About The Author
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!
Looking forward to read and hear your feedback.
Macher tok is a Bengali style fish curry or fish chutney cooked in the hinterlands of the region.
This dish is consumed mostly during the summer months to ward off the heat and allow the body to cool. As the name suggests, tamarind is used to impart the tangy flavor. Many people also use raw mango for the same.
The most common fishes used in this recipe include hilsha (or ilish), small fishes like mourola and tangra and magur. I have used katla for this recipe. You can also use rohu.
How It Tastes
The initial flavors from the tamarind tingles your tongue as it goes into a dance. Soon enough, the heat from the dry red chilies hits you along with the subtle refreshing flavors from the fennel (saunf/mouri) seeds present in the Panch Phoron.
This dish should be tried with rice. Avoid roti/chapati.
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
- Knife
- Preparation Bowls
- Mixie
- Wok
- Spatula
- Serving Bowls
Ingredients
- 300 g fish
- 6 tsp mustard oil
- 2 pc dry red chilies
- 1 tsp panch phoron
- 4 pc green chilies slit from middle
- 2 tsp turmeric powder one tbsp each for marinading the fish and cooking the curry
- salt as per taste
- 3 tsp sugar
- 1 cup water small tea cup is considered
Spice Mix for the Macher Tok
- 2 pc dry red chilies
- 2 tsp panch phoron
For Tamarind Mix
- 50 g tamarind pulp soaked in water and strained to get the liquid only
- 1 cup hot water small tea cup is considered
Instructions
Prepare the Tamarind Mix
- In a bowl, add hot water as mentioned under "For Tamarind Mix"
- Add the tamarind pulp as mentioned under "For Tamarind Mix" and mix properly using your fingers
- Discard the seeds and any non-edible fibres to get a clear dark brown liquid. You will need this for the Bengali tangy fish curry
Preparation for the Macher Tok
- Marinade the fish with turmeric and salt
- In a wok lightly roast the ingredients mentioned under "Spice Mix for the Macher Tok". Put this in a mixie and prepare a coarse powder
Cooking the Macher Tok
- Take a wok and add oil to it
- Once the oil starts to smoke, ensure that the flame is set to medium
- Add the fish pieces in batches and fry on each side till crispy on the outer edges. This takes around 10 minutes for all the fishes. Keep the fried fishes aside
- Add the dry red chilies and panch phoron spices in the oil
- Once the spices emit their aroma, add the slit green chilies
- Add the tamarind pulp liquid/juice and give it a nice stir
- Once this comes to a boil, add the turmeric and salt
- Add water and bring this to a boil, add the sugar
- Add in the fish pieces and allow this to simmer for 10 minutes
- Add the spice mix prepared in the previous step and give this a nice stir
- By this time, the gravy should appear less runny and have a body to it
- Put off the flame, allow to rest for sometime
- Serve hot with rice towards the end of the meal
Notes
- This is a tangy, yet spicy gravy. You can reduce the amount of chilies if you want less heat
Turned out bitter because of the panchphoron powder. Only phoron would be better.
If it contained a lot of methi seeds, there are chances of it turning bitter. Also was it blended into a fine powder?
Came out awesome. 5 phoran mix and grinded was an awesome idea.
This is very similar to wat we prepare. Next time, pls try adding onions and other veggies in this tangy version for more flavors, especially drumsticks, brinjal n mango. And a piece of jaggery instead of sugar balances the taste better.