Fish with mustard seeds paste/ Sorshe Maach

There are some food habits that becomes almost synonym with a particular cuisine. Like Idli/ Dosa is a synonym for South Indian cuisine, delicious vegan dishes with the Gujarati cuisine...and fish with the bengali cuisine. Fish is almost a daily dish in Bengali household unless its a fasting day or vegetarian day. This sorshe mach is a typical dish that is so popular within my in-laws and they say itts a popular dish, whereas I tasted it only after my marriage. As for the fish with mustards I only had Hilsa with mustards and the preperation of that dish is different from this dish. If you are not familiar with this dish it can be an excellent taste changer in the day-to-day menu. It has the sizzling flavor from the mustards, a little spice from the green chilies and ginger and mustard oil and is also a little tangy, which comes from the tomatoes. Its a blend of various flavor which you can adjust according to your taste to make it mild to fit in the daily menu and also can increase the quantity of mustard and ginger to increase the richness of the dish.



Fish with mustard seeds/Shorshe Maach

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces of fish
• 2 tsp mustards seeds
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 2 tsp ginger paste
• 2 green chili
• 1 tsp kalonji/kalo jeera
• 1 medium sized tomato - chopped
• 3 tbsp mustard oil
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 1 cup of water

Method:

• Mix the pieces of fish with salt and turmeric powder and keep them aside for some time.
• Make a paste of the mustard seeds, poppy seeds, ginger and 1 chili.
• Take 2 tbsp oil in the pan and heat it.
• Fry the fishes well in both sides until it becomes a little crisp and brown.
• Put the fishes away after it is fried and cooked well.
• Now put another 1 tbsp oil in the same pan and heat it.
• Put kalonji/kalo jeera in it and let it sizzle.
• Now put the one cup of water in it and lets it come to a boil.
• Put turmeric powder and let it boil until the rawness of the flavor is gone.
• Put the fishes in it.
• Put the mustard seeds paste in it.
• Put the slitted green chili.
• Put the chopped tomato and let it boil.
• Boil it until the gravy turns thick.
• Put off the flame and serve it with steamed rice.