Macher Muro Die Bhaja Muger Daal ( Dry Roasted Yellow Lentil With Fish Head )

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• There are some dishes that are so popular that their recipes can be posted without any good presentation. Even if the picture is not so great, assuming it won’t matter to the followers. Today's dish belongs to this category. Sometimes back I planned to post this recipe but that day I didn't get enough time to take pictures as I had to serve this before it lost its warmness. After a few months today again, I cooked the same dish and luckily able to get some decent photos of that. In our overseas life it’s not a regular kind of dish, rather once in a year, we become fortunate to prepare it and taste this delicious dish.
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  Bengalis are well known for eating fish in all its forms and not leaving any of the parts, including the coveted head. Fish heads (Bengalis call them “macher muro/matha” with love) are very auspicious for us. We are introduced to this fish head at our very tender age during “rice ceremony” occasion when a baby is introduced to real food. The baby is not allowed to eat the fish-head,  but it is considered auspicious and supposed to bring good luck to his/her life. The same is followed when we welcome a new groom or bride to our family. In day-to-day life, the fish head is served to the head of the family or to the kid who is most loved by everybody. In my childhood, me and my dad used to enjoy this privilege.
  

  
  
  Probably you already could guess that my today’s recipe is something to do with the fish head. Yes, I am going to share today the recipe of “Mugger daal with Maacher Muro ”.  It’s a special kind of lentil preparation where a big fish head (usually Rohu or Katla) is cooked with yellow mung dal. Though Daal is a regular kind of dish to any Bengali household but this dish is for a special occasion. When there is a grand event, a large sized fish will come from the market. The fish pieces would be used in some type of fish curry but the head would go to the Mug Dal. You just need a long leisurely afternoon to eat and relish “Macher Matha diye Muger Daal” with a bowl of steamed rice and crispy fried potatoes and off course a short nap after the lunch.
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Recipe of Macher Muro Die Bhaja Muger Daal ( Dry Roasted Yellow Lentil With Fish Head):

Ingredients:

Mung Daal or yellow lentil: 1 cup 

Fish Head: 1 of a medium sized fish

Salt: 

Turmeric powder: 1/2 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon 

Oil: 4 tablespoons 

Whole Red Chili: 1 

Bay leaf: 1

Whole Cumin seeds: 1/2 teaspoon 

Onion: a small, finely chopped 

Ginger paste: 1 teaspoon

Garlic paste: 1 tablespoon

Tomato: a small, chopped  

Cumin powder: 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder: 1/2 teaspoon

Chili powder: 1/2 teaspoon 

Gram masala: 1/2 teaspoon 

Method:

1. Smear salt and turmeric to the cleaned and halved fish heads. Set it aside. 

2. Dry roast the mung dal on low flame. Don't make it brown. Once the dal starts to change the color and aroma comes up turn off the gas and wash the dal thoroughly. Now take a pan or a pressure cooker, add the washed dal and 3 cups of water. Add salt and turmeric to it. Cover the lid. Let it cook until Dal is cooked. Make sure the Dal is not over cooked. It should be soft but not mushy. What I do, cover the pressure cooker and cook it on high flame for one whistle. Immediately remove it from the heat and let the steam release on its own. It comes out perfect. 

3. Heat oil in a big pan. Fry the fish head till it is golden brown. Take it out from the pan and set it aside.

4. Add bay leaf, whole red chili, cumin seeds to the remaining oil. Once cumin starts to splutter add the chopped onions. Fry it until it is soft and golden brown. Add ginger and garlic paste. Stir it and let it cook until raw smell goes off. Add tomato and salt. Stir it well. 

5. Once tomato becomes soft and mushy add cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chili powder. Cook it until oil comes out from the sides of the pan. 

6. Add the fried fish head cook it with the masala for a couple of minutes. Break the fish head into big chunks. Now add the cooked dal. Mix it well. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Check the seasoning. Adjust the consistency. It should not be too thick or too runny. 

7. Add garam masala and turn off the gas. Serve hot with steamed rice. 

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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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