Chital Macher Muitha
A traditional Bengali recipe made with deboned chital mach or clown knife fish, where fish balls are made from the flesh and then cooked in an onion gravy. Recipe Author: Madhushree
Ingredients
For the muitha
- 500 gms chital macher gada
- 1 1/2 tbsp Garlic Paste
- 1 tbsp Ginger Paste
- 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp Cumin Powder
- 1/2 heaped tsp bengali garam masala powdered cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves
- 1 no medium sized boiled potato
- Salt To Taste
- oil for deep frying
For the gravy
- 1 no Medium-Sized Onion
- 1 tbsp Garlic Paste
- 1 tbsp Ginger Paste
- 1 no tomato
- 2 nos potatoes
- 1 no bayleaf
- 3 nos green cardamom
- 4 nos cloves
- 1/2 inch cinnamon
- 4 nos green chilies
- 1 no Dried Red Chili
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 1/2 tsp kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 tbsp Ghee
- 1/2 tsp bengali garam masala
- 1/2 tsp Sugar
- 3 tbsp Mustard Oil
- Salt To Taste
- 1/2 tsp aata or whole wheat flour
Instructions
- Flatten out the chital mach in half and then using a spoon with a sharp edge, scoop out the flesh. It takes time to do this and take out as much flesh as possible. The bones remain stuck to the skin.
- Add all the ingredients as listed above for the muitha (except the oil) and mix it thoroughly with your hands.
- Keep a saucepan with boiling water ready next to you. Put some salt and a couple of tsp of oil in it. When the water is boiling, use your hands and make small fish balls and dunk them in the boiling water.
- The fish balls need to be boiled only for a very little time. Just as they start to float up, take them out with a strainer. If you overdo this process, the muithas become hard and chewy.
- Once all the muithas are boiled, ready a kadai for deep frying them. When the oil is hot, slowly slide the boiled fish balls in the hot oil. Keep control over the heat. We want golden colour, not brown.
- Keep all the fried muithas aside. You can store them in the refrigerator for a week to cook later with the sauce.
- For the gravy, cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Make a paste of one onion. Make a paste of one tomato and keep aside.
- In a kadai or a wok, take 3 tbsp of mustard oil and let it heat. When it starts to smoke, add dried bay leaf, dried red chili, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. As they start to colour, add the onion paste and start frying. Reduce the temperature to medium and keep frying for a couple of more minutes.
- Add the ginger and garlic paste and again fry for a few minutes. As the raw smell starts to go, add the tomato paste and mix thoroughly. Fry for a minute or two and add the cubes of potatoes.
- Add salt, turmeric powder and Kashmiri red chili powder. Fry for a couple of minutes and sprinkle water if the masala is sticking to the bottom.
- Add a cup of warm water, give it a stir and then cover and cook the potatoes. Depending on the type of potato, it takes approximately ten to fifteen minutes for the potatoes to soften.
- In between, you will have to remove the lid and stir to check that nothing is sticking to the bottom. If it does, then add a little bit more water and let the potatoes cook.
- Once the potatoes have softened up, add 2 cups of water. Add sugar and salt and some split green chilies.
- Let the gravy boil and then add the muithas to the gravy. Add ghee and garam masala and adjust the seasoning if needed.
- Now reduce the heat and let the gravy simmer. Add a little bit of aata in 1/4 cup water and add that to the sauce. It enables the gravy to thicken.
- After five minutes of simmering in the gravy, switch off the heat. Serve chital macher muitha with steamed rice.