat that you can bear)
Salt to taste
Sugar as per your taste
Cooking oil

Preparation:

Shred the cabbages. Wash and drain the water. Peel the potatoes and cut it into small cubes. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces.

Heat oil in a kadhai. I prefer mustard oil. Once the smoke comes up add the tej pata. Then add the cabbage and stir. Cover it up and let it cook for a couple of minutes. By now the cabbage will give out the water. It is time to add the haldi, jeera, dhania and red chili powder. Give it a stir and cover it cooking over low flame. Add the cubed potatoes and tomatoes. Stir it again and add salt and sugar as per your taste. Cover and let it cook in the water the cabbage gives out. It will take sometime for the cabbage, potatoes and the tomatoes to get cooked. Increase the flame and cook till the water dries up completely. You can find the oil leaving at the sides. This shows the curry is ready to be served. Add garam masala and put it in the serving bowl.

Simple Niramish Bandhakopir tarkari is ready to be served with rice or if you prefer with roti or paratha.

I have added fried ilish macher matha that had been lying in the fridge. If you want to add fried fish head, it is best to break them up into small pieces and add just before the water dries up completely.

Tomato Chaatni (Chutney) with a Tangy Touch

Tomato Chaatni (Chutney) is one of my favourite chaatni during winter. The word Chaatni is very much the Bengali word for Chutney. The juicy tomatoes simply lure me to make lots of Chutney and keep it in the fridge. When I was young there used to be a Tak (Sour) item cooked everyday during lunch. It could amaar tak, tentuler tak (tamarind chutney), anarosher chutney (pineapple chutney) with mustard paste and kamrangar tak (star fruit chutney). Chutney has always been one of my favourite dish and I love it with dal, bhat and aloo bhaja.

Most of the Bengalis like chutney. In Bengali context Chutney is a sweet and sour relish served towards the end of the meal.

Tomato chutney tastes good with khejur (dates) and even with aamshotto (aam papad). I did not have khejur or aamshotto, so I made it simple.

Tomato Chutney

For Tomato Chutney the main ingredients are:

Tomato, sugar, salt, dry red chili (whole), cooking oil, turmeric powder, tamarind whole or pulp and any home made masala for extra flavour . The other two ingredients are optional – khejur and aamshotto,.

Preparation:

Wash 5 large size tomatoes and cut them into small pieces. Heat oil in a kadhai and when the oil is hot break into half and add 2/3 dry red chilies. Once the chili turns darker in colour add the chopped tomatoes and sauté. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and stir. Cover and cook over slow flame, keep stirring from time to time. The tomato will release its juice. Add salt to taste and also add the sugar about 8 tbsp or adjust as per your taste. It is time to add the tamarind pulp or whole tamarind, with or without the seeds, to give it a little tangy taste. Now cook it over slow flame. Enough juice has been given out from the pulpy tomatoes and also by adding sugar. Cook till it reduces to a thick consistency. Sprinkle the powdered masala of roated jeera, red chili and methi. This powder gives an achari taste.

If you want to add khejur or aamshotto, add it along with the salt and sugar so that the khejur and the aamshotto becomes soft. Can add whole khejur or cut into half removing the seed. Also cut the aamshotto into tiny pieces before adding it to the cooking tomatoes.

And get the taste…

Kosha Mangsho

Cooking is an everyday activity for me except those days when I’m away from my kitchen…responsibility and tension free. But I love the freedom of my kitchen.

Talking about freedom it reminds me of one of my sister. Whenever I visit her I become extra cautious when I step into her kitchen. It would be wrong to say she is a bully but she is always around when anyone else is cooking. She keeps a watchful eye over all that is used in cooking. She peeps in to say, “Don’t use so much of oil. Cook the masala, it needs little more time. Add this much water - ah hah! - you’re adding too much water it’ll taste pancha (watery)” and so on.

Let me now draw your attention to my Kosha Mangsho recipe. Everyone in our house likes Kosha Mangsho and before I can add water for the gravy for mangsho curry, half of it goes into the stomach of those moving in and out of he kitchen, signaling very much they want their share then and there. I don’t like to be left out and taste a few pieces.

I want to take you back with me to those days when we stayed in the small quiet town of Baripada in Orissa. Baripada is famous for Muri (puffed rice). I’ve tasted Muri in different places but miss that specialty of Baripada. Muri is one of the staple foods of the people of this small town. You can find people having Muri with vegetable curry, dal, fish fry and above all they love to eat it with mutton or chicken curry.

My boys love to eat Kosha Mangsho with Muri and I too like it. Mostly we have mutton curries on Sunday when it is a holiday and we sit together for lunch, enjoy the food and lots to talk about.

The way I prepare this dish:

Ingredients:

Mutton 1 Kg.
Onion 4 big size
Garlic 6-8 flakes
Ginger 1½ inch piece
Curd ½ cup
Haldi powder
Red chili powder
Tej patta (bay leaves) 5-6
Cinamon 1 inch piece (broken to smaller pieces)
Cloves 5-6
Cardamom 3 (cracked)
Salt
Sugar
Mustard oil (you can use any cooking oil)

Preparation:

Make a paste of 3 onions, garlic and ginger and keep it aside.
Make thin slices of 1 onion.
Clean and wash the mutton pieces. Squeeze out the water totally. Take a bowl and put the mutton pieces in it.
Add the curd and mix it.
Now add the onion, ginger and garlic paste to it and mix it properly.
Add haldi and red chili powder (as per the heat your taste buds can take), salt to taste and a pinch of sugar.
Add 2 tbsp of mustard oil.
Now mix it properly and keep it aside for about an hour.
Once it is marinated it is ready to be cooked.

Cooking it:

Take a thick bottom dekchi or pan with a lid.
Add 4-5 tbsp of mustard oil.
Once the smoke rises add the bay leaves, the cinamon, cloves and cardamom and give it a stir.
Now add the sliced onions and cook till it becomes translucent.

Add the marinated mutton to it and stir.

Cover it with the lid and cook it over low heat stirring it from time to time.

The mutton and the masala will give out water in which the mutton will get cooked.

By the time the oil separates from the masala the mutton gets soft enough for serving.

Serve it hot with fried rice, hot rotis, parathas, can give a try with Muri also.