Mouri Parshey

(Parshey Fish in a Fennel based gravy)

Parshey is SD’s favourite and everytime the fish is available in the Sunday Fish Market, it would be bought and brought home!

And on most occasions, I make it in the simplest method using kalojeera, shorshe bata etc et…

Today after having marinated (in salt & turmeric paste) for 5-10 minutes and lightly frying the fish, just as I was about to pour oil for proceeding with the gravy, I wondered why not try something different! I dug into my bookshelf and pulled out an almost unused book I’d bought years ago….. ‘Moner Moto Ranna-Sananda Sankalan’ (A compilation of recipes by Sananda…a Bengali women’s Magazine)

Searching for Parshey, I found an uncommon yet easy recipe where I had at home ALL the ingredients!

So here goes the recipe which was for 4 Parshey (I presume they were BIG sized ones). Since I had 500gm of small sized Parshey, I modified the quantities accordingly…..

Ingredients :

1. Small Parshey Fish – 500gm

2. Fennel paste – 2 tbsp ( I used 2 tbsp fennel seeds)

3. Green Chili paste – 1 tbsp (I used 2 long green chillies)

4. Ginger Paste – 1 tbsp

5. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

6. Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

7. Kashmiri chili powder – ½ tsp

8. Plain curd – 1 cup (160ml)

9. Salt – to taste

10. Sugar – ½ tsp

11. Tej Patta -2

12. Fenugreek (Methi) – ½ tsp

13. Dry red chili (whole) – 2

14. Mustard Oil – 4-5 tbsp

Procedure :

1.Tossed the cleaned fish in a tsp of Turmeric & pinch of salt and lightly fried them and kept aside

2. I used my small chutney jar to make a moist paste with the fennel seed & green chilli

3. I took the plain curd and added the fennel (mouri) + green chilli paste and other ingredients given at Sl.Nos 4-10 (of ingredients). Mixed the curd and masala to a smooth paste.

4. In a wok poured the oil and once hot, seasoned with Tej pata, Whole Dry red chilies and methi.

5. I added the curd & masala mix and fried it well till the oil had separated from the masala.

6. Added the fried Fish and sprinkled about ½ bowl of water. Covered it and cooked for abt 5 minutes (or till it comes to a boil) on medium flame. The gravy should be thick. Garnish with a few slit green chilies.

Serve it witn hot steamed rice!!!

This is my 2nd entry to the Blog event ''THINK SPICE:THINK TURMERIC", hosted for Nov '09 by Sudeshna of COOK LIKE A BONG and the Think Spice event is the brainchild of Sunita of Sunita's World .

The logo for the event is...

Paneer Anamika!

The preparation of this paneer dish is actually a modification....the original recipe has been twisted a bit here, subtracted a bit there to arrive at whatever this Paneer dish you may want to call! I'd read the original recipe eons ago in a Fish (yes...fish!!) Special of the popular Bengali magazine Sananda - the main ingredient being Bhetki fillet. But as is usual with me, I had forgotten to note it down. But the simplicity of the ingredients (always available at anyone's kitchen) and easy preparation and most importantly, the superlative taste of the final product (yes I had tried it out immediately after reading the recipe) had probably helped me remember the procedure.

A couple of Sundays back, just after I had finished the day's cooking, my husband (SD) informed that a friend and his wife would be coming over for dinner....Fine I said, and just as I was cosying up amidst the cushions to read the Sunday special bulky newspaper filled with anything but the news, he casually mentioned.... "Oh...they're vegetarian. Dont go into any trouble...something simple would be fine!"

I sprang out of my Sunday reverie, cursing my luck that everything was non-vegetarian or had non-veg additives that day!!! Opened my fridge, racked my brain and found some paneer... THANK GOD, I said a silent prayer. But no palak, so palak paneer was ruled out. Steamed paneer with mustard and coconut may be a Bong delicacy but mustard may not do much for the north Indian palate. And that was when the brainwave struck....and I came up with this improvisation/modification of the fish recipe...subtracted the garlic and the marination part. The end result was surprisingly good!

So when I prepared it last Thursday (SD's latest fad being vegetarian food on Thursdays!), thought I'll click some pics and post the recipe on my blog!

So here goes the recipe...

Ingredients : (since I'd decided while assembling the ingredients that it'll be a blog entry, I took the trouble to use my kitchen scale for the very first time! Hence the accurate weight measurements!!!)


-Fresh & Soft Paneer : 400gms (cut into pieces..I cut them into triangles)

-Cashew paste : 100 gms

-Onion paste : 60 gms (paste of 1 medium sized onion)

-Tomato paste : 60 gms (paste of 1 medium sized tomato)

-Kasuri methi leaves (3 tsp) soaked in warm warm water for 1/2 hr prior to use

-Ginger paste : 1/2 tsp

-Whole garam masala : 2 cardamoms+1 stick cinnamon

-Bay leaf : 1 or 2

-Oil : 3-4 tbsp

-Masala paste (turmeric - 1 tspn; Coriander powder - 1 tsp; Cumin powder - 1 tsp; Red Chilli powder is optional and depending on your taste)

-Salt to taste

Procedure :-
1.Take Oil in a wok. When hot, add the whole garam masala followed by the onion paste. Stir well.
2.When onion is well fried, add ginger paste followed by tomato paste and again keep stirring.
3.Add the masala paste. Keep stirring and let the masala cook.
4. Now add the cashew paste. If the cashew paste is too thick, sprinkle some water and let it cook on low heat.
5.Add the paneer pieces. Turn them around in the wok and if the gravy is sticking to the wok sides, sprinkle some water. Let it simmer. Cover with a lid.
6.Once in a while stir so that the gravy doesnt stick to the wok bottom and get burnt.
7.Once it comes to a boil, add the soaked kesari methi along with the water and again let it come to a boil again.
8. The Paneer is ready.(What shall we call it ? Paneer Pasinda or Shaahi Paneer...or something else??)
9. This can be eaten with Roti or Rice.