Macher Jhal – From Barendra With Love! Yet Ignored in the 21st Century

The word ‘jhal’ in Bengali means ‘spicy hot’.

It is used whenever the sensory nerves in the tongue experience a burn and signals it to the brain, prompting even the bravest of Bengalis to exclaim – ‘O maa go, ki jhal!‘, meaning ‘mother, this is too hot!’

In Bengali cuisine today, the jhal component in food is brought about through chilies mostly. Either green chili or red chili powder is used.

The Portuguese brought chili to India less than 200 years ago, and the concept of ‘jhal’ existed even before chilies were imported into India and started being farmed.

And that was done through the use of peppers. Bengal largely had 3 types of pepper in those days – choi, black pepper and pippali.

Jhal can be prepared from all three – however, black pepper is more commonly used nowadays.

Most of the pipul or pippali is used for ayurvedic medicines while choi is rarely found in Bengal today, and more available in Bangladesh.

In this recipe, I have used black pepper.

I could not find a recipe of jhal in the first cook books from Bengal, and the earliest reference I could find confirmed that the macher jhal was developed in Barendra region of Bengal.

Jump to Recipe

Understanding a Bengali Jhal – Features of a Macher Jhal

Here’s some basic facts or concept to understand what can be called a ‘Jhal‘

• A jhal can be either made from vegetables or fish or both
• Tempering used is slit green chili, cumin seeds and bayleaf
• The jhal comes from a paste prepared from cumin seeds and black pepper – this is added towards the end of the cooking process. This paste of cumin and black pepper is called as ‘bata jhal‘
• A veg jhal tastes better when cooked in ghee, otherwise mustard oil works well for both veg and non veg dishes
• The jhal gravy can be thickened by the use of what Bengalis call ‘pithali‘ – it can be made from rice flour mixed with warm water or even sesame seeds and poppy seeds

A macher jhal has a semi-thick consistency, is spicy hot and you can make out the flavor from the cumin and black pepper almost instantly.

Cumin and black pepper paste is mandatory for a Bengali fish jhal. If your dish does not have this combination, calling it a jhal is a mistake.

Difference Between a Bengali Jhol and Bengali Jhal

To a general Indian, macher (fish) jhol is more common than a macher jhal, while today many Bengalis use the terms interchangeably.

This is not correct.

Technically both are different in terms of cooking methodology and ingredients used.

Tempering Used

In a jhol, fenugreek seeds (methi) and slit green chilis are used for tempering. While a jhal uses only cumin or a combination of cumin seeds and slit green chilis, and some times bayleaf as well.

Today in parts of Bengal, people prepare macher jhol with cumin seeds and even panch phoron, a norm in the Rarh region of Bengal.

The Hot Factor

At times only green chili paste is used in a jhol.

In a jhal, cumin and black pepper paste is mandatory. And on top of it chili paste (preferably ripe chilis that are red in color) may be additionally used.

Vegetables in a Fish Jhal

A jhol does not traditionally use vegetables, while a jhal uses several vegetables

Macher Kaliya and Macher Jhal – Not the Same

Often people confuse macher jhal with the very famous macher kaliya.

Macher Jhal is a native to Bengal, while the macher kaliya is relatively newer having developed under the Mughal influence.

Also important to note is that a macher kaliya is mostly cooked with onions as Mughals were big patrons of having fried and braised onions in their non veg dishes. It also uses garlic.

On the other hand, Bengali Hindus for religious reasons did not use onions and garlic for long enough until first quarter of 20th century, at least.

Even while they were vocal against any restrictions put on fish and meat eating.

Which explains the fact that a traditional macher jhal does not use onion and garlic.

Interestingly, the first Bengali cook books written under the patronage of Muslim Kings at Bardhaman (Burdwan) also does not contain the use of onions and garlic in non vegetarian recipes to respect the local practices.

Kaliya may also be considered to be a modified version of the jhal.

A kaliya preparation is similar to that of a jhal, with few differences.

• Onion (and garlic) is added in a kaliya
• Whole garam masala is used for tempering in a kaliya
• In a kaliya, towards the end of the cooking process, powdered garam masala and ghee is added

Both macher kaliya and macher jhal contains vegetables in their most traditional forms.

Getting the Macher Jhal Absolutely Right

Bengali cuisine has its own share of dos and donts.

Of course, in the 21st century, we disregard a lot of these to improve flavor – however, while doing so we directly or indirectly kill the soul of the dish.

What Fish Can You Use for the Bengali Macher Jhal

For the recipe listed here, you can use fishes like listed below –

• Rohu (rui)
• Katla
• Kalbaus
• Shol
• Mrigal
• Chital
• Ayir
• Boal
• Bhetki or Bekti
• Bhangan
• Pomfret / Chada

A jhal can also be cooked with several other fishes like Koi, Magur, Ilish or Hilsa and Prawns.

You may even use the head, tail and bones of the fishes in the carp family along with vegetables like potato, brinjal or eggplant, and sweet pumpkin.

Generally, small-sized fishes taste better in a jhol and bigger sized fishes taste better when cooked in a jhal.

What Vegetables Can You Use in a Bengali Fish Jhal?

Depending on the fish that you are cooking a jhal of, you may use several types of vegetables.

Generally, in a macher jhal cooked using the rohu (or rui) fish, the following vegetables may be used.

• Potato (Alu)
• Pointed gourd (potol)
• Snow Pea (Shim)
• Brinjal or eggplant (Begoon)
• Radish (Mulo)
• Ripe Jackfruit Seed (Kathaler Beej)

Using some variations, a rui macher jhal can be cooked in 4 different ways in the Barendra region

When using Koi fish, you may use bottle gourd and potato; and while cooking ilish macher jhal use potato, plantain (raw banana), ripe jackfruit seeds, pointed gourd or potol, pumpkin, cucumber, drumstick (sojne data).

Similarly for chingri macher jhal, or Bengali fish jhal cooked with prawns, you may use tender bottle gourd (lau).

You may use bottle gourd (lau) to cook shol macher jhal as well.

Bori – An Essential Ingredient for the Jhal

We all love bori.

To the uninitiated, a bori is a Bengali term used for sun dried lentil dumplings.

It can be prepared from a wide range of lentils, however, for this recipe bori made from urad dal (kolaier dal) is used.

The use of sun-dried lentil dumplings (or bori) is optional since many staying outside Bengal may not have access to it. In a traditional 20th century macher jhal, a bori was always mandatory.

Let’s get cooking the macher jhal now!