Koi Maach'r Paturi (Steamed Koi Fish)

Ingredients for Koi Maach'r Paturi:

Koi Fish - 4 Nos.
Mustard Oil 
Mustard Seed - 3 tbsp
Rice - 2 cups
Pumpkin Leaves - 3
Onion Slices - 1 cup
Green Chili - 4-5 Nos.
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Water

Process for cooking Koi Maach'r Paturi:

1. Soak Mustard Seeds in water for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile wash the fishes, Pumpkin leaves and Rice separately. Set them aside.
3. Take Mustard seed in a grinding bowl and add Turmeric Powder, Salt and Green Chili to it and grind them together. You need to make a fine paste. 
4. Mix Onion slices with the Paste. Coat the fishes with Mustard Paste. Pour few drops of Mustard Oil. Wrap each fish with pumpkin Leaves tightly. You can use a cotton thread to wrap the fish.
5. Now keep Rice in a deep bottom frying pan. Add 3.5 cups of Water to the rice. Once it starts boiling, the water level will be reduced. Now place the wrapped Fishes on the top of the rice. Cover the pan with a lid. Medium heat is required now. 
6. Turn off the heat. Koi Paturi is ready. 

Have you noticed, the rice has got yellow colour? You can serve Koi Paturi with that rice. Don't throw away the Pumpkin Leaves. You can grind it with 1 Green Chili and little Salt. 

Lau Chingri (Bottle Gourd Curry with Prawns)

Ingredients foe Lau Chingri:

Grated Lau (Bottle Gourd) - 2 cups
Prawns - 20 pieces
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - pinch for frying the Prawns and later to mix in the curry as per you taste 
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Ginger Paste - 2 tbsp
Green Chilis - 4-5 Nos
Mustard Oil for cooking

Process for cooking Lau Chingri:

1. Grate the Bottle Gourd very well with a slicer.

2. Wash the prawns and marinate it with turmeric powder salt.

3. Heat oil in a cooking pan. Fry the prawns till it turns golden brown and keep it aside.

4. Add cumin seed to the hot oil. Add turmeric powder, ginger paste, cut green chilies and salt; stir for 1-2 minutes. Add grated bottle gourd.

5. Cover the pan with a lid for 5-6 minutes and remove the cover. Stir it well and cover it and let it cook for 4-5 minutes more.

6. Remove the lid, add the fried prawns and mix it well. Allow it to cook till the excess water is gone. Add salt to taste. Mix it very well and turn off the heat. 

Koi Fish Do Peyanja

Ingredients to cook Koi Fish Do Peyanja:

Koi Fish - 4 nos

Finely chopped Onion - 1 cup

Onion Paste - 1 tbsp

Garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Ginger Paste - 1 tsp

Cumin Seed Paste - 2 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 pinch

Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp

Green Chili - 4-5 nos.

Finely chopped Tomato - 1 cup

Oil - 3 tbsp

Water as per your gravy need

Salt - as per your taste

Process to cook ingredients for Koi Fish Do Peyanja:

1. Heat oil in a cooking pan. Add chopped Onion and stir till it gets golden brown colour. Then add Ginger and Garlic paste. Cook for 1 minute. Then add Onion Paste and stir for 2-3 minutes. 
2. Add Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder, Turmeric Powder and Red Chili Powder. Add 2 tbsp of water. Cook for 2-3 minutes, 
3. Now add Green Chilis, chopped Tomatoes and Salt. Stir until it releases water. 
4. Add fishes. Stir until the spices coats the fishes. Now add water. Cook till water gets dried and you will notice oil on top. Add 2-3 green Chilis. Fold once. Turn off the heat. 

Serve Koi Fish Do-Peyanja with hot steamed Rice. 

Fish Kofta Curry - A Mughlai Touch

Along with the recipe of Fish kofta Curry, today I am sharing few facts of Mughlai cuisine.

1. Mughlai cuisine is the fusion of Persian and existing north Indian cuisine. 
2. Mughal were Moslems and didn't eat Pork. Hindus didn't eat Beef. So both beef and pork were avoided in Mughal cooking. Fowls, sheep and goat, and venison were the main meat dishes. 
3. For elegance, silver and gold edible foils were used to decorate foods. The gold and silver ones were used to make dinner-ware. 
4. Chinese porcelain was used for beverages. The Durbar became a complete community dinning affair. 
5. The Turkic and Afgan during Mughal Sultanate period introduced underground Tandoor (oven) to make Naan (flattened bread). Other items introduced later are Keema, Kebab, Yogurt, Paneer. 
6. During Akbar period, the royal kitchen had become a laboratory of Mughal Culinary. 
7. Tenure of Jahangir and Shahjahan were the golden period in the evolution of Mughlai Cuisine. 
8. Portable Tandoor was developed during Shahjahan's period. 
9. During Shahjahan's period Portugese introduce new agricultural products to India such as Maize, Potato, Tomato, Papaya, Pineapples, Cashew, Chili pepper etc. Finally these products got integrated to Mughlai Cuisine. 
10. After Aurangzeb's tenure, new centre of ruling power emerged. The centre included Hyderabad, Lucknow, Lahore. 

Ingredients to cook Fish Kofta Curry:

Katla Fish – 6 pieces (medium size)

Egg – 1

Onion Paste – 3/4 cup 
Onion - 1/4 cup (finly chopped)

Green Chili – 5-6

Ginger + Garlic paste - 1 tbsp.  

Mustard Oil – 3 tbsp.

Cumin Seed – 1 tsp

Garam Masala – 1 tsp.

Coriander Powder – 1 tsp.

Red Chili Powder – 1 tsp.

Bay leaf – 1 (big size)

Cloves – 4-5

Cardamom – 2-3

Tomato – 1 (medium size, I made paste from tomato in mixer grinder.)

Lemon Juice – 1 tbsp

Green Coriander for garnishing (Finely chopped)

Salt to taste
Water 

Process to  cook Fish Kofta Curry

1. Wash the fish pieces under running water.
2. Spread little turmeric and salt over the fish. Rub them very well. Keep it aside for 10-15 minutes.
3. Heat oil in a deep-bottom frying pan. Once the oil is hot, fry the fishes. But DON’T DEEP-FRY THEM.
4. Take out the fried fishes from the oil and set aside for cooling down.
5. After 10-15 minutes, you have to remove bones from the fish pieces. It takes much time. It is a low-effort but high pay-off task. Make sure that there is not a single tiny pin bones inside the fish pieces.
6. Now add finely chopped Onion, half portion of ingredients such as Ginger+Garlic Paste, Cumin Powder, Coriander powder, Lemon Juice and chopped green chili to the fish. Mix and mash it well.
7. Break the egg on top of mashed fish. Mix well again. Set aside for 10 minutes.
8. Now make small balls from the mixture. Keep the balls aside.
9. Heat the same oil which you used to fry the fishes. Fry these balls. You just need to fry them till golden brown as shown in the image. DEEP-FRYING IS NOT REQUIRED. Set these half-done Fish Kofta aside.

[If you don’t want to fry the fish balls in oil, you can put them in the micro-oven for 10 minutes.]

10. In the same pan, add little more mustard oil. Heat the oil. Add cumin seed, bay leaf, cardamom, cloves. It will crackle in few seconds.
11. Add onion paste. Stir gently and let it be cooked till slightly brown.
12. Add tomato Puree and stir well. Cook it till you feel the raw smell of tomato goes away.
13. Now add rest portion of the ingredients like Ginger+Garlic paste, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder and Green Chili. Stir well.
14. Add Turmeric Powder, Red Chili Powder and Garam Masala and mix well with the boiling curry. 
15. Add little water as per your requirement for gravy. Let it be boiled.
16. Check the seasoning and adjust according to your taste. I added salt at this stage. Because after marination, I didn’t add salt.
17. Now reduce the heat. Place the fried Kofta in the curry one by one. Stir once. Turn off the heat after 5-7 minutes.
18. Sprinkle little Lemon juice over the Kofta Curry. Cover the pan with a lid. Let them inside the pan for 10 minutes, so the Kofta can absorb little gravy. 

You can serve it with Steamed Rice. 

Hot on Hilsa - Bhapa Ilish

Ingredients to cook Bhapa Ilish

Hilsa Fish - 6 pieces 

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp (for marination)

Black Mustard seed - 2 tbsp 

Green Chili - 6 (3 for making mustard paste, 3 for adding to gravy)

Salt - 1 tbsp ( 1 pinch for marination, rest is for making paste)

Mustard Oil - 1 tsp (yes, it is must if you want the traditional flavour... to be spread on top of Hilsa fishes)

Water - as per your requirement (to make the paste, to boil the marinated fish pieces)

Process to cook Bhapa Ilish

1.Soak the black mustard seeds in a cup of water. Add salt and green chilis. Add little water. Make a smooth paste with it by a blender. Keep the paste inside the blender bowl.

2. Take the Hilsa fish pieces. Spread salt and turmeric powder on them. Rub them carefully. Keep them aside for marination... for just 10 minutes.

3. Place the fish pieces in big size bowl. Pour entire mustard paste over the fish pieces. Make sure that the paste covers all the fish pieces.

4. Cut few green chilis. You have to cut them vertically. Place them in the fish bowl.

5. Take lots of water in a pressure cooker. Place it in an oven. Heat the water for 2-3 minutes.

6. Reduce the heat. Place the fish bowl inside the pressure cooker. Cover the cooker with its lid. Allow it to cook for 7-10 minutes.

7. Take out the bowl. Check if the fish piece is soft. If not, cook it once again for few minutes.

Flip over all the fish pieces one by one.

8. Now add little mustard oil on the fish pieces. Keep the bowl covered aside for few minutes.

Once it becomes cool, you can serve it with hot rice.  

Aar fish ( Long Whiskered Catfish) Curry

Ingredients required:

Aar Fish - 4 whole fishes
Green Chili - 6 (whole chili, spilt or chopped, as per your wish)
Tomato - 2 (Pureed)
Ginger + Garlic - 1 tbsp (Paste)
Powder of various spices (Turmeric + Cumin + Coriander + Red Mirch) - 1 tsp of each (I mixed all the powders with 2 tbsp of water)
Salt
Mustard Oil

You can get the recipe below:

Fish Curry with Coconut Milk

Ingredients to cook Fish Curry with Coconut Milk:

Bhetki Fish - 4 pieces 
Onion Paste - 3/4 cup
Garlic + Ginger paste - 1 1/2 tbsp
Green Chili Paste  - 1 tbsp
Tomato (cut in cubes- 1 
Coconut Powder - 2 tbsp (Dissolved in warm water)
Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Black Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
Kaffir Lime / Lime Leaf (Optional) - 2 
Oil for cooking
Salt for taste 
Water

Process to cook Fish Curry with Coconut Milk:

1. Heat oil in deep-bottom frying pan. Add Ginger+Garlic paste once the raw smell of Onion removes away. Cook slowly in slow-medium heat. Cook till they turn to golden colour. 
2. Then add cubes of Tomato. Spread salt as the tomato will become soft quickly. Cook till it has paste-like consistency. 
3. Add Coconut milk. Mix well. 
4. Add Garam Masala Powder and Red Chili Powder. Stir once. Let the curry come to a boil. 
5. Add Fish Pieces. Cook for few minutes. Now it's done. 

Serve Fish in Coconut Milk with Steamed Rice or Flat Bread.

Deep-fried Katla Fish & Mashed Potato with Steamed Rice and Lentil

One piece of fried fish, mashed potato, yellow lentil with hot rice...it is a minimal Bengali meal we cook, when we have lack of time or energy to make a proper meal. Yesterday I was extremely tired after coming back from office. I was alone at home. And that was another point not to cook much for own self. So in such days what could be better than cooking one piece Maach Bhaja (fried fish), Alu Bhate (mashed potato), Musoor Daal (bowl-full yellow lentil) and Gorom Bhat (hot rice). 

Katla Fish deep-fried using the ingredients like:

Katla Fish pieces - 4 (washed thoroughly in water)

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp

Salt - 1 pinch

Mustard Oil for deep-frying

Process I followed:

1. Take the fish pieces and in a bowl. Spread Turmeric powder, chili powder and salt over the fishes. Mix well for marinade. Keep the bowl aside for 10 minutes.

2. Heat oil in deep-bottom frying pan. 

3. Add fish piece (one piece at a time) to the oil.

4. Deep-fry the pieces from both side. Take out from the pan and keep it inside the casserole. You can take it out late while having food. 

Mashed Potato as a side dish

Ingredients: 

Peeled, sliced and boiled potatoes - 4 (big size)

Salt (as per your taste)

Mustard Oil -1 tbsp

Red Chili - 2

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Onion (finely chopped)

Process for making mashed potato

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Add cumin seeds, red chili. Fry for 1 minutes. 

2. Add onion. Fry it until it gets caramelized. Pour it on the boiled potato pieces. 

3. Add salt to the potato. 

4. Mash the potato in hand very well. 

5. Make mouthful balls with mashed potatoes. Your mashed potato is ready. 

I always love to see a mouthful mashed potato ball on the top of the rice. Here I kept one fried fish piece. You can vary the taste by squeezing a teaspoonful of lemon juice...poring a lump of ghee, Dhonia Chutney and nay-what-not. 
Here I'm telling you another way of mashed potato, or in case you don't like to add onion or if you don't want to make spicy one, or you are typically an additional taste enhancer; the process is here below:

Ingredients:

Peeled, sliced and boiled potatoes - 4 (big size)

Salt (as per your taste)
Pepper Powder - 1tsp
Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Butter / Ghee / Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

Milk / cream - 1 tbsp

Process: 
1. Heat butter / ghee / olive oil in a pan. Add garlic paste. Stir for 1 minute.
2. Add cream or milk to oil. Mix well. 
3. Pour it into the boiled potato. Add salt and pepper to the potato.
4. Mash the potato in hand. Make mouthful balls.

So friends, please try it at home. I'm sure, richness of cream or the tang of condiments would add a distinctive flavour to your mashed potato. Do let me know if you like this new recipe... :-)

Coconut Hilsa - Bengalis call it "Dudhia Ilish"

Ingredients for Coconut Hilsa

Hilsa Fish - 4 pieces
Coconut Milk - 1 cup
Green Chili Paste - 1 tbsp
Poppy Paste  2 tbsp
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp (optional, I used. If you want to see white color of the gravy, don't use turmeric powder.)
White Oil
Water
Salt and sugar as per paste

Process for making Dudhia Ilish

1. Heat oil in a Pan. Add Poppy seed paste to hot oil. Stir for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add water and then half of the coconut milk. Stir well. (At this stage I added turmeric powder)
3. Add salt, sugar, chili paste and then fish pieces.
4. Once it starts boiling, add grated coconut. Let it be boiled.
5. Meanwhile add rest of the coconut milk. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Take it out from the oven.

You can have Coconut Hilsa with hot rice. 

Fish Stuffed Spinach Cutlet

Ingredients:

16 spinach leaves

3 Fried pieces of Rohu fish

1 tbsp of garlic-ginger paste

Half pc of finely chopped onion

1 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves

1 tsp of chopped green chillies

1 pc of eggs

3 tbsp of corn flour

4/5 spoons of semolina

Salt to taste

Oil for frying (white oil or mustard oil as per your choice)

Method:

1. Remove the bones from the pieces of fishes.

2. Add ginger-garlic paste, chopped onion, chillies, coriander leaves, salt to it and mash it well in hand.

3. Heat water in a pan and add a pinch of salt to the water.

4. Put spinach leaves one by one. Keep those leaves in water for few minutes.

5. Keep those leaves out of the water.

6. Beat egg finely and add corn flour to make batter.

7. Heat oil in frying pan.

8. Dip one leaf in the batter and then put some amount of mashed fish into the leaf.

9. Cover it with one more leaf.

10. Now dip it in batter once again.

11. Put it in frying pan to fry till little brown. Make sure that you are not deep-frying it.

12. Repeat above steps 8 – 11 till you get 8 fried cutlets.

13. Now put those cutlets in batter once again.

14. Roll them in semolina and deep-fry till it gets brown.

15. Serve with tomato sauce or mustard sauce. 

For other snacks recipes click here. 

Salmon fish curry

Ingredients:

7/8 pcs of Salmon fillets (boneless)

1 tbsp of turmeric powder

1tbsp of chopped garlic, onion, ginger, green chilis

½ pc of chopped tomato

2 tbsp of chopped capsicum

1 tbsp of coriander powder, chilli powder, refined oil

Salt to taste

½ cup of water

Method: 

• If you are using a full size salmon fish, cut it into small equal pcs. I used canned salmon fillet.  
• Take those fillets in a bowl and add turmeric powder and salt. Keep it aside for 20 minutes.
• Heat refined oil in a frying pan and reduce the heat. Fry the fillets on both sided on medium heat. Make sure that the fillets don’t get deep-fried. Keep them out of oil and set aside.
• In the same oil in pan add garlic, ginger, onion, green chilli one by one. Fry them till little brown.
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• Now add turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder. Cook for 1 minute.
• Add chopped capsicum and tomato to it. Cook it well till both the tomato and capsicum pcs get soft.
• After 1-2 minutes if you find smooth paste in frying pan, pour water into it.   
• Cover the pan with a lid and cook it for few minutes in medium flame.
• Keep the pan out the flame.
• Serve it with hot rice or spaghetti.