Chanchra ( Kumro - Pui Shaak r Chanchra ) / Bengali Mishmash

Hope all my San Diego friends are doing fine in the midst of this scary hot and wild summer. Things have calmed down a bit after last two day’s fire and smoke all over the place. Wish it doesn’t come back in near future. I captured the pictures of my new post a few days back but couldn’t concentrate to write down the recipe. Also since this is the last month before summer vacation of my son’s school, we were busy with many field trip events. I usually try to post one recipe each week. If I skip one week, then it becomes a bit difficult to get back to the old track. 

Anyway, today I am going to share a Bengali recipe, so my non-bengali friends have to bear with several Bengali terms. The name of today’s dish is Chanchra / Kumro-Pui Shaak r Chanchra. Kumro means pumpkin and pui shak is commonly known as Vine Spinach. Its scientific name is Basella Alba. The other names of this category of spinach are red vine spinach, climbing spinach, creeping spinach and malabar spinach. Bengalis named this spinach Pui , puin or pohi. It is an edible vine, generally found in tropical Asia and Africa, where it is widely used as a leaf vegetable.  “Chanchra” is the word to describe the cooking style. It's a semi-dry curry, a medley of vegetables and green leaves that are cooked at low flame with minimum spices. It is widely popular as a side dish at any feast especially during lunch in any Bengali wedding ceremony.  I can still remember that in our childhoods, we used to eagerly wait for this dish while attending any Bengali Marriage. Things might have changed today when lunch/dinner menus in Bengali marriage are largely influenced by foods/cultures from other communities.

 The "Chanchra" is generally cooked with leafy vegetables, along with pumpkin, potato and with eggplants and few other vegetables. If you don't get malabar spinach, it's fine. Normal spinach or any other leafy vegetables ( shak ) will work here. You can make this dish in complete vegetarian way too with no fish head. But most of the time we add the fish head of hilsa, Rohu or katla and it tastes awesome. Here since we don't get these fishes regularly,  so it's not a common dish in my kitchen.

Fortunately last week we got Hilsha fish from local grocery shop here. So I didn't miss the chance to have some chanchra after a long time. I was not big vegetable lovers in my younger days, but as we grow old, being forced to change eating habits. This is a good healthy choice for the people who wants to add more fiber to their diet. 

The recipe is very simple. Even though it's a traditional dish, it still varies and from one home to another. I follow the way it used to be cooked at my home.  

Recipe of Pumpkin and Vine Spinach or Spinachwith Fish head ( chanchra / Kumro - Pui Shak r Chanchra ) : serves 4 to 5 

Ingredients :

Vine Spinach / Malabar spinach / Pohi / Pui Shaak: 3 to 4 cups (leaves along with stems, wash and chop them into 1 inch long pieces ) if you don't get vine spinach, use fresh spinach only
Pumpkin: 1 cup, peeled and cubed 
Potato: a small, peeled and cubed 

Flat beans (optional) : 1 cup, cut into 1-inch pieces 

Eggplant: 2 cups, cut into 1-inch pieces 

Radish: half cup, cut into small pieces 
Fish head: a big one ( preferably of Rahu, Katla or Hilsa fish )
Salt:
Turmeric powder: 1/2 teaspoon 
Dry Red Chili: 1 or 2 
Panch Phoron(Indian five spices): 1 teaspoon 
Onion: 1 medium sized, finely chopped 
Garlic: 1 tablespoon paste 
Red chili powder: to taste 
Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
Oil: 5 to 6 tablespoons

Method :

1. Wash and clean the fish head and sprinkle salt and turmeric on it. Rub it well and let it rest for 5 to 7 minutes. 

2. Heat oil in a wok, once oil is ready add the fish head. Fry it until the color changes to light brown on all sides. Once it is done, drain it and set it aside. 

3.  Add red dry red chili and panch phoron to the same oil. Once it starts to spatter, add the chopped onion. Saute it till it is soft and add the garlic paste. 

4. Stir it until raw smell goes off, add the cubed potato, chopped radish, and flat beans. Keep stirring and mix well everything together. Add coriander powder and red chili powder. 

5. Add pumpkin and eggplants. Stir it. Soon the vegetables will get well coated with spice and oil will start to separate from the spices. Add the fired fish head to the wok. Mix in and break the fish head into pieces with spatula. Add the spinach. Give some good stirs to mix it. Add salt and cover the wok with lid. 

6. Let it cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, the spinach and vegetable will release a lot of water and it will be cooked by that. Stir it occasionally to prevent burning at bottom. 

7. Once vegetables are well cooked and water dries up, and when oil separates and starts to leave from all the sides of the wok, check the seasoning. Serve hot with steamed rice. 

Note: You can cook the same dish without the fish head ( this is the vegetarian version ), or you can add a cup of shrimp, in the place of the fish head. 

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Chinese Fried Rice

Today I will share a recipe that is very common and everybody’s favorite one. It’s fried rice. We generally order this half of the times when we go to a Chinese restaurant. But we rarely make this at home though it’s very easy to make and doesn’t take more than 20 minutes. Fried rice is a dish of steamed rice, stir-fried in a wok, often mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables and meat. It has countless variations and different Asian countries make their own version of it. Some of them are popular worldwide like Indonesian Nasi Goreng, Thai Pineapple fried rice, and Filipino garlic fried rice and Chinese Fried rice. We Indians generally love the Chinese one because it has become integral part of Indian Food habits. So much so that street shops in some cities like Calcutta sell more Chinese style fried rice than any other Indian food.    

After experimenting for couple of years, I gathered some simple tips to make my fried rice perfect. Let me share these tips before starting the actual recipe:

1. Use long grain rice because short grain rice can stick together.

2. Cook the rice and then refrigerate it for couple of hours. This will not make actual fried rice mushy.

3. Use a big pan or wok and cook fried rice over high flame; this will help to get the burnt flavor. 

If you follow these 3 things, you can make fried rice like restaurant or far better and healthier  than that as most of the restaurants use MSG that is not good for health. 

Recipe of Chinese Fried Rice : Serves : 3 to 4 

Prep time : 20 minutes, Cook time : 10 minutes, Total time : 30 minutes 

Ingredients :

Rice : cooked, 3 cups ( long grain rice )
Vegetables : 1 cup as per your choice ( carrot / green bell pepper / cabbage ( shredded or finely chopped ) or peas / fresh bean sprout whatever you like ) 
Garlic : 4 cloves, minced 
Eggs : 2 
Chicken : 1 cup boneless and skinless, cut in long-thin strip or use leftover cooked chicken 
Cornflour : 1 tablespoon
White vinegar : 1 teaspoon 
Shrimp : 3/4 cup peeled and deveined without tail
Green onions / Scallions : 2  ( the white part and the green part separately finely chopped )
Oil : 5 tablespoon
Salt : to taste 
Ground Black pepper : to taste 
Soy sauce : 4 tablespoon 
Sesame oil : few drops

Method :

1. Marinate the chicken pieces with vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper and a pinch of salt for 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Take a large skillet or wok, heat it up and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle cornflour to the marinated chicken pieces, mix well until they get a nice coat. Add the chicken pieces to the wok. Stir it until they are cooked. Once done set it aside.

If you use cooked chicken skip the above steps. 

3. Add oil to the same wok, add the shrimp and sprinkle salt and pepper. Saute it until they are pink. Once shrimps are cooked, keep it aside.

4. Clean the wok by scraping it off and add oil. Once oil is hot, add the garlic. Once garlic is lightly brown, add the white / onion part of scallions. Stir it for couple of minutes until fragrant. Add the vegetable and keep stirring for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. 

5. Add the beaten egg and stir to scramble. Add the chicken and shrimp and mix it well.  Stir and toss between each addition. 

6. Break up the large clumps of rice and separate the grains and add it to the wok. Give some stirs.

7. Add the sauce and ground black pepper. Taste and check seasoning, add salt if required. Stir everything until the rice is well-coated and gets a light brown color. Sprinkle the green part of chopped scallions and the sesame oil. Switch off the gas and serve immediately. 

 Related recipes, you may like :

 Chow mein-Chinese Mixed Noodles

 Egg Drop Soup

Mushroom Chicken

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Couscous with Shrimp and Feta cheese

It's been a very inconsistent and unpredictable climate here in San Diego for last one month. Sometimes it is cold crisp windy; the other day is warm and sunny. Today if you need a warm bowl of soup, the next day you may need some summer salads. This is typical here before the peak summer eventually arrives and summer fruits will bid good bye to winter.

Today what I am going to share is one of my favorite summer salads, called Mediterranean salad,  Couscous with shrimp and feta cheese. You can serve this as a side dish or serve it as a meal. The dish is made of couscous, granules of durum wheat and very popular staple food throughout North African cuisines. It is quick, easy and got a fresh look. Couscous has a mild flavor that makes it extremely versatile. And it works so well with different flavors, both sweet and savory. The texture looks like grainy, though it is technically not a grain. It tastes like a combination of pasta and semolina. It goes well with Greek spices and flavors. If you are from southern or eastern part of India and want to reduce your daily rice intake, then this dish is one of the healthiest substitutes. 

At this point, you may be thinking that it will be very complex process to cook Couscous and it’s not for the beginners. But that’s not true. It takes only 5-10 minutes to cook and came out perfect on my very first attempt! It’s difficult to go wrong in making nice fluffy couscous if you follow all the steps correctly. The old traditional method of cooking couscous used metal steamer first but nowadays you get ready-made pre-steamed and dried version.  So it got rid of at least one hard step :) 

There are several types of couscous. Most common one is the large Israeli one, which is pearled like couscous. Then there is Moroccan couscous that looks 3 times the size of cornmeal. What I cooked today is the second one. Just like any other salad, you can add any ingredient of your choice to this dish. Specifically I added grape tomatoes, garlic, shrimp, feta cheese and used light lemon dressing. That'sall! It came out not only very colorful but tasty too!

Couscous Salad with Shrimp and Feta Cheese : Serves 3
Prep time : 10 minutes, Cook time : 20 minutes, Total time : 30 minutes 

Ingredients :

Whole wheat Couscous : 1 cup
Extra-virgin Olive Oil : 2 tablespoon
Shrimp ( peeled and deveined ) : 1 lb
Red pepper flakes : a pinch
Grape or cherry tomatoes : 1/2 pint 
Garlic ( finely chopped ) : 2 cloves
Chick peas ( no salt added ) : 15 oz can , drained and rinsed 
Scallions / spring onion : ( 2 chopped )
Salt : 
Fresh dill / parsley / cilantro : 2 tablespoon ( finely chopped )
Lemon juice : 1 tablespoon 

Crumbled feta cheese : 1/2 cup

Method :

1. Cook the couscous as per package direction. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve.

2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and sprinkle salt and red pepper flakes. Stir it occasionally, until the shrimp are pink. Once it is done, transfer the shrimp to a plate. 

3. Add the the remaining oil to the pan, and heat it up. Add garlic and tomatoes to the oil and stir it occasionally and cook until tomatoes are tender.  Add the chickpeas and keep stirring. 

4. Return the shrimp to the pan, add the scallions and 1 tablespoon dill.  Give some stirs. 

5. Fluff the couscous with a fork and add to pan. Add feta and mix it well. Check seasoning and add salt or red pepper flakes if needed. Add the lemon juice and again mix it. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon dill and serve. 

Related recipes, you may like :

Garlic Prawn Pasta

Shrimp Fried Rice

Chow Mein ( Chinese Stir-fried Mixed Noodles )

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Fish Curry with Eggplant ( Flavored with Nigella seeds ) / Begun diye Ilish or Salmon

Hi there, spring is finally here, nice little break for the parents like me who has one-week off from their kid’s regular school routine. Most of the parents must be going on a trip. My friends already started posting their vacation pictures in social networking sites. In San Diego though, we can’t make much difference in weather during spring. But it’s good relief for my east-coast friends from those snow and wind chill days. Last week I was wondering what I will share next. My hands were itching to bake something and share its recipe. But before sharing those, I thought it would be better to post this comfort food that was long due in my draft. Fish curry with Eggplant is one of the regular dishes in my kitchen as well as very favorite to all of us. It’s a bowl, full of deliciousness and takes very little time to prepare. The curry is very thin and light, more like a soup or stew, loaded with fresh flavors. The key ingredients to create this magic are the nigella seeds, green chilies and fresh chopped cilantro apart from fish and eggplant. 

You should serve this dish with some hot steamed rice, because “Mach” (fish) goes well only with “Bhat” (rice) as we Bengali know. We grew up in a community where fish and rice are served twice a day, both in lunch and dinner. So since my childhood I am seeing my mom trying so many dishes with fish, be it some regular curry or some special one with some vegetables mixed.  The most favorite one of these dishes was “begun diye ilish mach” or Hilsh fish with eggplant. Every Bengali is diehard fan of Hilsha or Ilish fish. But unfortunately we don’t get fresh Ilish or Hilsha on regular basis in the place where we live now. So we try the same recipe with sea fishes like Salmon. It’s the best substitute of Hilsha in most of the preparations including this one. Both the fishes are oily, soft and very similar smoothness in taste.  A special note for my Bengali readers is that if you cook this dish with Hilsha then you don’t need to add cilantro. But when I make it with Salmon I would love to cook the following way.

Here is the simple, fast recipe of Fish Curry with Eggplant, hope you would like it :-) 

Fish Curry with Eggplant : ( Begun diye Ilish Mach ) Serves : 4

preparation time : 15 minutes , Cooking time : 25 minutes, Total time : 40 minutes

Ingredients :

Fish ( preferably Salmon or Hilsa ) : 1 lb ( cut into medium sized pieces )
Eggplant : Half of a big eggplant, cut into long wedges
Potato ( optional ) : 1 big ( cut into long wedges )
Salt :
Turmeric powder : 1/2 teaspoon
Oil : 3 + 2 tablespoon
Nigella seeds : 1 teaspoon
Slit Green chillies : 1 or 2
Red chili powder : 1/2 as per tolerance
Cilantro : a handful, chopped 

Method :

1. Wash the fish pieces, wash and pat dry with paper towel. Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder and mix it well. Let it rest for 5 to 7 minutes. 

2. In a big pan, preferably nonstick pan, put oil. Heat it up till smoke comes up, lower the flame to medium high and now slightly fry the marinated fish pieces on the both sides. Do not fry it for long time, just 1 to 2 minutes for each side. . Take off the fried fish from oil and keep it aside. 

3.  In the same oil, add the eggplant, saute it. Add salt, stir and cook it until it is brown and soft. Once it is done, take it off from the pan and set it aside. 

4. Add the remaining oil to the same pan. Once oil is hot, add nigella and green chillies to the oil. Once it becomes aromatic and starts to spatter, add the potato wedges. Stir it, add salt and cook it until potato is half done. 

5. Take the red chili powder in a small bowl, add two tablespoon of water and make a paste. Now add the chili paste to the pan. Cook it for 2 to 3 minutes, until oil starts coming up from the sides of pan. 

6. Now add a cup of warm water to the pan and let it boil. Once it starts boiling, add salt and cover the pan with lid. Let it simmer until potato is cooked.  

7.  Add the fish pieces and eggplant to the pan. Cover it again and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro. Check seasoning, add salt or green chillies, if required. Check the consistency of the sauce. Fish Curry with Eggplant is ready, serve hot with hot steamed rice. 

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Garlic Prawn Pasta

As you might have already guessed from my picture earlier, I'm going to share a pasta dish today. Off late, this has become regular dinner or lunch dish on working days, especially for me and my son. Because it is fast and at the same time, fresh and fabulous. It takes only 10 minutes from chopping board to plate. When you are in busy schedule or too tired but still love to have fresh and home-cooked food, this is the dish for you.

This Angel hair Pasta with garlic and prawns is my personal favorite, as I like prawns and garlic both and pasta is anytime hit in my family. I used angel hair pasta to this recipe, but you can use any kind of pasta or spaghetti as per your choice. This particular recipe is adopted from Donna Hay's Garlic Prawn Pasta. The use of fried egg on the top of the pasta is completely optional. I liked to serve the dish this way and I feel it makes this dish more delicious.

Though original recipe uses fresh prawns, I did with some raw frozen prawns because I wanted to make this real fast. Thaw the frozen prawns. Add your favorite pasta when salted water is boiling and let it cook. In between finely chop or slice some garlic pods and make some peeled lemon zests ready. Cook - stir and mix it up together. A cozy meal is ready to serve. 

The Recipe of Garlic Prawn Pasta : serves 2 

Ingredients :

Angel hair pasta / Thin Spaghetti : 8 oz / 200 g 
Butter : 3 tablespoon 
Olive oil - 1 tablespoon or as per needed 
Garlic : 5-6 cloves, finely chopped or sliced 
Chili flakes : 1 teaspoon or as per your tolerance 
Lemon zest : ( shredded ) 1 tablespoon 
Prawns ( raw )  frozen or fresh, cleaned and peeled : 12 or 1 cup 
Lemon juice : 1 tablespoon 
Salt :
Pepper : if needed 
Parsley leaves : roughly torn, 1/4 cup 
Eggs : 2

Method :

1. Take a large sauce pan, add water and let it boil. Add salt, add pasta and cook the pasta as per package instruction. To avoid sticky pasta add few drops of oil, when it starts boiling. 

2. Clean and peel the prawns. Sprinkle salt on them, coat it well and set it aside.

3. Once pasta is well cooked, drain it and save some of the liquid and set aside. 

4. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter and oil to the pan. Once butter or oil is ready, add the garlic, chili flakes and the lemon zest and cook about 2 minutes. 

5. Add the prawns and keep stirring. Cook until the prawns are tender and cooked. 

6. Reduce the heat, add the pasta, lemon juice, salt and pepper and torn fresh parsley to the pan. Toss to combine, if the pasta is too dry add some of the saved liquid. 

7. Adjust salt and pepper and serve warm with more fresh parsley, chili flakes and olive oil ( if you wish ) 

To cook the eggs :

Heat butter or oil in a frying pan. Break the egg carefully in to the pan, the yolk should not break. Cook at medium heat until the white is set but yolk is still soft or runny. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the egg. Remove from heat and top pasta with eggs and serve.




Note : The amount of the ingredients are adjustable. Since it is fast and simple, there is hardly need to measure anything.

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Easy Tomato Fish ( Fish in Spicy Tomato Sauce )

 I am back with a simple fish curry and I would like to call this dish “No Fuss Tomato Fish”.  The name says it all; it is entirely a beginner's recipe which needs few ingredients and takes no time. It would be most useful dish for working couple. When you are exhausted after day’s work and feeling lazy but your mind wants something tasty and flavorful, this fish curry recipe is perfect for those evenings. It takes hardly 15 to 20 minutes to prepare this dish and it would be perfect combination with a bowl of steamed rice on a regular lunch or dinner.

Common River fishes like Asian Sea Bass (Bhetki) is perfect for this recipe. I generally used Tilapia, Bass or Halibut to make this dish. Tomato Fish is nothing but only fish cooked in flavorful and spicy tomato sauce. You have to follow very few steps. First marinate the fish for a short time and then pan fried them. And then you have to just add the fish pieces to the tomato sauce, bring it to a simmer and until every thing is well cooked. I am very thankful to Devlina di for this recipe; she is one of my best friends in San Diego and I learnt several dishes from her. Her recipe is always quick and simple but tasty.

Off late my husband has become my best critic when it comes to food photography. Last couple of times I was simply showing him my pictures before I posted them in the blog. He didn't like any because it seems lighting was not good. :-)  Initially I got annoyed thinking he doesn't know much about photography anyway, later realized he was right. I had retaken the pics with more brightness and it came out much better. Sometimes we need this kind of feedback which helps us to improve and so will always appreciate your input.  

Recipe of Tomato Fish ( Fish in Spicy Tomato Sauce ) : Serves 6

Ingredients :

White fish ( Tilapia, Sea Bass, Halibut, Rui, Katla, Bhetki ) : 1 and 1/2 lbs ( cut into medium sized pieces and washed ) 

Turmeric powder : 1/2 teaspoon

salt : to taste 

Oil : 4 to 5 tablespoon 

Nigella seeds : 1/2 teaspoon 

Fenugreek seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Grated Ginger : 1 teaspoon and half teaspoon

Cumin Powder : 1 teaspoon  

Red Chili powder ( optional ) : as per tolerance 

Tomato : 2 big ( outer skin and seeds removed and make it puree ) I used fresh tomatoes, you can use canned too. 

Whole Green Chillies : as per tolerance

Sugar : 1/2 teaspoon or to taste ( optional )

Method :

1. Wash and pat dry fish pieces. Sprinkle salt and turmeric on them, coat it well and set it aside. Let it rest for about 10 minutes.

2. Add oil to a medium sized pan and heat it up. Once oil is ready ( hot ) add the fish pieces in two batches and lightly fry them ( quickly and without browning them ) on the both sides. Once they are done set it aside.

3.  Keep the flame medium high. Add oil in the same pan ( if needed ) and add nigella and fenugreek seeds.  Once they are aromatic ( do nut burn them, it will take a minute ) add the grated ginger. Stir it well and add the cumin powder and red chili powder ( optional ). Keep stirring until oil starts to come up from the sides of pan.

4. Add the tomato puree and again give some stirs. Let it cook until raw smell goes off and oil starts separating from the spices. Add the whole green chillies. In a minute or two add a cup of warm water. Also add salt and sugar. 

5. Cover the pan and bring to a boil.Once it starts boiling open it and add the lightly fried fish fishes. Cover the pan again and bring it to a simmer and cook until the fish is tender. It will take 4 to 5 minutes. 

6. Check the desired consistency and adjust the seasoning. Serve with steamed rice. 

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Rui Posto : Fish with Poppy Seed Paste

Though Thanksgiving is round the corner and people may be searching for some delicious Turkey dishes, I am sharing a little uncommon Bengali recipe. It's a combination of Bengali's two favorites - fish and Posto ( poppy seeds ). Today's recipe is called Rui Posto, a fish preparation with Rohu ( a sweet water fish ) and posto. Bengalis' love for posto (or poppy seeds) has no boundaries. You will find many yummy names like jhinge posto, alu posto or onion posto in Bengali cuisine.  Generally all these are veg dishes. Different vegetables like potato (aalu posto), ridge ground (Jihnga posto) or onion are cooked with poppy seeds in different ways. As usual, Bengalis slowly started trying different non-veg dishes with combination of Posto and Fish/Egg/chicken. These delicious preparations go well with hot steamed rice. 

We grew up in a house where we used to have fish twice a day, both in lunch and dinner. Probably this is true about most of the Bengali family. Meat was only the weekend treat or for special occasions. When it comes to regular fish dishes, Rahu or Caatla is our first choice. Hilsa is obviously the most loved one, but it’s not available for daily preparations. These are all river fishes, also called sweet water fishes and very much available in Bengal.

We miss these river fishes in USA, though some Indian / Bangladeshi stores keep the frozen ones. Though we do not eat frozen fishes regularly; once in a while we bring this type of fish and make some of our favorite dishes. So last week when my friends came for dinner, we thought of trying an experimental dish and made this Rui Posto. It’s a very easy recipe with some basic ingredients. If you do not get Rahu, try this recipe with any white fish. Typically we cook any Bengali dish with mustard oil which adds more flavors. If you are not used to mustard oil, you can skip it and use white oil.

Recipe of Rui Posto ( Fish with Poppy Seeds Paste ) : Serves 5 


Ingredients :

Rohu Fish : 10 pieces
Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp
Salt :
Green Chilies : 4 to 5 or as per tolerance 
Nigella seeds ( kalanji / kalo jeera ) : 1/2 tsp 
Onion ( thinly sliced ) : 2 big ( preferably red onion )
Ginger : 1 tbsp ( grated )
Tomato : 1 medium sized ( chopped )
Red chili powder : 1 tsp or as per tolerance 
Poppy seeds : 4 tbsp 
Mustard oil / white oil :  8 to 10 tbsp or as needed 


Method :

1. Clean and wash the fish pieces and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and turmeric, mix it well and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. 

2. Take a blender, add the poppy seeds and 1 or 2 green chilies. Add 1/4 cup of water to it and let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes, then make a paste. Once it is done, set it aside.

3. Take a big pan or a wok, add half of the mustard oil, once oil is smoking hot, lower the flame and fry the fish pieces until they are golden in color on both sides. Once they are done, take it off from oil and set it aside.

4. Add the remaining oil to the wok, let it heat up, once oil is ready add the nigella seeds and slit green chilies.

6. When aroma comes, add the onion and fry it. Add salt and stir it until they are translucent. Add the grated ginger and again give some stirs. 

7. Add turmeric, red chili powder and 2 tbsp of water, stir it and mix it well. When spices are well cooked add the chopped tomato.

8. Add salt, once tomato becomes soft and oil starts to separate from the spice, add the poppy seeds paste.

9. Give some good stirs and add half cup to one cup of warm water and salt. Let it come to a boil, add the fish pieces and cover the pan.

10. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes over medium heat. Take the lid off, check the seasoning and check the desired consistency. Drizzle few drops of mustard oil and add some chopped green chilies. Rui Posto is ready! Serve it with a bowl of steamed rice.

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