Bhapa Mach- Steamed Fish in Mustard sauce

After experiencing terrible heat for the last few days, today the wind is whistling outside, the sky dark and looming with a streak of lightning flashes once in a while. The stage is set for the rain. The wind, the rain, the thunder and the lightning ... all dance in perfect sync. And I watch outside like a curious child waiting for an answer.As I sit to pen down this recipe which I learnt a long time ago from my old Bengali neighbor who was a fabulous cook herself. Memories come flooding, how she makes me understand  this recipe in her characteristic motherly way. Wish I could meet her now to tell her how grateful I am for this as I don't know where she is now. 

Bhapa refers to a dish of fish or vegetables, steamed with spices. Steamed fish is a traditional Bengali delicacy where Ilish /Hilsha Or Bhetki is steam cooked in a tangy mustard sauce. Mustard oil is used for an authentic taste and flavour. It is best enjoyed with hot steamed rice.But I have made this dish using Rohu, which is a freshwater fish as my son is averse to eating hilsa for its numerous bones. I still remember her advice to saute the fish lightly in oil before steaming it , when we use fresh water fishes such as Rohu or Katla.

Cuisine: Bengali

Prep time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Serves 2

Ingredients:

•  4 pieces Rohu Fish 
• 2 tbsp Mustard Oil (for frying fish) + 1 tsp
• 1 tbsp. Black Mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp Yellow Mustard seeds  
• 1 tbsp.Poppy seeds
• 4 nos Green chillies
• 1/2 tomato thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp Curd/yoghurt 
• Salt to taste
• Fresh Coriander leaves, chopped

 

Let's Learn How to make this recipe:

•  Marinate the rohu pieces with turmeric and salt for half an hour.

• Meanwhile soak the black, yellow mustard and the poppy seed in a little water for about 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes grind the soaked mustard and poppy seed along with 1 green chili and a little salt to a fine paste.

• Fry the fish in hot mustard oil. Make sure you do not deep fry the fish. The fish should just be fried lightly to get rid of the rawness.

• In a bowl, take yoghurt, above prepared paste , salt to taste. Mix together and keep aside.

• First take a steel tiffin box or any steel vessel with tight-fitting lidin a single layer (not one on top of the other). Place the fish pieces as well as the gravy in this vessel and drizzle a little mustard oil over the bowl. Drop 1-2 slitted green chillies and thinly sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves. close the lid tightly and  steam it for 10-15 minutes.

• Alternatively you may even bake in the fish in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for about 15-18 minutes.

• Remove from the steamer (or oven if used) and serve with steaming hot rice.

 

Macha Tarkari( Odia style Rohu Fish Curry)

Odisha, previously known as Orissa, is one state that is traditionally famous for it's mouth watering delicacies of rice, lentils, desserts and sea food. Odia cuisine is known for its simplicity and delicate treatment of various ingredients that goes into it. Odisha has a vast coast line along the Bay of Bengal and also has many rivers flowing within the State. Owing to this proximity, access to  riverine fish and its inclusion has become an inevitable part of Odia cuisine and majority of the people from Odisha are non-vegetarians and fish forms an integral part of their traditional cuisine.

Fresh water fish such as Rohu has a natural sweetness to it than the fishes from sea and that is what that makes all the difference to this Odia fish delicacy called Macha Tarkari/ Macha Jhola  which is sure to leave a lasting impression on your taste buds for a while. When I crave for some fish, this few ingredient Macha Tarkari / Macha Aloo Jhola( Oriya/Odia style fish curry with potato ) is the one I always prepare for my lunch. "Maachha" in Odia means Fish; "Aloo" means potato and "Jhola" refers to a thin consistency gravy quite typical to an Odia style fish curry).  If you are looking for a light, simple and different  fish curry, then this oriya/odia fish curry recipe is the perfect solution to your meal plan.This recipe is very close to my heart as it is still the same way I have been making as I was when I learnt it first. Though I love to experiment with food, but  rohu fish curry recipe reminds me of home and the little things that my mother does for me as a child make it so much worthwhile to try it as it is.

Unlike the fiery spiced curries associated with Indian food, the Oriya/Odia food is usually subtle and delicately spiced using Panch-Phutana, a mix of five spices- Cumin, Mustard, Fennel, Fenugreek and Nigella (Kalonji) seeds.Mustard oil and mustard seeds are ingredients, which makes Oriya/odia food stand apart from other cuisines. Mustard oil has a typical pungent smell and it is usually heated to its smoking point to decrease its pungency.Mustard Oil is mostly used for frying fish and making fish curries since it imparts a very distinct taste to the subject at hand.

Cuisine: Odia
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves - 4

Ingredients

• 500 grams Rohu Fish
• 2 medium  Potatoes

For the masala

• 1 medium  Onion
• 1 small Tomato
• 1 tsp Ginger - Garlic paste
• 1/4 tsp panch phutan
• 2 dry red chillies
• 1/2 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
• 1 tsp Roasted Corriander Powder  
• 1/4 tsp Garam Masala  
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 1inch cinnamon stick
• 2 green cardamoms
• Salt to taste 

Let us Learn how to make oriya/odia fish curry recipe:

• Wash the fish and apply  turmeric and salt to the fish. Marinate and keep aside for 15 minutes.

• Chop the onions and tomatoes finely.

• Peel and cut the potatoes into medium side wedges and apply turmeric and salt to it.

• Pour some mustard oil and heat it to smoking point. Slowly add the fish pieces one by one and shallow fry them in batches. Take out the fishes and keep them on a kitchen towel .

• Add the potatoes and shallow fry them in the same oil and keep aside.

• Add bay leaf, cinnamon, green cardamom to the oil and when it starts to release it’s aroma, put a pinch of panch phutan .

• Next add the onion and fry till it turns a little brown, add ginger garlic paste to the oil. Stir and fry the masala till the masala is cooked and there is no raw smell.

• Add chopped tomato, potatoes, turmeric, cumin powder,coriander powder, chili powder and salt. Cook for few more minutes till the masala starts to leave oil at the sides.

•  Add a cup of warm water ,cover and let the curry simmer on medium heat till potatoes get soft. Add fish to it and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on slow heat . Remove from heat and add the garam masala powder and chopped coriander leaves on top to garnish.

•  Serve hot with plain rice. 

For more fish recipes you can try: 

Masor Tenga (Tangy Fish Curry)

PATRANI MACHCHI

DAHI MACHA- Fish Cooked In Rich Yoghurt And Mustard Paste

PATRANI MACHCHI

Imagine a fish that is coated in coconut chutney, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed, this dish is one of the hallmarks of Parsi cuisine -  influenced by the fine blend of Gujarati and Persian cooking. No Parsi celebration is complete without their most famous and mouthwatering dish Patra ni Machhi, which literally means fish in leaves, and in this case refers to pomfret wrapped in a banana leaf. It is an absolute standard on every Parsi festive menu and must come from the community"s seafaring and coastal days.

Parsis are a community of Zoroastrians who made their home in the western borders of South Asia (Gujarat and Sindh in India) somewhere during the 10th century. Parsis are famously known for their enjoyment of life and have a saying:"Khanar pinar ne khodai apnar."  God gives in abundance to those who eat and drink.But you don't have to been a Parsi to fall in love with a dish as flavorful and refreshing.

Though very similar to the Paturi or Patrapoda that we make minus the Mustard and plus a few other ingredients. To us the spice would be predominantly Mustard paste while to a Parsi it would be a green chutney consisting of predominantly coriander leaves, coconut. While the Paturi is made of Bhetki or Hilsa, the Patra ni Machchhi is made of Pomfret,Either a Bengali Paturi , Odia Patra Poda or a Parsi Patrani Machchhi...all these are subtly flavoured fish delicacies of their  respective communities.

 Coming back to the Patra ni Machchi, the preparation is made by marinating the fish in a coating of spicy green coconut chutney and wrapping it in banana leaves.  The fish is steamed to ensure that the flavors and juices of the fish and chutney are sealed in the banana leaves packet.Going with the theme of Microwave Cooking for our 30^th Foodie Monday Blog Hop , nothing seems more appropriate than this Patra ni Macchi recipe which calls for it to be filleted and stuffed, then parcelled in banana leaf and steamed.

Now a days intense time pressures do not allow the slow way of cooking practiced in earlier days. One device that has defied the clock in the Kitchen is the microwave oven. Now is it possible to cook delicious Indian food in microwaves? Yes, it is very much possible to do your everyday cooking in Microwave. Unlike the conventional Indian food, microwave cooked food is low calorie. The process of cooking the food is clean and efficient. One can serve the food in the same vessel one cooked food in saving us a lot of chores and time.

Cuisine: Parsi

Prep time: 45 minutes

cook time:5 minutes

cooking Medium : Microwave Mode

Serves:2

Ingredients

• 2 whole Pomfret fish
• salt
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1 cup fresh coriander coarsely chopped
• 4 green chillies chopped
• ½ cup fresh grated coconut
• 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 6 to 8 large garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• curry leaves( Optional)
• 2 nos of Banana leaves

Lets learn how to make this recipe of Patra ni Machchi:

• Cut and clean the fish. you can make fillets out of it or can cook the whole fish. If using the whole fish make some cut in the body of the fish, so that the fish can absorb the marinade easily.

• Sprinkle salt and half  of the lemon juice over the fish and set aside for 30 minutes preferably in the refrigerator.

• Grind the fresh coriander, green chillies, coconut, cumin seeds, garlic to a fine paste.Add salt, sugar and the remaining lemon juice and mix well.

• Apply this marinade to the fish and set aside for at least 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

• Cut out the vein of the Banana leaf with a sharp knife after it is cleaned and washed. Fold it lightly and toss it around on the burner for a little while, till it starts to wilt a little. This will make sure that the Banana leaf is softer and easier to handle and not hard and brittle.

•  Place the marinated fish in the center of each banana leaf and smear rest of  the chutney on them.Fold in the ends to make a parcel.

•  Place the fish parcels on a greased Microwave safe platter. Pour some water in another microwave safe dish which is larger than the one with the fish in it. Place the dish with fish parcel in them and microwave at 900W for five minutes.

• At this point you will see the  banana leaves turning light brown.Serve immediately with a steamed bowl of hot rice.

• Do not open the parcels while serving. Let the person eat by opening them.

Sending this recipe to 30th Foodie Monday BlogHop theme of Microwave cooking....

You can also see other Fish recipes like:

MASOR TENGA (TANGY FISH CURRY)

DAHI MACHA- FISH COOKED IN RICH YOGHURT AND MUSTARD PASTE

Masor Tenga (Tangy Fish Curry)

Assam, the beautiful state of North-East India has an incredible range of culture, awesome wildlife, the world famous Assam Tea, oldest oil refineries, famous Kamakhya temple and of course, the Assamese cuisine, which is characterized by very little use of spices but strong flavors. This Masor Tenga (Tangy Fish Curry), is an indispensable part of a proper meal in Assam. This is a light and tangy dish, and is one of Assam's signature preparations. The key ingredient in a tenga is the use of a souring agent like lemon or tomato which lends the dish a tart tangy taste. I being a fish addict, when saw this recipe in one of a popular food forum, could not stop myself and recreated the same in my kitchen some days back. It can be best enjoyed with plain rice. 

There are wide variety of souring agents that can be used to prepare this dish, ranging from the commonly available lemon, tomatoes, sour spinach to more exotic Elephant apple and  Garcinia.

A very important element of the dish is Panch Phoron (five-spice mix) which is a spice blend used in  Eastern India, especially in Bengali, Assamese, and Odia cuisine. The five spices that makes up the Panch phoron are a colourful blend of flavourful seeds: the green of fennel seed, black mustard and nigella seeds, golden fenugreek and buff-coloured cumin seeds.

Generally the ingredients are added in equal proportions, though this can vary according to taste. In the tradition of Odia and Bengali cuisine, panch phoron is typically fried in cooking oil or ghee, which causes it to start popping immediately. This technique is called "baghaar" (literally "tempering") in odia, "phoron" in Bengali, and chaunk in Hindi. At this point, one adds the other ingredients to coat with the spice mixture. The distinct aroma of Eastern cuisine is mostly due to the blend of spices known as panch phoron.

Ingredients

·         1 tbsp nigella seeds

·         1 tbsp black mustard seeds

·         1 tbsp fenugreek seeds

·         1 tbsp fennel seeds

·         1 tbsp cumin seeds

Preparation Combine all spices in a jar, store away from heat and light.It is widely used in eastern states of India and is known to impart a distinctive flavor to the traditional food!was amazed by the taste of this dish - so few ingredients, yet so effective. Just perfect for summer.

Ingredients:

• 4 nos of Fish pieces preferably rohu or katla, marinated in salt and turmeric powder for 15 minutes
• 1 big tomatoes Chopped finely
• 1 small Potato chopped
• 1 tbsp Mustard oil (MO) for frying the fish and for the curry
•  1/2 tsp Paanch foron
• Salt- to taste
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 no of Dry red chili
• 2 cups of Warm water
• 1 tsp Coriander leaves roughly chopped.
• 1 tsp Lemon juice

Procedure:

• Marinate the fish pieces with turmeric powder and salt and leave for 15 minutes.
• Heat oil in a deep pan and shallow fry the fish until lightly browned. Set aside.
• Now, heat up 1 tbsp of mustard oil, almost to fuming and add the dry red chili, followed by the spoonful of Panch phoron. Once the dry spices release the aroma, add the chopped tomatoes and the turmeric powder, saute for a while and then simmer to make a pulp out of the tomatoes.
• Then put the chopped potato, mix well, saute and simmer under a lid until oil separates. Once the potatoes are soft, put the water and then fish pieces, bring to boil and keep for 3-4 minutes, check the salt content and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. 
• If you want more sourness, add some lemon juice as per your taste and your fish tenga is ready to be relished.
• serve with steamed rice.

Happy Cooking:)