Sorshe Maach / Bengali Mustard Fish Curry

If poppy seed is the king of our cooking ingredients then mustard must be the queen. Both of them most of the time goes hand in hand...as well as on their own too!! The world worships the French for inventing the Dijon Mustard...”mutard de dijon” as they call it, but I think the Bengalis have mastered the art of cooking with mustard better than anyone in this world. There is nothing better than the strong pungent aroma of the mustard paste after it is blended with some kancha sorsher tel / raw mustard oil. I have come to love it so much that making mustard fish in different ways have become a rather hobby of mine.

Almost every household in Bengal has their own “sorshe maach” recipe. Today it’s time for the simplest one.

Prepare the mustard pate and peel the garlic cloves.

Rub turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt over the pieces of fish.

Heat oil and add nigella seeds to them.

Then pour in the mustard paste and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the pieces of fish, whole green chillies and garlic cloves and cook covered till done. Add water if needed.

You can bake this dish. But I prefer to cook. That gives me more of a confidence that I am cooking the fish right.

Sorshe Maach

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 pieces of fish (cut into steak like thickness)

2 tbsp mustard seeds
2 tsp poppy seeds
1 green chilli for the paste

4 whole green chillies

3 cloves of garlic – peeled only

A handful of fresh coriander leaves – chopped

2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp nigella seeds

Salt

2-3 tbsp mustard oil

Method:

Take the fish pieces in a bowl and rub the red chilli powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder and some salt over them. Once done keep them aside.

Make a smooth paste of the mustard seeds, 1 green chilli and poppy seeds using some water and add in the rest of the turmeric powde in it. Also add in ½ cup of water and mix to incorporate everything.

Heat the oil in a pan and add in the nigella seeds.

As the seeds start to sizzle pour in the prepared mustard paste. Pour the mixture slowly so that the remains of the seeds remain in the glass / bowl and the water only flows away. In the end when you can only see the black skin of the seeds you stop.

Stir and cook the mustard paste for 2-3 minutes and after that place the pieces of fish on the pan, one beside the other.

Sprinkle the whole garlic cloves and green chillies over them and put cover.

Cook in this way for 3-4 minutes and then add in ½ cup of water to them.

Sprinkle some salt and put cover again. This time cook for 10-12 minutes more or until the fishes are nicely done. If the gravy becomes dry in this process then add in water to continue the cooking.

To check whether the fishes are done or not, poke them with a skewer or fork. If they dig in nicely without any force, then the fishes are ready.

Once the fishes are done, put off the cover and simmer on medium flame until the oil starts to float on top.

Put off the flame, sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves over them and serve hot with steamed hot rice.