Bele macher gravy with Mustard paste

Bela Mach (বেলে) is named as Scribbled Goby Fish in English. The recipe which I,m going to share with you is "Bele macher gravy with Mustard paste", which is a very tasty, low spicy fish dish from Bengal. Bengalis are very much affectionate on fish and rice and this is why a proverb has become very much famous for them – "Mache Bhate Bangali" and they are very much expert and master in cooking fish in different ways. In Bengal, you will find lot of varieties of fish in any market you visit, such as Rahu, Katla, Tangra, Parse, Chingri, Ilish, Puti and many more. Bele Mach is also one of the most common available fish in the market. Basically the size of the fish starts from small to medium with small fine scales on their body and they are sweet water fish, but it is also found in sea water. The tasty one is which comes from sweet water. This recipe is being prepared with the use of very less ingredients - mustard seed paste, green chilli, chopped onions and little bit of turmeric powder.

I would like you to try this recipe at your home and have it with steamed rice. I bet you will love the taste of it and please do share with me how you feel about this recipe.

BELE MACHER GRAVY WITH MUSTARD PASTE

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Bele Fish – 8

Onion – 1 medium, chopped

Slit Green Chilli – 4 to 5

Green Chilli – 2 to 3

Black Cumin seeds – 1/4th tbsp.

Turmeric powder – ½ tbsp.

Salt – as per taste

Black Mustard seed paste – 4 tbsp

Mustard oil

Preparation:

Wash the mustard seeds with cold water and drain the water. Keep aside.

Wash and clean the fishes. Marinate them with salt and turmeric powder for 15 minutes.

During this time, make the smooth mustard seeds paste adding green chilli (2 to 3).

Take a pan, heat oil (5 to 6 tbsp), shallow fry the fish pieces. Keep them aside. Here I must give you a small tips – if the fishes are fresh, then don’t fry tem too much as they will become hard and the spices what you use, will not enter properly inside the fishes.

Now, in the same pan, add some more mustard oil (3 tbsp) and heat the oil.

Add black cumin seeds, then after few seconds add chopped onion, fry them till the onions become golden brown.

Add turmeric powder, slit green chilli, fry for a minute.

Add water (1/2 cup), and then add mustard seed/green chilli paste. Mix them all.

Allow the mixture to boil.

Then place the fried fished very slowly one by one in the pan, as this fishes are very soft.

Put the flame in low and the lid of the pan, keep cooking for 10 to 12 minutes, so that the gravy goes well inside the fishes.

So, your effort making “Bele Macher Gravy with Mustard paste” ends here.

Serve this with steamed rice.

Sweet Flatten Rice Pulao

Flatten Rice is made of rice, which is mainly popular In West Bengal, but people from other parts of Indian also use it to make verious kind of preparations. Pulao - a very well known recipe in India and is made off either Basmati Rice, Gobindobogh Rice or any scented rice and Rice is being the main ingredient of Pulao recip.
In our childhood days my mother used to make an excellent breakfast preparation which still remains as favorite breakfast in this grown up days also. Instead of rice, in this recipe my mother use flatten rice as the main ingredient and rest of the ingredients are almost same as rice pulao. 
The recipe which I'm going to share with you is very much similar to the Yellow Pulao recipe - one of the popular, famous and favourite recipes for Bengalis.
Last Sunday, I was joggling my mind about what to do on breakfast for my kids and immediately my mother remind me about the recipe which we call it - "Sweet Faltten Rice Pulao". This was prepared after a long days and you won't believe, my kids were so satisfied and happy to have this superb recipe.  

SWEET FLATTEN RICE PULAO

Servings: 4  to 5
Ingredients:

Flatten Rice (Chire) - 250 gms
White Oil - 1/2 cup
Clerified Oil - 1/4 cup
Potato - 1 cup, cut into cubes
Beans - 1/4th cup, finely chopped
Carrot - 1/4th cup, chopped
Cashew Nuts - 1/2 cup, broken into half
Raisin - 1/4 th cup, wash and soaked in water for 15 minutes
Bay leaves - 3
Cinnamon - 1" size x 2 pieces
Green Cardamom - 8 to 10
Cloves - 4 to 5
Salt - as per taste
Sugar - 1/4th cup

Preparation:

Clean and cut the potatoes into small cubes.
Wash the flatten rice in water for 3 to 4 times and drain water as much as you can. keep aside. No need to soak the flatten rice.

In a pan, heat white oil, add potatoes, chopped beans, chopped carrot. Fry for few minutes till the veggies become tender.
Once the veggies become tender, add cashew nuts, bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves. Fry for a minute in low flame, then add sugar and cook till the sugar melts.
Then add washed chira or flatten rice on it and mix well with all the ingredients. Add salt and mix them all. Remember, your oven flame should be in low and you should stir them frequently to avoid sticking. 
Slowly add ghee from all sides of the pan. Mix well slowly.
Fry them for 6 to 7 minutes.
Switch off the oven. Your Sweet Flatten Rice Pulao is ready to serve.

Sweet Palm Fruit Vadas

Palm fruit has been found in many forms specially in India and in other Asian counutries.. During early summer palm seeds are being sold throughout the market and in late summer the riped palm fruit is available which is juicy with fibrous outer layer. Palm fruit is healthy and rich in vitamins – like A, B, C and also full of minerals as – potassium, iron, calcium, phosphorous and zinc.  

The palm juice is used to make pancakes, sweets, kheer, snacks (vadas) and many more and Bengalis are expert in preparing many verities from the yellowish juice that is obtained from the ripe palm fruit. 

Bengalis are expert of making various sweet dishes from the yellowish fluid or juice obtained from ripe palm fruit. The only tough thing is to get the juice out of the kernels, but it is worth doing this hard work as you will really enjoy the taste on every bite of this Sweet Palm Fruit Bora. 

Amongst all other recipes the famous preparations are Taler Bora or Vada (তালের বড়া), or Taalkheer (তাল ক্ষীর), which is basically a combination of palm fruit juice with milk and sugar.

SWEET PALM FRUIT VADAS

Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients:

Ripe Palm Fruit - 1

Sugar - 1 cup, or as per your taste

Flour - 2 cups

Mustard Oil - for deep frying

Preparation:

Take out the top portion of the palm fruit. The brown skin to be peeled off to get the yellow ripened fibrous layer. Now separate the kernels (edible center within the hard shell), normally you will find 3 to 4 kernels.

Soak them in water for 1 hours, to make the kernels juicy and it also helps you to remove the juice.

To remove the juice, squash the kernels on any hard plastic or metal plate with lot of holes in it, keeping a bowl below the plate. So when you start rubbing the kernel on the plate, the juice will easily come out and gather in the bowl.

Once the juice is collected, add flour, sugar into the juice. Mix them well by stirring continuously with your hand. Check the consistency of the mixture as it should be thick enough, if not then use some more flour as the mixture should have dropping consistency. Taste it, add sugar if required. To check the consistency see my video.

Heat sufficient mustard oil in a deep thick bottomed frying pan.

Drop the mixture with a spoon, or best you can use your hand to make small round vadas.

Deep fry them properly till they becomes deep brown. Remove them and keep them on paper towel to soak extra oil

Enjoy the Sweet Palm Fruit Vadas. You can keep this vadas for 3 to 4 days without refrigeration. 

Indian Hog Plum Sweet Pickles

In Bengali we call it "Amra" and in English it is known as Hog Plum. The pulp of this fruit can be eaten fresh or can be be used to make juices, jelly, pickles. Also the leaves,bark, juice and roots are commonly used to make medicines for various treatments.

Today I will share with u a unique pickle recipe from Hog Plum. For Indians pickles and chutneys plays an important role amongst all food items. Amra is only available during summer, hence you need to preserve it through pickles, chutneys, jam and jelly.

INDIAN HOG PLUM SWEET PICKLES

Ingredients:

Ripe Hog Plums (amra)- 250g

Molasses – 4 to 5 tbsp

Salt – as per taste

White oil – 2 tbsp

Garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Green Chilies – 2 or 3, finely chopped

Dried Mango powder – ½ tbsp

Preparation:

Clean and wash the ripe hog plums.

Put them in a pan with water, so that water covers the plums and cook till they become soft. I boil for 3 to 4 minutes which is sufficient for ripe plum. If u use green hog plum then you need to boil for 6 to 7 minutes.  

Allow it to cool down completely.

Remove the skin from the plums with your fingers and squeeze the plums to take out the juice, leaving the pit behind. Now, put the juice in a blender to make a fine paste. Remove the paste from the blender and keep it a separate bowl.

Add salt, molasses and dried mango powder into the juice, stir well. Taste once just to adjust the seasoning to your taste. Keep it aside.

For tempering, take white oil in a pan and heat the oil.

Add the garlic paste and let it sauté till it turns to light golden brown.

Once it is done, add the green chilies and fry for a few seconds and pour this tempering on the

Pour the tempering on the Hog Plum juice.

Serve immediately with kebabs, parathas or any snacks or you can also store it in a clean dry airtight jar and refrigerate for a week.

Hot and Sour Tangra Fish Gravy

Tangra is a fish which is mostly available in West Bengal and also a common and favourite fish for Bengalis and they are expert in making varieties of recipe out of it. It's a sweet water fish and the size varies from small to medium. I will share a typical and uncommon recipe of Tangra Mach (fish) which I've learnt from my mother recently. The moment I've tasted this recipe, I couldn't restrict myself from sharing with you all. 

HOT AND SOUR TANGRA FISH GRAVY

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

Tangra Fish – 10 pieces

Panch Foron – ½ tbsp.

Garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Slit Green Chilli – 3

Coriander seeds paste – 2 tbsp

Radhuni (celery) seeds paste – 2 tbsp

Green Mango paste – 2 tbsp

Coriander paste – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tbsp

Mustard oil – 4 to 5 tbsp

Salt – as per taste

Coriander leaves – 3 tbsp, chopped

Preparation:

Clean and wash the tangra fishes. Marinate with little bit of turmeric powder and salt for 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan, fry the fish pieces and keep aside.

In the same pan, add panch foron, garlic paste, turmeric powder (1/2 tbsp) and slit green chilli. Fry little bit.

Then add dhania (coriander seed) paste, radhuni paste, green mango paste, coriander paste. Sauté for a minute. Add little water and cook well for another one minute.

Once, the spices mixture is cooked well, add fried tangra fish. Coat the fish pieces with the masala mixture. Turn the fish on other side. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes.

On top the fish gravy, add chopped coriander and whole green chilli and little raw mustard oil around the gravy.

Cover the lid and allow it to cook for 10 minutes in low flame.

Serve this exotic Hot & Sour Tangra Fish Gravy preparation with hot steamed rice.

Spicy Dim Posto Curry

Posto or poppy seeds are a favorite and common cooking ingredients for Bengalis. Bengalis use this posto or poppy seeds in many recipes and I can bet, you will love all the recipes that includes this amazing seeds. Though Dim Posto is not a common or regular item, but this will definitely make your breakfast or lunch great and delicious. You can have Spicy Dim Posto Curry with steamed rice, chapatti, roti and even with parathas. In this recipe my mother use sesame seeds paste, though it is optional.

SPICY DIM POSTO CURRY

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

Eggs (Dim) – 4 

Turmeric powder – 1 tbsp

Chilli powder – 1 tbsp

Kashmiri Red Chilli powder – 1 tbsp

Green Chilli – 4 to 5

Dry Whole Red Chilli – 2

Cardamom – 5

Cloves – 4

Cinnamon stick – 1” size

Salt – for marinate (1/2 tbsp) and for cooking (as per taste)

Poppy seeds – 3 to 4 tbsp, soaked in hot water for 30 to 40 minutes

Onion – ¾ th cup or 1 medium, chopped

Ginger / Garlic paste – 1 and half tbsp.

Mustard Oil – 4 tbsp

Preparation:

Take poppy seeds and green chilli in a bowl and soak them with warm water for 30 to 40 minutes.

Grind the poppy seeds and green chilli with the help of Stone Grinder as shown in my photo to make a smooth psate. Keep it aside.

Boil the eggs, peel and cut into half. Marinate the egg pieces for 15 minutes by rubbing with turmeric powder (1/2 tbsp) and salt (1/2 tbsp) evenly all around the eggs.

Onion needs to be chopped and keep aside.

Take some oil (2 tbsp) and place the eggs with yolk side down, fry for few seconds and turn the other side of the egg pieces and fry till it becomes golden brown. Once it is done remove the egg pieces and keep them aside.

Add more oil (1 tbsp), heat the oil, then add dry whole red chilli, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick. Fry all the whole spices for a minute.

Add chopped onion, sauté for 2 to 3 minutes till the onion becomes soft.

Add ginger/garlic paste and sauté for another 30 seconds.

Then add chilli powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder and again fry the spices for few seconds.

Add water (as per requirement of gravy, but don’t add too much of water as the gravy needs to thick), stir continuously for few minutes (3 to 4 minutes) and allow the gravy to boil.

Add poppy seeds paste, mix it with the gravy in medium flame and wait till the gravy reaches it’s desired consistency.

Place the fried eggs with yolk side up and cook for few minutes in low flame.

Finally add raw mustard oil (1 tbsp) all around the gravy, cover the lid and cook for few minutes in low flame.

Switch off the oven and transfer it to serving bowl.

Serve this Spicy Dim Posto Curry with steamed rice, chapatti, roti or even with parathas.

Homemade Guava Jelly

Jelly, for me it is all time favorite and loved by kids on toast and thus we can classify it as unique recipe for kids. Today I have learnt how to make a very simple and easy Guava jelly recipe from my mother and this recipe hardly requires any ingredients. The main ingredient to prepare this jelly is ripe guava. Moreover my mother doesn’t use any preservative into it, but still you can preserve it for 5 to 6 months if it is properly refrigerated.

If you increase or decrease the quantity of guava, accordingly you should increase or decrease the quantity of other ingredients mentioned below.

HOMEMADE GUAVA JELLY

Ingedients:

Ripe Guava - 10, medium size

Water - 5 cups or as required to cover the fruits

Sugar - 1 cup of sugar for 1 cup of juice

Fresh Lime or lemon juice - 1 tbsp juice for 1 cup of juice

Preparation:

Cut guavas in big cubes.

In a pan put all the guava pieces and pour water so that water covers the guava pieces.

Cook the guavas till they become tender and soft. 

Switch off the oven.

Cool the guava mixture.

Take a muslin cloth and cover a big bowl with the cloth, pour the guava mixture in the middle of the cloth. The liquid will pass through the cloth and the guava pieces will remain on the cloth. Now bring together all the four sides of the cloth and tie a knot and start squeezing the cloth to get maximum juice out of it.  

Put aside the residue from the cloth. 

Once the juice is collected, take the measurement of the juice as this is important to measure other ingredients.

In my case, for 10 guavas, my mother extracted 3 cups of juices. So, she used 3 cups of sugar and 3 tablespoon of lime or lemon juice.

Measurement is – for 1 cup of juice, add 1 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Now put the mixture of juice, sugar and lemon juice in a pan and start boiling till the liquid becomes very thick. You can also take some liquid on a spoon and test with your fingers, if you feel it sticky, means it is done.

Remove it from the oven and wait for half an hour.

The Guava Jelly is ready. Take a sterilized jar pour the jelly into it when it is slightly warm.

Cover the jar with the lid tightly. To keep the jelly for longer time you can put it in the refrigerator when it is completely cool. 

Spicy Indian Red Lentil Soup

Red Lentils are the seeds from legume plants and cook very fast. Particularly in Indian food it is commonly used to prepare Dal, Soup etc. It is nutritious and also a high source of protein. Lentil also helps improving your health and weight loss. This Spicy Indian Red Lentil Soup is a great soup recipe which is really refreshing. Have this soup with bread toast, parathas and roti.

Servings: 6 to 7

Ingredients:

SPICY INDIAN RED LENTIL SOUP

Lentils – 250 g

Vegetable Stock – 8 to 9 cups

Tomato – 2 medium, crushed

Garlic – 2 cloves, diced

Ginger – 2 tbsp, minced

Onion – 2 small, diced

Curry powder – 2 tbsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tbsp

Dried Fenugreek – 1 tbsp

Curry Leaves – 4/5, diced

Jalapeno – 1 diced
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp, chopped

Salt – as per taste

Sugar – 1 and half tbsp.

Pepper powder – as per taste

Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp

Preparation: 

Heat oil in a pan, sauté the diced onion, garlic, curry leaves and minced ginger in medium flame until they turn translucent.

JALAPENO

Add the diced jalapenos and sauté for 10 minutes.

INDIAN LENTILS

Wash and clean the lentils thoroughly until the water runs clear.

DRIED FENUGREEK

Now add all of your dry spices like curry powder, turmeric powder, dried fenugreek and mix them well.

The curry leaves may be discarded and add crushed tomatoes, salt, sugar.

Add the vegetable stock and also washed lentils. Turn up heat and allow the lentil mixture to boil. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat and cook for 30 minutes so that the soup becomes thick and the lentils are tender. Finally add pepper powder as per your taste and chopped coriander. 

Switch off the oven.

Serve Spicy Indian Lentil Soup hot.

Parse Fish Masala with Cumin paste & Yogurt

Parse fish is widely available and also a very common and popular fish in West Bengal. This recipe is for the people who don't like using Red Chilli Powder in their cooking. I've used Green Chilli paste as well as Pepper Powder instead of Red Chilli powder to make it slightlt hot. I've also used fresh homemade Tomato Puree and Yogurt to make the recipe more tasty and delicious. 

PARSE FISH MASALA WITH CUMIN PASTE & YOGURT

Servings: 5

Ingredients:

Parse Fish – 10 pieces

Turmeric powder – 1/2 tbsp

Ghee (clarified butter) – 2 tbsp

Garlic paste – 1 and 1/2  tbsp

Green Cardamom – 10 to 12, crushed

Pepper – 15 to 20 or 1/2 tbsp, crushed

Fresh Tomato Puree – 3 tbsp

Smooth Cumin paste – 2 tbsp 

Green Chilli paste – 1 tbsp

Yogurt – 4 tbsp, beaten

Water – as per requirement of your gravy

Salt – as per taste

Mustard Oil – 4 tbsp

Preparation:

PARSE FISH

Wash and clean the fish pieces. Marinate fish with turmeric powder and salt for 15 to 20 minutes.

Then heat oil in a pan, shallow fry the fish pieces and keep aside.

In the same oil, add ghee. After ghee melts completely, add garlic paste, crushed green cardamom, crushed pepper. Sauté a little bit.

Then add tomato puree. Cook for a minute. Add little water. Mix them well.

After the mixture is cooked, add cumin paste. Now you need to cook it well for a minute.

Add turmeric powder (1/2 tbsp), and beaten yogurt, add very less water in the mixture.

Keeping the flame low, add salt, mix them and then place the fishes one by one. Coat the fishes with the gravy.

Finally add very little ghee (1/2 tbsp) on the top of the fish gravy.

Cover the lid and let it cook in low flame for another 5 minutes so that the masala goes inside the fishes.

Switch off the flame, don’t open the lid and keep it as it is for 5 minutes more.

Serve this Parse Fish Masala with Yogurt and Cumin paste with steamed rice, pulao and any other rice preparation.