Fish Curry

A preparation of Rohu - Rui Macher Jhol or Rui Macher Kaalia.

There is little difference between the two, the former being a much simpler and lighter preparation of Rohu. However, I have used a bit of both and made my own simple preparation. The time taken for the entire preparation has been "less than 30 mins" (in real! though I have used two stoves simultaneously, one for frying and another for jhol preparation).

Ingredients-

Freshly cut Rohu (1/2 kg or four pieces) , Onions, turmeric, ginger paste, salt, green chillies, kashmiri mirch, tomatoes, mustard oil.

(With these, you could also use red chillies, garlic, potatoes, cumin, garam masala, salt, sugar, ghee/oil). The taste of the curry would vary according to the ingredients used. There is no fixed rule of the number of ingredients used in jhol and it depends quite on the cook and his preferences.

Method of Preparation.

This preparation is meant for four pieces of Rohu fish.

(1) Clean the fish pieces properly.

(2) Marinate them in turmeric and salt for 30 mins to one hour.

(3) Chop one big onion or two small onions into small fine pieces and sprinkle some salt. This makes the onions softer and easier to cook and boil.  You could also make a paste of onions. That would lead to a thicker consistency of jhol.

If you are planning to use potatoes then cut them and put some salt over them too.

(4) Cut a tomato into small pieces. Throw away the seeds of tomato, since they are hard to digest and definitely not good for aged people.

(5) Fry the fish pieces slightly in mustard oil. (Fish is often fried in mustard oil since that brings out the taste of the fish ... or so they say!). A deep fried fish would lose much of its food value, so try to boil/roast or a light fry. Keep the fried fish aside.

(6) Using two teaspoons of oil (mustard oil, esp if you've used mustard oil to fry the fish)  heat the frying pan. Always use a spoon while pouring oil since it gives you an idea of how much oil you are using. For instance, next time you'll realise that the same preparation could be made with one spoon of oil too.

(7) After the pan is heated, add onions in it and fry till they are brown. Then add the spices, i.e 1/2 spoon of turmeric powder, 1/2 spoon cumin(jeera) powder, 1/2 spoon dhania (coriander) powder, two pinches of fenugeek powder (methi), garlic paste and salt to taste. You could also add half a spoon of kashmiri Mirch to it for colour.

One should realise that the curry/jhol would taste much better if the paste of the spices (whole) was to be made at home. The powdered spices will never give the same taste but they are definitely time-saving. One could also make a paste of the whole/seed/sticks of these spices(instead of powder) and refrigerate and use as and when required (but I am too lazy for all that...yawn).

(8) After frying it for 30 seconds to one minute, add potatoes and stir for approx 30 seconds. Do not stir for long if you see the pan getting too dry and there is a possibility of burning the mixture.

(9) Add tomatoes and stir. You could also use tomato puree here. In either case tomato has a bit of moisture in it, so stir till for another 30 seconds and then add water. Add two green chillies (as per taste actually).

(10) Add salt to taste and a pinch of sugar and put the lid back on the pan. Let the water boil for some time, till the potatoes soften. Potatoes at this time of the year would be a bit harder since they've just been harvested (notun aloo). So you should either cut them into smaller pieces or boil them for a longer period of time.

(11) Finally when you see that the spices have dissolved well and the potatoes are soft, add the pieces of fried fish. Let it boil for sometime, approximately five to ten minutes.

A few things to remember :-

• You could prepare this using vegetable oil.
• Instead of onions, jhol can be prepared by panch phoron which is a typical Bengali style of cooking. Panch means "five" and phoron is "flavour" or "spice". Panch phoron is a colourful blend of flavourful seeds: the green of fennel seed, black mustard and nigella seeds, golden fenugreek and buff-coloured cumin seeds. Some variations may substitute anise for the fennel seeds or wild mustard for cumin, radhuni seed for mustard, and possibly black cumin for nigella. Generally the ingredients are added in equal proportions, though this can vary according to taste.
• Panch phoron is usually fried in oil or ghee before adding anything else to the pan, flavouring the oil and releasing the aroma of the oils in the seeds and causing them to pop in the pan.
• In fish preparation if we fry only "jerra" or buff coloured cumin seeds (instead of the five spices) in oil in the beginning, then we don't need to use onions. The use of onions or simple jeera is to negate the smell of flesh, be it fish or chicken. Also a preparation without onions and only jeera in it is simpler and healthier.

Finally, this entire recipe is not to make the perfect "jhol" but to make things simpler,easier and yet maintaining the taste of Rohu, especially when you have a time constraint.