Maacher Tel Jhol - Fish in Spiced Oil

 

Maacher Tel Jhol

It was getting late one evening and creeping into the last hour before dinner, when I realized the protein part of dinner was missing. We usually have 3 dishes at dinner comprising lentils, vegetables and a protein. Fortunately, Hubby had shopped at Sam's Club earlier in the day and brought home his favorite Tilapia fillets. The only prep required to make this fish was to cut the fillets into bite-sized pieces and slice an onion. It was done in a jiffy, and, without missing a beat, dinner was on the table at our usual time.

Pan-Fried Fish with Bok Choy

Pan-Fried Fish
with Bok Choy

This is a simple and delicious combination, quick and easy to prepare, that tastes great with steamed long-grain rice.

Simple Bhapa Shorshe Maach or Steamed Fish in Mustard Sauce

 

Bhapa Shorshe Maach

The easiest way to prepare this dish is to use Colman's mustard powder instead of grinding mustard seeds that need to be soaked for a couple of hours. Any kind of fish can be used, but hilsa (ilish) and salmon steaks taste the best. The process is very simple. Fish pieces are combined with the mustard sauce and placed in a stainless steel tiffin box and steamed for 15 minutes. This dish is ideal for getting a meal on the table in under half an hour.

Fish Pulao

 

Fish Pulao

This is a simple and satisfying one pot meal of buttery rice and fresh fish. I used a combination of basa steaks and filleted tilapia to cater to my preference for bone-in fish and Hubby's preference for hassle-free filleted fish. Large discs of russet potatoes provide texture and wholesomeness to the dish.

This main dish uses a few, simple ingredients and comes together with little effort to produce a flavourful dish that goes well with fresh salad or raita.

Served with fresh
Tomatoes and Onions

Bhapa Maach - Steamed Fish in Mustard Gravy

 

Bhapa Maach

Translated from Bengali to English:

Bhapa - Steamed

Maach - Fish

Most of my cooking is influenced by three sources. First of all, Mum and my siblings, the internet and cookbooks. Check the end of this blog for a link to the original source on the internet or from a cookbook. Modifications and adjustments are necessary, depending upon the quantities of ingredients available and how much spice is tolerated by those being catered to.

The inspiration video used 2 different kinds of fish and shrimp in this dish. I used 2 fillets of tilapia and steamed the fish in a rice cooker. The addition of raw mustard oil gives this fish the pungent flavour of mustard without all the hard work of soaking and blending mustard seeds.

This dish is best served with freshly steamed Basmati rice.

Phool Kopi Alu Diye Tilapia Maacher Jhol

Tilapia with Cauliflower and Potatoes

Cauliflower adds a special touch to fish curry, and is one of my favourite vegetables. The fish pieces, cauliflower and potatoes are all tossed with turmeric and salt and are fried, separately, to a golden brown before being added to a gravy. The gravy is composed of onions, tomatoes and ginger paste to which the powdered spices, dissolved together in a few tablespoons of water, are added. The dish is garnished with cilantro and jalapeno peppers.

Served over a bed of steamed rice, this main dish takes center stage at any Bengali meal.

Sorshe Bata Maach - Fish in Mustard Gravy

Shorshe Bata Maach

This is a favourite main dish prepared in my household. Black mustard seeds sauce has a sharp and pungent taste that is similar to Wasabi or spicy Chinese mustard sauce. Some people combine mustard sauce with poppy seed paste to tone down the pungency, but that is frowned upon in my family. 

To prepare the sauce, black mustard seeds must be soaked in tepid water for at least two hours or preferably overnight. The seeds, along with water in which it was soaking, is placed in a blender jar with salt and a green chili, blended at maximum setting until smooth, and then added to the fish.

Any white fish, cleaned and left whole, cut in steaks or filleted can be used according to taste and is best served with hot, long-grained rice.

Tilapia Maach'er Tel Jhol - Tilapia Fillets in Mustard Oil Gravy

Tilapia Fillets in Mustard Oil Gravy

This is a delectable way of preparing fish when you're craving a tasty fish dish to have with hot and fragrant Basmati rice. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare on the stove top and is finger-licking good! To save time on the days I cook, when fish arrives home on marketing day, they are cut into serving size pieces, rubbed with salt and turmeric powder and stored in Ziploc bags, ready to slide into a skillet on demand.

The gravy is so simple to assemble that the resulting goodness at the end is a pleasurable surprise.  It's perfect for those busy days when the choice between going out to eat or enjoying a hot bowl of rice with fish at home is a no-brainer! And it uses only a few ingredients that are staples in any Indian home.

Dilled Tilapia

Dilled Tilapia

I first had this at a Vietnamese restaurant, of all places. It was made and served on a cast iron sizzling plate which created a lovely crust on the base, and was accompanied by hot, steamed rice, I wanted for nothing more!

At home, I pan-fry it which is also delicious.

Choto Mach'er Chorchori - Stir-Fried Smelt

Smelt Chorchori

When I first left India, it took me a long time to get over the disappointment of seeing only filleted fish in the supermarkets. Then I came across packages of lake smelt, already cleaned and left whole. Beli Mashi, my aunt, was visiting us in Los Angeles at the time, and she showed me how to choose the larger sizes of smelt to prepare with shorshe bata or mustard paste.

Stir-frying the smaller variety of smelt in mustard oil with potatoes, tomatoes and green onions makes a lovely bati chorchori. Similar to canned sardines, they can be enjoyed without the fuss of removing the bones.

Best served with hot, steamed rice, this main dish can be accompanied by lentils and a vegetable side dish for a complete Bengali meal.

Asian Caramelized Fish Curry

An Asian variation of fish in coconut milk. Caramelizing the sugar and adding fish sauce to the gravy gives it a unique flavor. Serve as a main dish with steamed rice.

Fish in Mustard & Poppy Seed Sauce

Shorshe Posto Bata Maach

I find that making this dish on the spur of the moment is not possible because mustard seeds need to be soaked overnight in salt and water to get rid of its bitterness.  Pre-grinding mustard and poppy seeds to a powder saves a lot of time.  The other time-saver is to add the fish directly to the gravy instead of frying it beforehand.  This steams the fish, keeping it moist and tender.  

Thai Green Fish Curry

Thai Green Fish Curry

One of my favourite items at a Thai restaurant, green chicken curry is always loaded with vegetables. This is a green fish curry to which rainbow peppers, peas and onion slices have been added. In place of salt, fish sauce has been used. 

Green, red and yellow curry pastes are available in tiny bottles wherever Thai ingredients are sold in Asian markets or at regular supermarkets, but you can very easily make your own at home. Take a look at these recipes for Thai Curry Pastes to get an idea on how to recreate them at home.

Chaler Muro Ghonto - Fish Head Curry with Rice

Chaler Muro Ghonto

I was browsing through a Korean market recently and came across their open freezers and found bags of 'Rohu Fish Head and Tail'. One of my favorite Bengali dishes is Muro Ghonto and it tastes best with rohu or rui or carp fish heads. When I make it, I have only me to please, so it turned out to be spicy hot and rich!

On a phone call with my sister, she gave me the instructions for this simple and straightforward way of preparing this delectable dish. She kept stressing the importance of frying the pieces of fish until they were fully cooked so it took some time to brown the fish, but that was the most complicated step. 

It's a one-dish meal and I was quite happy to have it without anything else. 

Tok Maach - Green Mango Fish

Tok Maach

Tok (sour) Maach (fish) takes me back to my childhood in Burma, where this dish was prepared by my mother using Topshe Maach/Mango Fish and green mangoes. Mum would slice the flesh of the green mango and immerse the slices in the gravy to create a tart and lip-smacking Tok Maach.

This Tok Maach I made was inspired by a recipe I found in a food group on Facebook called Flavours from Undivided Bengal. What caught my attention in this recipe was that the mango slices were blended to a paste rather than leaving them whole. The resulting gravy was thick and full of flavour. For those of you who don't have access to Facebook, I have reproduced the recipe with my adaptations and adjustments.

Any white fish is suitable, although rui maach/grass carp or a whole fish like topshe/mango fish taste the best. Serve with hot, steamed rice for a comforting meal.

Jeera Guro Diye Maacher Jhol - Fish in Cumin Gravy

Jeera Guro Diye Maacher Jhol

Another quick and easy gravy for fish. Any white fish such as snapper, carp or whitefish works in this recipe. Since we all love eggplant, it's one way to sneak vegetables into a meal. Cumin seeds are roasted in a dry pan without oil and ground to a fine powder for the gravy.

This main dish is best served with basmati or jasmine rice.

Tilapia Maacher Tel Jhol - Tilapia in Mustard Oil Gravy

This is a delectable way of preparing fish when you're craving a tasty fish dish to have with hot, fragrant Basmati rice. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare on the stove top and is finger-licking good! To save time on the days I cook, when fish arrives home on marketing day, they are cut into serving size pieces, rubbed with salt and turmeric powder and stored in Ziploc bags, ready to slide into a skillet on demand.

The gravy is so simple to assemble that the resulting goodness at the end is a pleasurable surprise.  It's perfect for those busy days when the choice between going out to eat or enjoying a hot rice bowl with fish at home is a no-brainer! And it uses only 5 ingredients if spices are omitted.

Fish with Garlic, Tomatoes and Green Onions

Rosun r Pyaj Koli Diye Maacher Jhol

My previous post detailed my memories attached to this dish. After consulting with my big sister, I was able to reproduce my Mamima, or aunt's recipe more accurately. The coarsely ground mustard seeds in my prior post were replaced with garlic which gives this gravy a lighter, fresher appearance and taste .

Any white fish, such as snapper, tilapia or carp, will work for this recipe and it goes without saying that fish cut in steaks with the bones intact, always taste much better than filleted fish. I used both sliced onions and onion paste and also added potatoes to this fish curry.

Fish in Tomato & Green Onion Gravy

Pyaj Koli r Tomato Diye Maacher Jhol

My life and that of my entire family took a marked turn in 1964 when we left our home in Burma and moved to India. One of my clearest memories of that time is the happy times we spent with my Mum's family. Her brother's wife and our Mamima made fish this way with tomatoes and green onions.

So when I came across this recipe on the internet, it made me so inspired that I had to try it out immediately. The tempering at the start of the recipe, I was sure, was quite different from my Mamima's way of cooking the gravy. So I consulted my sister over the phone and she confirmed my suspicions. She used garlic instead of ground mustard for a more palatable flavour. The green onions she used were also different from the leafy onion chives we get outside India. The stems of the onion plant with flower buds at the top, available in India, have a much stronger flavour of onion which made the dish outstanding in every way.

But I decided to try this recipe the way it was written, adding my own adaptations along the way. Any white fish, such as snapper, tilapia or carp, will work for this recipe and it goes without saying that fish cut in steaks with the bones intact, always taste much better than filleted fish. I'll try my Mamima's recipe another time and hope to have luck in my hunt for onion stalks in the Asian markets.

Tilapia Macher Jhal - Tilapia in Mustard Sauce

Tilapia in Mustard Sauce

The simplest of fish curries, this is a favourite among Bengali families. I love tilapia because it's very mild with little or no fishy smell and it's easily available in supermarkets any time of year. Japanese eggplants go very well with fish and cook in no time at all.

While I was cruising around an Asian supermarket, I came across a bottle of "hot dressing oil". Turns out, it's a concentrated combination of mustard oil and wasabi oil. It has a fantastic aroma and made me tear up because it's so pungent. Just 10-12 drops of this oil applied to the fish while it was left to marinate gave it the perfect touch of mustard oil flavour. 

Here's one of the easiest ways to prepare fish curry.