Macher Bhorta / Bengali Style Mashed Fish

What you do when you have 4-5 large big fish heads in your fridge and you are too lazy to whip up any delicacies with them? Simple....mash them up!! Well...that’s what I do when my stock of fish heads grow up. But of course you can do them with fish fillets or whole fish or fish pieces too!! Its just a simple way to finish them up rather than throwing them away, because none of us prefers fish heads in a curry.

It’s pretty easy to make and mustard oil is a must. So I just fried the fishes, mashed them ...sautéed some onions with garlic and ginger into the same oil and mixed them up. In Bangladesh, the same dish is made up with some “Taki Fish”, but I had never tasted them.

But this time, I made them with Meru..yes my Bhetki replacement in Abidjan. Hubby has bought a giant Meru from Cap Sud Supermarche, and I think it will easily fill 3-4 weeks of our fish cravings.

Macher Bhorta

Serves 3

Ingredients:

3-4 thick pieces of fish (you can use any fish. But use the one which you like to eat fried)

1 small onion – chopped

2 green chillies - chopped

3 cloves of garlic – minced / paste

½ inch stick of ginger – paste

A handful of fresh coriander leaves – chopped

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 dry red chilli

2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp ground coriander seeds

¼ tsp garam masala powder (optional)

Salt

2 tbsp mustard oil (add more if required)

Method:

Rub some salt and 1 tsp turmeric powder on the pieces of fish.

Let them marinate for 10-15 minutes.

Heat oil in a kadai and shallow fry the fishes one by one, till they are dark brown and crispy on the outside.

Once done, take them out of the kadai and let them cool down enough to handle.

Once they cool down, mash them with your hand and pick out all the bones you can find. Discard them all.

Heat the remaining oil from frying the fishes in the kadai and put the cumin seeds and the dry red chilli.

As the seeds start to splutter add in the chopped onions and stir till they become translucent.

Then add in the ginger – garlic paste and sauté till the raw flavour of the garlic is gone.
Transfer them to a bowl.

Now add the mashed fish.

Add in salt, ground coriander and garam masala powder.

Mix to incorporate everything and mashing them more.

In the end add in the chopped green chillies and coriander leaves.

Mix in, taste and adjust the seasonings and serve hot with some plain hot rice
You can pulse in once or twice in a food processor and then make small balls of them. This is how....the Bhortas are generally and traditionally served.