Macher Patishapta

 Macher patishapta - 

Patishapta is a sweet pitha usually made during Makar Sankranti in Bengal. 

The patishapta base / crepe is made with rice flour, semolina and all purpose flour. Here taking inspiration from patishapta, I have made Maacher/ fish patishapta. Instead of sweet stuffing, savoury fish stuffing is added into the patishapta base. This dish can be enjoyed for breakfast or snack. 

Fish stuffing 

Ingredients 

250 grams boiled boneless fish mashed 

1 medium size onion sliced 

2 Green Chillies chopped 

1 tsp grated Ginger 

1 tsp grated Garlic 

Few Coriander leaves chopped 

1 Bay leaf

1/4 tsp Cumin seeds 

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp Cumin powder 

1/4 tsp Garam masala powder 

1/4 Chilli powder 

Salt to taste 

1/4 tsp Chaat masala 

1 tsp Tomato Ketchup 

1 tbsp Oil

Method 

Take a pan, add oil, once the oil heats up, add the bay leaf and cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds crackle, add the onion slices, ginger, garlic and green chillies chopped. Saute until the onions are light brown in colour. Add the boiled fish, salt, cumin powder, garam masala powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder. Stir and cook the fish for a minute, add the chaat masala and tomato ketchup. Stir and cook until the fish stuffing has cooked well. Sprinkle coriander leaves. 

For the crepe 

Ingredients 

3/4 cup whole wheat flour 

1/2 cup fine semolina 

1 Egg

Salt to taste 

1/4 tsp Baking powder 

1 tsp oil

Fish stock ( Remaining liquid after the boneless fish has been boiled) and water as per required 

Method 

Take flour, semolina, baking powder and salt. Mix all the above ingredients together. Add the egg and the fish stock,  add water little at a time if required to make a batter. The batter should be of thick flowing consistency. Beat well so that no lumps should remain. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes. 

To make Macher Patishapta 

Ingredients 

Fish stuffing 

Batter 

Method 

Take a pan, keep the flame on medium. Once the pan warms up, pour a ladle full of batter, rotate the batter and make a thin crepe, let the crepe cook, once done, remove the crepe on a plate, spread some fish stuffing on the crepe, roll the crepe and enjoy it with salad, Kasundi and tomato ketchup.

Ajwaini Amritsari Fish Pakora

 

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• It’s Saturday night... time to spend some quality time with family... at the dinner table. Adda (formal or informal conversation) and food with some mocktails and cocktails to go with the flow.. very much required to bond with the family... 
• This is a popular punjabi starter.... best is ravas or telapia or basa... or any boneless fish can be used. Fish is marinated and kept for at least an hour. It’s then deep fried and sprinkled with chaat masala and served hot with onion, lime and chutney. 
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• Ingredients 

500 grams Telapia or any boneless fish pieces  

1 tsp Garlic paste 

1/2 tsp Ginger paste

1 tbsp Lime juice 

1 tsp Carom seeds / Ajwain 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Soda bicarbonate or eno for crispiness  - optional 

1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder

1/2 cup Hung Curd

3 to 4 tbsp Chickpea flour / Besan 

Oil to deep fry

For garnishing - sliced onion, lime pieces and chutney

Method 

Take a mixing bowl, add in the curd, ginger - garlic paste, lime juice, carom seeds, salt, Kashmiri chilli powder and besan. Whisk all the ingredients into a smooth batter. Add the fish pieces, mix well and keep it aside for at least an hour. Add the soda bicarbonate, mix the ingredients together. Heat oil to fry, once the oil is hot, add the fish pieces into the hot oil and on a medium flame until golden brown in colour. Remove the fish from the oil and keep it on a paper towel. Sprinkle some chaat masala. Serve the fried fish with sliced  onion, lime and chutney .

Fish Tikka

Tikka is a dish that can be eaten as starter or appetiser. Tikka can be made with meat, fish, panner or vegetable. It’s a popular dish of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. 

 The meat or fish is marinated with spices and lime or curd. The marinated meat or fish is skewered and cooked on a tandoor.  The pieces are brushed with butter or ghee at intervals. It is served with Coriander Chutney, Onion and Lime. 

Today I have made fish tikka. You can use any boneless fish. I have used Tilapia fish.  

Ingredients 

500 grams Any Boneless Fish Pieces 

Juice of 1/2 Lime 

1 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp Garlic Paste

1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder 

1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder

Salt to taste 

1 tbsp Butter 

Method 

Take a bowl, add lime juice, chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, salt to taste, ginger paste and garlic paste. Mix all the ingredients together. Add 2 to 3 tbsp of water. Mix the ingredients again. Add the boneless fish pieces and marinate the fish for an hour or two. Take a skewer, insert the fish pieces into the skewer. Place the skewers on the tandoor. Apply butter on the fish at intervals and cook the fish on both the sides. Garnish with onion, tomato and lime wedges. Serve with green chutney. 

Macher Roast / Fish Roast

Marcher Roast / Fish Roast 

This recipe is adapted from the book "Thakur Barir Ranna". I have recreated this recipe by adding whole garam masala and green chillies and made it as per my convenience... It is a semi dry dish. This is a very simple and easy to make dish. Even though there are no spice powder added in the recipe , yet it is so tasty.  It can be eaten with hot steamed rice.

 Ingredients 

3 Whole Tilapia Fish cleaned 

1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Chilli paste 

1 Onion made into paste 

4 Green Chillies slited 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tbsp Sugar

1 Bay Leaf

Whole Garam Masala crushed  (2 Cloves, 5 Pepper Corn, 2 Cardamom and 1 small stick Cinnamon)

2 to 3 tbsp White Vinegar or Curd 

3 to 4 tbsp Ghee 

Method

Marinate the fish with onion paste, ginger - garlic - chilli paste, salt and vinegar for about an hour. Take a flat bottom pan, add the ghee. Let it melt, add the whole garam masala and the bay leaf. Sauté it for few seconds till the garam masala crackles. Add the fish pieces into the pan, fry it till light brown in colour on both the sides. Remove it from the pan and keep it aside. Add the remaining marination into the pan, sauté it till light brown in colour. Add the green chillies and sugar, sauté it for a minute more. Add 3/4 cup of water and let it simmer till the gravy reduces a bit. Adjust the salt, stir it and add the fish. Cover and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Open the cover and turn the fish gently. Cook for a minute more. Serve it with hot steaming rice. 

Tilapia Mach Shorshe Bata Diye Jhal.. / Telapia Fish cooked in Mustard Gravy......

Tilapia Mach Shorshe Bata Diye Jhal.. / Telapia Fish cooked in Mustard Gravy...... 

I have a small pond next to my house, where the villagers come and fish sometimes. It's a bliss to have that pond as so many small birds comes and catches their feed. You can see the fishes playing in water. I can just spend some hours sitting in the balcony, just seeing the movements of the water. The sound of the birds that come to fish takes you to a different world, way from the urban life. Life away from the city is indeed a bliss. Some times the villagers sell their catch for the day. Fresh catch taste so different from the market fish, the fish just melts in your mouth, the taste is simply divine. The other day my husband got some tilapias from the villagers. I was thrilled as I love cleaning them. As he got the fish home, the high command order too followed... "Today please make Shorshe Bata Mach".... I said ok, but will keep some fish back for the fish roast.. We both agreed upon and here is the recipe for Sorshe Bata... 

Here I have used Sunrise Mustard for the paste. This is a rich gravy and hence any dish with mustard paste is called Jhal. You can make it just with mustard paste, but  I have added ginger, garlic, coconut, chillies and curd to enhance the taste.. Little poppy seeds too can be added. It can be had with hot steaming rice. 

For the Mustard Paste..

Ingredients 

3 tbsp Sunrise Mustard powder

1 big Garlic clove

1 small piece of Ginger 

4 to 5 Green Chillies as required 

3 tbsp Curd

2 tbsp fresh Coconut grated or Desiccated Coconut

Salt to taste 

Method

Add all the above ingredients in the grinder and blend it well. Keep it aside for 15 minutes. 

For the Macher Jhal.. 

2 Telapia Fish cleaned and cut into 2 pieces or can be kept whole

2 to 3 Green Chillies slit lengthwise 

Few Coriander leaves chopped 

Mustard paste 

1 Tomato cut into 4 pieces lengthwise 

1/4 tsp Kalonji /Nigella seeds 

1/2 tsp Turmeric paste

Salt to taste 

1/4 cup Mustard oil for fry the fish 

1/2 tsp Raw Mustard oil for garnishing 

Method

Take the fish and apply 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder and salt. Keep it aside for 10 minutes. Take oil in a wok, heat it up till smoking point. Reduce the heat, add the fish and fry till brown on both the sides. Remove the excess oil and leave 3 tbsp oil back in the wok, add kalonji and green chillies in the oil, let it crackle. Add the tomato and sauté it for a minute. Add the mustard paste and the remaining turmeric powder, stir it and cook it for 2 minutes on medium flame. Add 1 cup of water. Stir and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Add the fish and cook for 2 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and mustard oil. Serve it with hot steaming Rice... 

Telapia Macher Tak Posto ( Telapia cooked in Poppy and Tamarind gravy)

Telapia Macher Tak Posto  ( Telapia cooked in  Poppy and Tamarind gravy)
Ingredients
6 to 8 pieces of medium size Telapia fish
2 Green Chillies slit
1/2 tsp Nigella seeds 
1 Whole Dry Red Chilli
3 tbsp Poppy seeds
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
Salt to taste
1 tsp Sugar 
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tbsp Tamarind paste
Mustard oil to fry and cook the fish

Method
Take Poppy seeds, mustard seeds, 1 Green chilli and tamarind paste. Add 1/4 cup water and make a paste. Keep it aside.
Take oil in a pan, heat the oil and fry the fish until golden brown from both sides. Keep them aside. Take 2 tbsp oil in a pan,  heat  it. Add nigella seeds,  when it  crackles add green chilli and add poppy seed paste,  turmeric powder, salt and sugar. Stir for 2 minutes , add 1 1/2 cup of water. Stir it. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Add the fish pieces. Cover and cook till the fish is tender and the gravy has  thicken up a bit. Drizzle with mustard oil and serve hot with rice.

Tanzanian Coconut Rice - Wali wa Nazi and Tanzanian Fish Curry - Mchuzi wa Samaki

Searching for new recipes and cooking it in my kitchen has become an obsession for me. I found this Rice and Fish curry recipe on the net from East Africa ..... So I thought of cooking it and it is so similar to our Indian curry...

Tanzanian Coconut Rice - Wali wa Nazi
Ingredients
2 Cups Basmati rice
2 cups Coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water
Salt to taste
1/4 cup Peas
1/4 cup Carrot chopped

Method
In a big pot mix the coconut milk, water, peas and carrots and salt, and bring to a boil. Stir in rice and boil the rice on a high flame. Then reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes or till the rice has cooked. Serve with Fish Curry - Mchuzi wa Samaki

Tanzanian Fish Curry  - Mchuzi wa Samaki
Ingredients
6 medium size Tilapia fish  cleaned and washed
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 tbsp Oil
2  Onions chopped
2 Tomatoes chopped
3 tbsp a Tomato purée
2 green Chilli  chopped
1 tbsp  Garlic crushed
1/2 tsp Ginger paste
2 tsp Curry powder - recipe given below
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Coriander leaves chopped
1 tbsp Coriander leaves for garnishing
1 tbsp Lime juice 

Method
Pat dry the fish with paper towel, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let them rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile heat the oil over medium low heat and add the onions and green chillies. Sauté them till the onions are golden in colour. Add garlic, ginger and curry powder. Stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato purée. Stir well and cook for about 3 minutes. Add water and  coriander leaves mix well. At this point, add some salt and pepper to the sauce. Mix well.Place the fish over the sauce, cover the pan and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until the fish is completely cooked.Turn off the heat and drizzle the lemon juice over the fish. Then turn the fish very carefully on the other side. Garnished it with coriander leaves. Serve hot with Tanzanian Coconut Rice - Wali wa Nazi

African Curry Powder
Ingredients
1 tsp Ginger powder
1 tsp Garlic powder
2 tbsp Coriander powder
2 tbsp Cumin Powder
1 tbsp Turmeric powder
2 tbsp Red Chilli powder
Method
Mix all the ingredients together , store it in a bottle.