Rupchanda Macher Jhol with Coconut Milk and Curry Leaves

Walk into almost any Bengali fish market today and you are likely to find a row of shiny rupchanda staring back at you. With its flat, disc-like body, silvery skin and distinctly pink belly, it is now a familiar sight. Yet, twenty or thirty years ago, rupchanda was not a fish that appeared regularly in most Bengali kitchens. Somewhere along the way, availability increased, people began experimenting with it and the fish gradually earned a place on our tables. This rupchanda macher jhol is easy to make and has a beautiful creamy coconut gravy.

For Maachlipedia, we skipped the far more predictable rui for the letter R and chose rupchanda instead. After all, rui hardly needs an introduction in Bengal. Rupchanda, on the other hand, comes with a little more mystery, including a rather unexpected debate that began in the comments section of our Instagram and Facebook posts.

Is rupchanda actually piranha?

When we published this recipe, several people from Bangladesh commented that the fish in the video was not rupchanda at all. According to them, it was piranha. That sent us down an interesting rabbit hole.

The confusion comes from the way fish names change across markets and borders. In Bangladesh, an exotic freshwater fish called pirapitinga or red-bellied pacu is also sold under names such as piranha, rupchanda and Thai rupchanda. Pacu belongs to the same broader fish family as piranha and looks somewhat similar, although the two are not exactly the same fish.

At the same time, Bangladesh has perfectly legitimate marine fish that are also locally called rupchanda. Chinese silver pomfret, scientifically known as Pampus chinensis, is recorded there as rupchanda or Chinese rupchanda. Black pomfret, Parastromateus niger, is also known in parts of Bangladesh as rupchanda or maisha chanda.

So, rupchanda is not simply another name for piranha. The real problem is that the same market name is used for several very different fish. A marine pomfret-like fish, an exotic freshwater pacu and, occasionally, fish being deliberately sold under the wrong name can all become “rupchanda” depending on where you are buying it.

In other words, the commenters were not entirely imagining the connection. They were referring to a fish commonly sold by that name in Bangladesh. But that does not automatically make every rupchanda a piranha or a pomfret. I would have, it has a far closer resemblence to black pomfret, also known as halva in Maharashtra.

Cooking rupchanda

Rupchanda has rich, fatty flesh, which is precisely why I prefer not to drown it in too many spices. It needs enough flavour to complement the fish but not so much that the natural taste disappears.

This rupchanda macher jhol uses coconut milk as the base of the gravy. Curry leaves, ginger, green chillies and a few everyday spices give it warmth and fragrance. A generous squeeze of lemon juice at the end cuts through the richness and gives the curry the tang it needs.

Coconut milk and curry leaves may not make this a conventional Bengali jhol, but that is exactly what works here. Rupchanda can take on bold flavours without losing its own character. The coconut milk creates a creamy gravy, while the curry leaves add a fresh, savoury aroma that instantly changes the personality of the dish.

A few things to remember while cooking rupchanda macher jhol

Rupchanda cooks very quickly. Overcooking will make the flesh dry and may cause the steaks to break inside the gravy. Fry the fish briefly and allow it to finish cooking in the coconut milk.

Use fresh, thick steaks if possible. Since the flesh is fatty, a little acidity makes a big difference. Do not be shy with the lemon juice, though it is best added towards the end so that the coconut milk does not split.

The heat should come mainly from green chillies rather than an overload of chilli powder. The idea is to keep the gravy creamy and comforting, with just enough heat to make the next mouthful of rice necessary.

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