A very light Bengali fish curry, that doesn’t call for onion or tomato. Just potato, eggplant and few mild spices is all it needs to prepare this Macher Jhol Aloo Begun Diye. Macher Jhol translates to fish curry, aloo means potato and Begun is eggplant. This simple light variety of Bengali fish curry is one of my absolute favorite. We also add dried lentil dumplings (daler bodi) which brings an earthy flavor to the dish. Paired with rice, it’s a great summertime meal.
Macher Jhol
This Macher Jhol is prepared using rui maach or rohu fish. But you can try catfish or salmon steak too.
Rohu Fish: It’s a lake water fish very common in Bengali cuisine. It is a species of carp family found in rivers in south Asia. It is not soft white fish and it does have a lot of bones.
In US, you can find it in Bangladeshi Stores and few selected Indian stores. It’s of course sold frozen and not fresh but taste really good.
Vegetarian version of this dish: You can absolutely omit the fish and turn it into a vegetarian meal, Aloo Begun er Jhol as we like to call it. One of my go to light veg curry.
Ingredients for Macher Jhol Aloo Begun Diye:
- Fish fillet (I used rohu, you can use catfish or salmon too)
- Potato
- Eggplant
- Fresh Green chili
- Cilantro leaves
- Little bot of flour to make a roux or slurry
Spices:
- Nigella seeds
- Cumin powder
- Fennel powder
- Chili powder
We prepare Bengali style fish curry in Mustard oil, but you can definitely use regular vegetable oil as well.
It’s a one pot meal and you lightly fry the fish fillets before adding it to the gravy. To get that flaky texture of the fish, don’t fry for too long.
As a kid I was never a big fan of macher jhol, probably because Ma would prepare it so often in a week. For several years in US, I didn’t try to prepare any of these authentic Bengali fish curries.
Because I didn’t had access to such lake water fish until I found these Indian/ Bangladeshi stores selling these fishes I grew up eating.
Try these fish curries:
Kerala Style Fish Curry
Puti Maach Er Tok (Tangy Fish Stew)
Ilish Maach Kacha Kola Jhol (Hilsa Fish with Plantain and Potato)
Macher Jhol with Salmon
A very light Bengali fish curry, that doesn’t call for onion or tomato. Just potato, eggplant and few mild spices is all it needs to prepare this Macher Jhol Aloo Begun Diye. Macher Jhol translates to fish curry, aloo means potato and Begun is eggplant. This simple light variety of Bengali fish curry is one of my absolute favorite. We also add dried lentil dumplings (daler bodi) which brings an earthy flavor to the dish. Paired with rice, it’s a great summertime meal.Macher Jhol Aloo Begun Diye
Ingredients
Instructions
with the bay leaf. Let it sizzle for few seconds.
turmeric. Stir it around and fry for 3 minutes.
and fry for 2 minutes.
with rice.
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