TOMATO PEYAZ ALPO MOSHOLA DIYE POMFRET ER PATLA JHOL

With severe pain on my left shoulder & arm and on my right gum, I can only think of an easy share. My readers may think why I sit with the pain and do not go for a treatment. What I tell my man, I tell everyone; if it is not a severe ailment that requires immediate attention, we can always wait for our Kolkata visit. The man's office do have an insurance coverage for me and the son but we must reserve it for serious something, which we never wish to see in our life. Life should be merry and the exit should be plain and simple. I mean invest on mutton biryani, sandesh, fruits & nuts, hilsa, salmon & prawns too;  a beautiful home, crockeries if one wishes to; why on medicines and hospital bills? 

It is in my plan to go for Traditional Chinese Massage for the shoulder pain, I am not just going for the fear of the pandemic. I have to lie down on a bed where I do not know who  had lay down before me. Few months back the same massage by an elderly gentleman got me rid of my pain; I guess, we have to do it regularly. He and even the younger Dr.Chang told me its just a case of stiff muscle may be. And Old Dr.Chang? He always asks me to do the expensive tests on my India visits. Unfortunately, we do not get to meet, he got older & weaker and sits in a chamber near their home. Would the doctors' family of four; father, mother, brother, sister like this light fish curry with pomfret, TOMATO PEYAZ ALPO MOSHOLA DIYE POMFRET ER PATLA JHOL? I think they will like the fish & rice meal. I have met them all in these ten years of stay, they do not know what fleecing is. In fact, the medical world in this island does not know what fleecing is; you just pay for the five star service you get. That is a huge amount for the expats like us.

The start of today was good. Our son was nice to mumma, at least texted back in no time. Some days, it is a long wait. He is always busy. Mumma wants every details of his day and night and he refuses to. I thought we will chat over video calls, he refuses to send even a selfie. Let the father come home, if he agrees to do some video chats over the weekend. I / We know life would never be the same for us once the bird has flown from the nest. I do respect his new life, I know he is busy, just the thought of him been alone in an unknown land is so fearful. I thought, now that there is nothing like "the son will come back from school" thing, I can walk few more miles. But nope; I am more eager to be at home and wait for the evening and then for the next morning, when I get some text messages. The man must be having the same feeling, he hardly expresses. However, both of us wish for the same thing; that our son stays safe and free of any stress. He is very unwilling to say what he is eating in his meals; so I do not know if at all he is having fish meals, fish curry and rice, his favourite salmon or pomfret or prawns at all or not. Mumma cooked this non-vegetarian light fish curry with pomfret TOMATO PEYAZ ALPO MOSHOLA DIYE POMFRET ER PATLA JHOL few months back; the son & his father so loves this less boney, fleshy fish, Cristine too!

INGREDIENTS :

POMFRET : 6-8 MEDIUM SIZED

TOMATO : 1 STANDARD SIZED

ONION : 1 BIG

GREEN CHILLI : 3-4 [SLITTED]

CORIANDER LEAF : 2-3 SPRIG [CHOPPED]

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP

DRY MANGO POWDER : 2TSP 

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

RICE FLOUR : 2 TSP

RADHUNI / AJMOD [WIKI SAYS] : 2-3 PINCH [WIKI says radhuni is dried fruit of Trachyspermum Roxburghianum, a flowering plant; smells like parsley, tastes like celery. Honestly, until I had a blog, I did not require to know what radhuni is called outside my family; some called it wild celery seed, I took it, now WIKI says this, I have to correct the earlier blogposts. Others may not admit they have learnt from WIKI, they will say they made a lot of research and proved people like us wrong, I have no such airs; I only cook with care. But a wrong is a wrong, it must be corrected.]

DRY RED CHILLI : 2 [HALVED]

BAY LEAF : 1

OIL : 5-6 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Clean and wash the pomfrets well. Marinate with salt and half the amount of turmeric mentioned. Keep aside for 15 to 20 minutes.

Discard the two ends of the onion, peel, wash and slice. Wash and slit the green chillies. Discard the root end of the fresh coriander, chop and wash well. Wash and chop the tomatoes.

Heat the oil in a wok. Coat each of the pomfrets in rice flour and fry both sides medium at low heat.

Temper the same oil with the bay leaf, radhuni, halved dry red chillies. 

Add the sliced onion and fry until translucent. Add the turmeric + cumin + coriander + red chilli powders, little salt and fold in well.

Add the tomatoes; stir & cover cook at low heat until half melt.

Open the cover and add water, bring to boil keeping the heat at low.

Add the dry mango powder and give a stir.

Add the fried fish pieces and let boil at low heat for 5-6 minutes. Add the chopped coriander & slitted green chillies now and boil for 2-3 minutes.

It is to be had with steamed rice only. We also had "mulo chechki, methi aloo begun, shojne data aloo beguner jhol" on the sides that day.