MAACH ER DIM ER TOK

 

FISH EGG RANKS HIGH AMONG MY MOST LOVED FOOD!

Its about 5:20 pm in the evening now; I am so late to start! I felt going ahead with an EASY FAMILY RECIPE would be the right thing to do today! I had an appointment in the morning with the doctor, I was walking thereafter, then sat to eat a bun set that costed me 2:50$. That was sometime around 1:30pm. I am completely in a relaxed mode / mood when I am eating. 

I came back home sometime post 2 pm and just sat for sometime, asking Cristine to have her lunch! The son neither took our call nor called us back over the weekend, hence, mumma is a bit off, else her blood sugar & pressure readings are good! Then I felt, lets take a good shower; the hair required a good shampooing, the lethargic self was delaying it! That took pretty good time, I felt as fresh as ever! Yet, there was a lingering bitterness since the morning, that only multiplied with time! In whatever mood I am, that does not affect my appetite unless my own are in trouble! So, I made my own homestyle tandoori roti because Cristine is not good at roti; she makes good luchi-porota!

I had that fulfilling meal sometime around 4:15 pm. Bossy too took "makhon makhano ruti o aloo-potol er dalna" in his lunch box. He is not picking up my phone, I cannot remember when did I stop expecting his call asking me about my health parameters after a check-up! 

IT IS 6:15 PM NOW, I CRAVE FOR SOME KURKURE BHINDI WITH MY EVENING CUPPA!

And the bell rang, today is a Monday and the man is back home! A sigh of relief is released; ever since my teens, this guy had been always by my side whenever the need arose; people left uninformed, he stood strong! The reason I tolerate him. Cristine is cooking some air-fried okra for me! Now, the man says he had a Bento Box in the office, would have the morning packed lunch box for dinner. I quietly asked Cristine to take out the chicken dry curry! I will have dal, chicken and salad! Carb at dinner in the past 15 days have added 2 kilos to my over weight self! I have to put a check on it, I do not intent to exhibit my obese self to bring in money, people and fame to myself and my blog! At this time, I am again back to an irritated self because the man brought back his lunch box, I do not want him to eat those morning made chapatis but he has to! You cannot put food to waste at this home! Whatever my mood is, it cannot disturb my blog; I love writing about recipe and my bit in CURRY AND SPICE; my precious FOOD BLOG!

WHAT IS MAACH ER DIM ER TOK?

MAACH ER DIM ER TOK is a SOUR TAMARIND CURRY with FISH EGG! This is a FAMILY RECIPE, we have been eating this NON-VEG CURRY since our childhood! My family always does this curry with BENGAL CARP EGG; my readers can use their choice of FISH EGG! I follow exact our mother's recipe of it; I think the entire family, both the father's & mother's side uses the same way of cooking it! We soak a bit of tamarind in a bowl of water. In another bowl we mix together red chilli powder, salt, turmeric, slitted green chillies. We fry lightly the fish egg pieces and cook in a tempered curry! The "radhuni phoron" is the most important part of our family recipe of MAACH ER TOK! After coming to this island, I do not wait for a summer to have SOUR CURRIES; a tropical climate lets you pamper yourself with it any time! Thats what I do, if I get in hand a fresh Bengal Carp fish in hand, I would cook a sour curry with it, if it has good amount of eggs in it, a curry with potato or a fried fish eggs or this sour curry is a must!

INGREDIENTS :

FISH EGG : 250-300 GM [WE USE BENGAL CARP EGG]

CARUM ROXBURGHIANUM SEED / RADHUNI / AJMOD : 1/4 TSP

TAMARIND : 2 TSP [YOU CAN USE HALF OF A RAW MANGO]

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

HALVED DRY RED CHILLI : 1 OR 2

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TSP [USE AS PER YOUR TOLERANCE LEVEL]

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

RICE FLOUR : 1 TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 3-4 TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

Wash the fish egg block well, cut into pieces. Marinate with salt & half of the turmeric & the rice flour. Keep aside for 10 minutes!

Soak the tamarind in a coffee mug!

Take together the rest of the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, washed & slitted green chillies!

Heat the oil in a wok, lightly fry the fish egg pieces in batches!

Take them out once fried! Temper the remaining oil with the radhuni / ajmod seeds and the halved dry red chillies. 

Add the powdered spices and slitted green chillies mixed water! Bring to a boil keeping the heat to minimal.

As the curry starts boiling, add the fried fish eggs! Let it boil at low heat for 4-5 minutes. Thereafter, strain the tamarind water and add. You can add one or two slitted green chillies at this stage.

Let the curry boil for another 3-4 minutes at low heat. My family add a bit of "radhuni / ajmod" seeds paste to the sour curry for an awesome, distinct flavour! I skip this part because it is impossible to paste so less amount of the seeds in a mixer. The mother says, we can skip that!

You can see we have some dal & aloo-paneer on the side!