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Hello! From Chuchura (in Hooghly District) and a foodie, I created this blog with a mission to preserve the food of the land; with a message to encourage and promote clean and real food. I hope you enjoy and gain out of this blog, happy reading!
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Macher dimer bora diye jhol is a light gravy prepared with fish egg (roe) fritters.
The Flavors
The gravy has a sweet note to it. It is a simple and light gravy. The light gravy helps the fish egg fritters to soak up the deliciousness and become plump.
There are two stages in this curry.
- Preparing Fish Egg Fritters
- Preparing the Gravy with the fritters
Servings: 4 people
Cost: ₹ 50
Note
The equipment & ingredient quantity provided in this recipe is to assist you in cooking this dish. Feel free to experiment with your ingredients. Remember that we all have different set, size & shape of kitchen tools in our pantry.
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Knife
- Wok
- Spatula
- Spoon
- Serving plate
Ingredients
For the Macher Dimer Bora / Fish Eggs Batter
- 250 g Fish Eggs
- 4 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 pc medium-sized onion
- 2 pc green chilly
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp bengal gram flour or besan
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (or cilantro)
- salt to taste
For the Curry
- 2 tsp mustard oil
- 1 pc bayleaf
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 pc green cardamom
- 2 inch finely chopped ginger or use ginger paste
- 6 pc finely chopped garlic cloves or use garlic paste
- 2 pc medium sized onion or 1 large onion, sliced
- 1 pc large tomato
- 2 pc green chilly
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp red chilly powder
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 cup water
Instructions
Preparing the Fish Egg Batter
- Chop the onions and green chilies finely
- Add turmeric powder, chopped onions and chilies to the fish eggs in a mixing bowl and mix properly using a spoon or your palm and fingers. Avoid any lumps in the eggs
- Finely chop the coriander leaves
- Add the coriander leaves, besan or bengal gram flour, and salt to the mixing bowl
- Thoroughly mix it
- Heat a wok and add oil to it
- Once the oil starts smoking, reduce the flame
- Take two spoonful of the hot oil and add it to the mixing bowl. Give it another mix
Frying the Fish Egg Fritters or Macher Dimer Bora
- Take a spoonful of the batter and carefully add it to the oil
- Allow this to fry for a minute or two
- Using a spatula, turn this to the other side. Allow to fry for a minute
- Take out and separate in a bowl
- Repeat the process for the left over batter and fry in batches.
Preparing for the Fish Egg Curry
- Slice the onions and slit the green chilly
- Chop the ginger and onions finely
Cooking the Macher Dimer Bora Diye Jhol
- In the wok, add the oil
- Once the oil starts smoking, add the whole spices mentioned like bayleaf, red chilies, cinnamon and cardamom
- Add the chopped garlic and ginger (or ginger-garlic paste) and cook for a couple of minutes on a low flame
- Add the sliced onion and saute till it turns golden brown
- Add the tomatoes and cook on a medium flame for 10 minutes
- Add the turmeric, cumin and red chilly powder. Cook until the raw flavor goes away. This will take another 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle water to avoid burning of the spices, if the spices turn to dry out
- Add water and allow it to come to a rolling boil
- Add salt and sugar and let the gravy cook for a couple of minutes
- Check for seasonings and adjust, if required
- Add the fried fish egg pakodas (macher dimer bora) and cook covered on a low flame for 7-10 minutes
- Switch off the flame and allow to rest
- Serve hot with rice and a dollop of ghee
Notes
- Your best bet would be eggs from the Hilsa. I have used Catla and Rohu since they are most widely available
- After you have bought the fish eggs, while storing them in the refrigerator ensure that you lightly marinade it with some turmeric to prevent it from going dark in color
- You can leave out the green chilies to avoid the heat. Alternatively, slice the green chilly from the middle and remove all the seeds
- I have pan fried it, you can also deep fry it. However, ensure safe distance since fish eggs can splutter in hot oil
- You can use common flour or corn flour instead of bengal gram flour or besan
- Always fry the boras (pronounced bawra) in batches and never overcrowd the wok or frying pan
- You can also prepare the gravy without onion and garlic. In such a scenario, prepare a paste of ginger and cumin seeds
Tried this recipe?Mention @FinallyFoodie or tag #finallyfoodie!
Hi it is a great post. I made the dim borah and it came out great. I think you missed out the onions in gravy as cant see when u put the onions before tomatoes or after ans i think u missed out. And it onions should be paste, grated, chopped or sliced for gravy? Thanks
Sliced onions are used for the gravy
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