Bhetki Macher Jhol and A Simple Bengali Lunch Menu

Bengal general dishes are very simple and take little time to cook and less spicy. Today I thought to share with you all a very simple Bengali platter. This consist of Bhetki Macher Jhol(barramundi stew) and three fried vegetables with ghee (clarified butter) green chilly and lemon wedge and salt. I hope you all will relish this simple lunch platter.

Preparation time  : 15 minutes
Cooking time : 20 to 25 minutes
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
For  Macher  Jhol 
4 pieces of Bhetki  (barramundi ) fish  
1 tsp ginger paste
½  tsp cumin powder
 1 big tomatoes  chopped
½  tsp red chilly powder
½  tsp turmeric powder
3  whole  green chilly  slited 
½ tsp  kalo jeera/ kalonji / nigella sativa  seed
2  cups   warm water
1 tbsp of oil  to cook and 4 tbsp for frying the fish
a pinch  of  sugar
a pinch of garam masala
Salt to taste

For Eggplant Potato and Okar Fry
1  eggplant  cut into thick half moon shape
3 potatoes  de skinned  and  cut into thick  round rings 
10  okras  tail and head off  then make  a slit
½  tsp turmeric powder
2 pinch red chilly powder
salt to taste
Oil to fry 

Methods of Cooking Take pieces of bhetki fish rub with little turmeric and salt. Heat oil in a pan. Now fry the fish so they are they little brown in both side but not too hard and crisp. Now keep aside. Heat a tablespoon of oil then add kalonji seed. When it start to crackle then add the ginger paste and tomatoes and red chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt and pinch of sugar. Now stir till the tomatoes get mashy. Add the fried fish and silted green chilly. Stir to coat with the spices. Now add 2 cup warm water. Let it come to boil . Cook for 5 minutes in high flame. Sprinkle garam masala . Put off the flame. Your Bhetki macher jhol is ready. Now for the eggplant, potato and okra fry sprinkle salt, turmeric and red chili powder and rub the vegetables with this spice mix. Now heat oil. Fry the eggplant pieces till brown in both side. Keep aside. Now fry the potatoes till little golden in both sides. Now fry the okra till brown. So now it’s time to serve . We Bengali’s have this fried vegetable with rice and ghee and mash little green chilly and salt. This act as a starter and then we have the fish stew called macher jhol with rice and some like to squeeze a little lemon in it to make it bit tangy. A very simple Bengali lunch is complete.

Happy Cooking!