Rohu fish curry (Bihari style) using mustard

Married in a Bihari family, I learnt from my mother-in-law this Rohu fish curry (Bihari style) using mustard. Lets learn their style of favorite non vegeterian dish today exactly as is prepared in their state of Bihar.

Washed Rohu fish pieces

INGREDIENTS :

FOR MARINADE :

(1) 1 Kg Rohu fish

(2) 1 teaspoon of Turmeric powder / Haldi 

(3) 2-3 teaspoon of Red Chilli powder

(4) 2 teaspoon of Salt

FOR GRAVY :

(1) Half piece of a medium sized Onion, coarsely chopped

(2) Two small Tomatoes, coarsely chopped

(3) 2 whole green chillies

(4) 4 whole red chillies (Add as per spicy taste required)

(5) 5 cloves of Garlic

(6) 2 teaspoon of Jeera / Cumin seeds

(7) 2 pieces of Cloves

(8) 3 pieces of green Cardamom (green elaichi)

(9) 4 teaspoon of yellow Mustard seeds (Pila Sarso)

(10) Half teaspoon of Black Pepper powder

(11) 4 teaspoon of Coriander seeds (whole)

(12) 1/4 teaspoon of Methi seeds / Fenugreek seeds

(13) 1/4 teaspoon of Turmeric powder

(14) 4 tablespoon of Mustard oil (Sarso ka tel)

(15) Cooking oil, preferably Mustard oil for frying fish

(16) Salt to taste

(17) Coriander leaves for garnish

METHOD :

(1) Clean the pieces of fish thoroughly under water. Marinate it with 3 teaspoon of salt (Approximately), 1 teaspoon of Turmeric powder and 3 teaspoon of Red Chilli powder.

Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Marinated Rohu fish pieces

(2) Keep the ingredients for preparing gravy on a plate as shown, all together. The ingredients are Onion, Tomatoes, whole green chillies, whole red chillies, garlic cloves, Jeera, Cloves, green Cardamom, yellow Mustard seeds, black pepper powder, Coriander seeds (whole).

(3) Transfer these into a grinding jar and add half glass of water. Then grind the mixture to form a smooth paste as given in the images.

(4) Heat Cooking oil, preferably Mustard oil in a kadhai / wok and shallow fry all the fish pieces and keep them aside.

(5) I carried on the process of making gravy in a separate kadhai.

Heat 4 tablespoon of Cooking oil / Mustard oil in a separate kadhai / wok.

(6) Add 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds / Methi dana to this warm oil and wait for the colour to change.

(7) When this happens, add the ground paste from the grinding jar into the kadhai.

(8) Add 1/4 teaspoon of Turmeric powder and salt to taste.

Saute the paste for 3-5 minutes. 

(9) Add 1 glass of water to this and simmer for 5 minutes.

(10) The gravy will dry up, keep adding water and simmer till 20 minutes are over and the gravy is cooked well and the oil separates. 

Various stages of simmering and cooking the gravy are shown below.

(11) When the gravy is cooked and the raw smell of the onion disappears, add the fried fish pieces. 

(12) Add water to adjust the thickness of the gravy and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes over low flame

(13) Fish curry is ready.

(14) Serve it in a serving bowl, with coriander leaves garnishing over it.

(15) Serve it with plain rice and aloo bhujia / Potato dry sabji,

Turai sabji

Turai, as is called in North India for Ridge Gourd is a regular vegetable side dish in a Sindhi diet. This vegetable is not so popular because of lack of ideas about its preparation and due to its neutral taste. By adding basic Indian dry spices, its taste can be elevated to an unimaginable level.

Turai / Ridge Gourd, 500 gms

 

INGREDIENTS :

(1) Turai / Ridge Gourd (Washed, peeled and chopped) - 500 gms

(2) 3 large Onions finely chopped

(3) 3 medium sized Tomatoes, pureed

(4) 3 green chillies, finely chopped

(5) 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste

(6) 1/4 teaspoon of Turmeric powder / Haldi

(7) 1 teaspoon of Red chilli powder

(8) 1 teaspoon of Cumin seeds / Jeera

(9) 1 teaspoon of Coriander / Dhania powder

(10) 1 teaspoon of Kitchen King Garam Masala powder

(11) 5 tablespoon of Cooking / Vegetable oil

(12) Salt to taste

Cuisine : Indian

Serves : 4 persons

Time required : 30 mins approximately

METHOD :

(1) Wash the Turai / Ridge Gourd thoroughly under water to clean them. Then peel them and chop them into bite sized cubes as shown in the image.

Chopped Turai / Ridge Gourd

(2) Finely chop Onions and green chillies. Grind the tomatoes using a mixer to form a puree.

(3) Set all the ingredients together as given in the ingredient list.

(4) Heat 5 tablespoon of cooking oil in a wok / kadhai. 

Add 1 teaspoon of Cumin seeds / Jeera to the warm oil and when it changes colour, add the finely chopped Onions and green chillies.

Saute until the Onions turn golden brown in colour. 

(5) Add the Tomato puree, mix well and sauté till they get cooked.

(6) Add Ginger garlic paste, mix well and sauté till the raw smell of it disappears.

(7) Add all the basic Indian dry spices like Turmeric powder / Haldi, Red chilli powder, Garam masala powder and Coriander / Dhania powder. Mix well. Saute for 2 minutes.

(8) Add 2 glasses of water and salt to taste. If you want a curry form of sabji, add water or else if you want dry sabji, you need not add water as Tarai / Ridge Gourd itself leaves water while cooking and this water itself is enough for the cooking of this sabji. 

(9) Add chopped Turai / Ridge Gourd to this gravy and mix well. Cook for 10 minutes on a medium flame with lid closed. Stir in between to prevent it from sticking and burning at the bottom of the wok.

(10) After ten minutes or when the Turai is cooked, turn off the flame. The sabji will have turned out to be of thick consistency.

The Turai sabji is ready.

(11) Serve the Turai sabji in a serving bowl as shown.

(12) This yummy sabji can be had with any Indian bread like Chapatis / Phulkas / Puri. My personal review is that it tasted great with Phulkas.

Turai sabji is very low in calories and fat and hence very useful for those trying to lose weight. It is high in fiber and hence useful for lowering cholesterol and improving digestion.

Mango Frooti

Mango season is going on and the mango lovers make different recipes using it during its season. During off season, we fulfill the desires of mangoes by using ready made juices from the stores. One such example is of Mango frooti. My kid loves this Mango frooti like anything. So during this mango season I thought of preparing Mango frooti at home and this is quite easy and interesting. When prepared at home, it is without additives and preservatives. You may use the sweet mangoes of your choice. Taste the mango before preparing this recipe to understand the amount of sugar to be added to the juice you prepare. If the taste is sour, then you may need to add some sugar while preparation of this juice or else normal water will be good.

I had prepared Mango Milkshake without ice cream during the last season and you may refer my previous post for the same.

INGREDIENTS :

(1) 2 ripe Mangoes (washed)

(2) 1 raw Mango (washed)

(3) Sugar - 200 gms

(4) Water - approximately 1 litre

Serves : 3-4 persons

Time required : 20 minutes to prepare ingredients and 10 minutes to cook = 30 minutes

METHOD :

(1) Rinse the mangoes thoroughly to clean the mangoes. 

(2) Peel the skin of the mangoes and cut the pulp of the mangoes into small pieces and discard the seeds.

(3) Take a deep utensil and put 500 ml of water into it. Add 200 gms of sugar to the water. Also add the chopped mangoes to this. You may add the quantity of sugar depending on the sweetness of mangoes or as per sweetness required.

(4) Mix it well and cook on a medium flame for 10 - 12 minutes or till the mangoes become soft. Cover with a lid during the cooking process.

Second method is put the chopped mangoes along with sugar in a pressure cooker with 2 glasses of water. Close the lid and cook for 2-3 whistles.

(5) Once the mangoes become soft, turn off the gas flame. 

(6) Using the ladle, collect the cooked mangoes in a separate large bowl. 

Don’t discard the remaining mango water. Keep it aside.

(7) Let the cooked mangoes cool down to room temperature before grinding them.

(8) Once the cooked mangoes have cooled down, put them in a mixie / blending jar and grind it into a smooth puree.

(9) Mix the mango puree with mango water kept aside.

(10) Mix well. 

(11) Add 500 ml of water or as per the required consistency and depending on the sweetness required.

(12) Strain the mango water got in step 11 to collect the mango frooti. The fibre will remain in the strainer. Discard the fibre.

(13)  Cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to make them cool. Mango frooti is ready to serve.

Serve it in a serving glass as shown.