We were taking a leisurely stroll around the CR park market when the fresh Pomfrets caught our eyes and we decided to go for it. Bongs are very fond of this fish. Rupam too loves Pomfret shorshe bata (a.k.a. Pomfret in mustard sauce).
I had my husband's favourite fish in hand and the irony was that I had never seen my mom making it. So, I had no recipe. Without wasting any time I Googled for the recipe. Exactly then it struck me that I had seen my mother-in-law cooking some other fish in shorshe bata (mustard sauce) and I decided to proceed with the same recipe. So, my tryst with pomfrets started and I could prepare a decent Pomfret Shorshe Bata going by the washed out memories of my Mother in law’s recipe. The steps were:-
The first and the obvious step is to clean the fish. I had put my husband on task for this step.
Next marinade the fish pieces by rubbing little salt and turmeric into the pieces.
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| Marinated fish pieces |
Then heat some mustard oil in a wok and fry the fish pieces till it turns dark golden in color. This step requires a little patience and care. Firstly, heat the oil very well. It should be smoking hot.
Take extra care while flipping the fishes in the frying process as it tends to break.
Have patience while frying the fish. It takes a little time. However, be careful not to burn the pieces.
Once the fishes are fried, the next step is to cook them in mustard sauce curry.To prepare mustard sauce I had soaked two large tea spoon full of mustard seeds in warm water for half hour.
Take out mustard seeds from water and put in a grinder with one green chilli.
Grind it into a fine paste using a little water.
Separate the mustard seed skin out of the sauce by using a sieve. The output would be fine thick creamy mustard sauce.
The final step is to cook the fried pomfrets in mustard sauce curry. For this, heat some more mustard oil in wok. You may use the oil left from fish frying.
After the oil is piping hot, put nigella seeds, a.k.a. kalongi; a green chilli slit into two halves.
After the nigella seeds stops spluttering, put in a little turmeric, red chilli and mustard sauce.
Cook for a minute and add one medium sized finely chopped tomato. Mix in salt, cover and cook.
Stir the curry every 2-3 minutes so that it do not stic to the bottom and keep cooking on medium flame till the tomatoes are mushy and mixed well in the curry.
Now, add the fried pomfret pieces into the curry and stir well. Add some water. In this preparation, the curry has thick consistency; so do not add much water. The curry must be thick and not watery. Cook covered for 4-5 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves
The dish is quick and easy to prepare. I loved the fact that it turned out so tasty even after using minimum oil and spices. I had a firm belief that tasty dishes must have more spices. This proved to be a myth after I prepared Pomphret Shorshe Bata.
Enjoy the Pics :))
