This was my first time experience in cooking an authentic Bengali cuisine. Having cooked some chicken and mutton recipes during the past two years, I have never felt the urge to try my hands on one of most Bengali’s favorite food item, Fish. Many of us have grown up in houses where there was an aura around meat which was mostly cooked on Sundays or for special occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries. To add to that there are many who has grown up eating the same fish preparation everyday.
I was never fond of fish compared to mutton and chicken. But ever since I had cooked chicken using mustard I had made up my mind of making fish the same way as it tasted very different and sparkled my taste-bud the moment i tasted the chicken while cooking but by using some of the regular kitchen ingredients but adding more flavor and taste to it.
So, this was like early Saturday morning, 6 am. I had reached the fish market and kept on waiting for it to get opened. I knew the man who sells the best Rui (Rohu) & Katla maach (fish), so just waited for him to arrive. I was very excited as it was my first time I was in the fish market and that too not accompanied by my father. So, after some time he arrived and I waited till he settled down. I bought a 2.5 kgs Rui and got it cut into big pieces so that I can enjoy the weekend with my family with the various fish items.
So, now let’s talk about the way I cooked the Shorshe posto Rui or Fish In Mustard & Poppy seeds.
This is for 300 g or 4 pieces of fish.
Preparation:
Marinate the fish pieces with bit of turmeric powder and salt for some time. I haven’t used red-chili powder.
- Put 2 teaspoons of black mustard seeds (shorshe) & poppy (posto seeds), 1 teaspoon each of turmeric powder and paanch phoron or Bengali five spice in a food processor and grind it well.
- Add 4-5 green chillies, 1 teaspoon of coriander leaves to this paste and grind.
- Add some water to the dry paste to make it a wet paste and keep it aside.
- Shallow fry the pieces and place the fish on a dish and keep aside.
- Now start cooking the Shorshe and Posto gravy. Add 1/4 cup of water and saute well till the water gets mixed properly.
- Add the grounded masala to it and keep stirring. Add 4 tablespoon of mustard oil to add richness of mustard to it.
- When the thick gravy is formed, add the fried fishes to it and saute.
- Add the green chillies half cut from the top to it so that you get the aroma of the chillies and cover the wok with the lid.
- Turn off the flame when the gravy gets a bit dry.
- Serve hot with Basmati rice to enjoy your authentic Bengali recipe!
Related Articles
You must be logged in to post a comment.