Sunday, March 23, 2008

Bengali Fish Curry

Bengali Fish Rahu curryI can't remember who gave me this recipe but amongst the many bengali fish curries I've eaten I must have really liked this one to have made a note of it ! Many more bengali recipes will follow !

Ingredients

1 kg. fish- Rahu is best
Grind together:
2” piece ginger
4-5 garlic pods
2 medium onions
Grind together:
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1 piece cinnamon


2 large potatoes cut in circular halves (optional)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons mustard oil
2 teaspoon Ghee (clarified butter)
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Method

Clean the fish and rub with a little salt, turmeric and red chilli powder. Smoke some mustard oil and fry the fish pieces lightly and keep aside.

For the Curry: Heat the mustard oil till it smokes and then lower heat.
Add turmeric and chili powder moistened with water. When it starts leaving the oil, put in the ginger, garlic and onion paste.
Keep stirring this on a low fire till the paste cooks. This should take 10 minutes. You can sprinkle water if it catches on the bottom of the pan.
Then add the cumin, coriander powders.
When the oil separates form this masala, add the bay leaves. Then add 1-½ cups of warm water and stir till the gravy becomes smooth.
If you choose to add the potatoes then add them now and cover dish. After 10 minutes, gently place pieces of fish in the gravy. Add salt and sugar.

Lastly, add the ground whole spices and 2 teaspoons of ghee.

6 comments:

Asmi Maharishi said...

Great recipe Ria!
Made this last night with the following tweaks - tasted even better the next day!
1. Didn't have mustard oil, so used regular vegetable oil (I know this makes a huge difference to the flavor).
2. Can't find Rahu in Philly, used mahi mahi instead.
3. Instead of coriander and cumin powder, used whole coriander and cumin, and ground them with the other spices. Also roasted the spices before grinding.

Unknown said...

Interesting. I wonder if these small things make a difference. If I were to make it I would:

Put the Bay leaf in the oil before I put anything.
Put cumin, coriander, turmeric chilli all together
Put salt with the masala.

Have you tried it with different combinations and seen how it changes things? I wonder...

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Ria Patel said...

Dear tn,
I too have put the bay leaf first and all the masalas together ( sometimes in a little water)
There are so many recipes and ways of making fish. Since posting this recipe, I have tried a 100 more ways :-)

Thanks for visiting my blog !
Ria