Hello friends! A heartfelt welcome to all you wonderful people at my space, Dish Of Delight once again. Today I am sharing a simple Bengali recipe with you all. As you all must be knowing that, Bengalis are more often symbolized by fish, meat, rice and sweets! and that’s true. For most of us, if we miss out ‘maacher Jhol’ i.e. fish curry even from a single day’s meal, then our meal remains incomplete and dissatisfactory! Among all fishes, Rohu, Katla ( Indian carp), tilapia and few other fresh water fishes are quite common in a Bengali kitchen that are included in daily meal. Hilsha, Pabda, Golda Chingri ( lobster), Chitol, etc are among those fishes which are cooked once in a while occasionally.

However, let’s come to today’s recipe in which I have cooked rohu fish along with ridge gourd in a poppy seeds paste gravy. Now let us quickly go through today’s recipe.

Ingredients 

 

Rohu fish 500gm, cut into Bengali cut excluding the head and tail part

Ridge gourd 2 medium sized, halved longitudinally and cut into 3” long pieces

Poppy seeds 2 tbsp soaked in lukewarm water for about 15 minutes

Onion 1 small sized, sliced

Green chilli 7 or 8

Black cumin 1 tsp

Turmeric powder 1 + 1/2 tsp

Salt 1 tsp + as per taste

Mustard oil 2 + 2 tbsp

 

Procedure

 

  • clean wash the fish pieces and marinate it with 1 tsp each of turmeric powder and salt and rest for 15 minutes 
  • grind the poppy seeds and 3 or 4 green chillies with 1 tbsp water to make a fine smooth paste and keep aside
  • heat 2 tbsp of oil in a kadhai at high flames. Once the oil becomes steaming hot, add the fish pieces one by one and fry from both sides until it becomes golden colour. Do not over fry the fish or it won’t soak in the the juice of the gravy.
  • Take the fish pieces out of the kadhai and keep aside. Now lower the flames to medium low and allow the kadhai to cool down a little. The rest of the cooking is to be done at medium low flames
  • add the remaining oil to the same kadhai. Once the oil gets heated well, add the black cumin and sauté for few seconds.
  • add the onion and stir and fry until it turns golden colour. 
  • Add the ridge gourd pieces, rest of the turmeric powder and stir and fry for a minute 
  • then, add the poppy seed paste and stir and mix well with the other ingredients for 1/2 a minute. Then, add about 1/2 a cup of water and stir well. Do not fry the poppyseed paste for too long or else it will get burnt and give a bitter taste 
  • Once the gravy starts boiling, cover and cook for 1/2 a minute
  • open the cover, add salt as per taste and mix well
  • now add the fish pieces in a single layer and slit and add the remaining chillies. Cover once again and let it cook for a minute
  • open cover, gently turn the fish pieces to the other side and again cover and cook for 1/2 a minute
  • after 1/2 minute, check the consistency of the gravy and adjust to keep it thick. 
  • Switch off the flames and serve Rui Jhinge Posto with hot steamed rice.