A FAMILY THAT ADDS SHRIMPS & FISH HEAD TO DIFFERENT VEGETABLES!
I hail from that family where it was / is a regular affair to add smaller prawns & fish heads to different dishes with vegetables! When I took up the ladle on my hands after shifting to my own home, I took to the same. Even the in-law's side did / does cook a CABBAGE or a BOTTLE GOURD with FISH HEAD; also their signature BHANGACHORA SHUKTO! My side of the family goes a little further about using very small sized prawns (icha?) to fish head in different dishes. I have also heard about many Bengali Families; even in certain sections of the family branch that they cannot have a vegetarian dish alone unless some prawns or fish head pieces are thrown in. In my family, the fish head varieties used are mainly of aar maach / long whiskered cat fish, rui, katla / Bengal carps. I have a favourite recipe of mine using the cat fish head waiting to be featured, I wished to get my readers this one today! So many memories attached gets alive when I cook them in my kitchen; with them the emotions that rushes through the veins! Amazing enough, when I started cooking in my own kitchen, they were all heirloom Bengali; I was in my early 30's then and did not feel any urge to go otherwise! For the taste of varied cuisines, the Kolkata Restaurants had their doors open!
WHAT IS THE FIFTY-SOME DOING THESE DAYS?
She does not know, what she is unto! She never had any clear target in her life! One must have! But I wake up with gratitude and happiness! It never feels life has no meaning for me! The only worry is I cannot sit in the eateries and eat the food of my choice. Also pre-menopause is causing pain in different parts of the body! Last Friday too, me and the help got home food and ate our lunch post 4 pm and tomorrow too we are to do that! We are just stuck up, we cannot travel out of the island fearing the denial of re-entry; rules are really stricter for us expats. I cannot watch television serials or live shows. How long can you remain glued to movies & series? Okay, you can blame it on me for not reading enough! Its almost two years now we are immovable. I am not blaming anyone; I know all restrictions made are meant for the good of the mankind! Only that, this was the time for us to explore new things, we have failed it! We cannot behave irresponsible either! Moreover, if your child does not behave normal as other kids do, you are in trouble. I am not comparing kids, but I am finding it difficult to cope up with the situation, people near & far have to behave normal! In this scenario, if I cannot sit in an eatery and get to eat, gaze, think, click; where is the glee? Anyway, I do not cease to eat and be merry! After an hour of swim, below is my lunch today, I am happy!
The mother was saying her sugar level increased eating a lot of mango, same is in my case! I forgot when I prepared that lobia curry, in the Stone Age may be! I took it out from the dark corner of the refrigerator! I forget what I cook on a Saturday and then I shout at the help for not keeping track!
WHAT IS MAACH ER MATHA DIYE BANDHAKOPIR GHONTO?
What is MAACHER MATHA? It is FISH HEAD in Bengali! What is BANDHAKOPI? We call CABBAGE so in Bengali!What is GHONTO? In Bengali, it refers to MISH-MASH! So, MAACH ER MATHA DIYE BANDHAKOPIR GHONTO is a cabbage & fish head mish-mash using few regular spices! Mine is a REGULAR BENGALI MEDLEY with cabbage and Bengal Carp Head! May be other Bengali Homes use Bhetki / Sea Bass bones & head but both sides of my family use Rui or Katla heads. My side of the family specifically uses smaller heads weighing not more than a 2-2.5kg fish for this particular GLUTEN-FREE dish, whilst for a moong dal-fish head curry or fragrant rice-fish head curry, we would use bigger fish heads having lots of oil! I loved the bigger fish heads with lots of fish fat and oil, I cannot have now. I have to find out if this dislike is because I do not get the desired quality & freshness of fish here or it has to do something with my aging! I think most of the Bengali Homes cook this dish just the way we do it! After my choice of lunch been done with, I feel happy and energetic enough to share the recipe with my beautiful readers! Thereafter, I look forward to a Coffee / Chai session with papor / papad bhaja! And here I had it!
Besides, I think I had 4-5 rusks all day through, I do not count them but my mid-section looks miserable!
CABBAGE : 1 STANDARD SIZED
BENGAL CARP / RUI / KATLA HEAD : OF A 2KG-2.5KG FISH
TOMATO : 1 STANDARD SIZED
GREEN CHILLI : 2-3 HALVED
GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4 TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 3-4 PINCH
CLOVES POWDER : 2-3 PINCH
CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP
BAY LEAF : 1
DRY RED CHILLI : 1-2 HALVED
SUGAR : 11/2 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
GHEE : 1 TBSP
OIL : 4-5 TBSP
PROCEDURE :
Ask your fish vendor to cut the head into smaller pieces! Wash them very well, I prefer washing them under running water! Drain the water! Marinate with some salt & 1/2 tsp of turmeric! Make sure the marination reaches the remote parts of the fish head!
In a bowl, prepare a paste with the ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric & little of salt & 2 tbsp water.
Wash and chop the tomato & slit the green chillies!
Discard the root end of the cabbage, cut into 4 halves. Shred each part and discard the white, hard, mid section! Take in a colander and wash very well! Let the water drain away!
Heat the oil in a wok and deep fry the fish head parts in batches. Remember to discard the marinade, else the oil would explode!
Take them out and temper the remaining oil with the cumin seeds & bay leaf! We can add some oil if required!
Add the spice paste and stir cook at low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the shredded cabbage and stir at high heat for 3-4 minutes. Lower the heat to minimal and cover cook for 10-12 minutes! Make sure to remove cover and stir in between!
Add the chopped tomatoes & slitted green chillies and give a stir. The cabbage should release some water. If it does not, add a cup of water and cover cook for another 7-8 minutes.
Remove the cover, add the fried fish head pieces and fold in well! Thereafter, add the cinnamon+green cardamom+cloves powders and salt if required; fold in well! Let it cook for 4-5 minutes!
Add the ghee and sugar and fold in very well! We should be done. We are to have it with steamed, piping hot rice!
What you see alongside are "dhonepata diye bhaja moong er dal, bhindi-begun-aloo bhaja, shaak bhaja"; all authentic Bengali dishes!
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