Description
Topse Maacher Fry is a classic, mouth-watering Bengali fish dish that is sure to tantalize the taste buds of any seafood lover. The dish is prepared by taking a Topse Fish and coating it in a special batter made of gram flour, rice flour, and a unique combination of spices an they deep-frying the fish
Ingredients
Scale
- 15 Whole Topse Maach / Mango Fish
To Marinade:
- 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
- 1 Tsp. Turmeric Powder
- 1 Tsp. Salt
To make the Batter:
- 8 Tbsp. Gram Flour
- 2 Tbsp. Rice Flour
- 1 Tsp. Chili Powder
- 1 Tsp.Turmeric Powder
- 1 Tsp. Onion Seed / Nigella Seed / Kalo Jeera
- 1 Onion
- 1 Tbsp. Garlic Paste
- 1 Tbsp. Ginger Paste
- 5 Green Chili
- 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 Tsp. Salt (or more)
To Fry:
- 150 ml Mustard Oil / Refined Oil (as required for deep frying)
Instructions
How to clean Topse Mach
- You need to slightly open the head to discard the gill, intestine, etc.
- Cut and discard Barbels. Now cut and remove the tail.
- Open the head and remove the gill, intestine, etc.
- I have used a traditional cutter called Bonti in Bengali. You can use a sharp knife as well.
- For a better understanding of the process, please check the video.
Marination
- Coat the fish properly with 1 Tsp. Salt, 1 Tsp. Turmeric Powder, and 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice.
- Keep the fish marinated for 30 minutes.
The batter for Topse Fish Fry
- Remove the skin of 1 Onion and grate it using a grater.
- Chop 5 Green Chillies.
- Take 8 Tbsp. Besan (gram flour) in a bowl.
- Add 2 Tbsp. Rice Flour (Chaler Aata).
- Now add 1 Tsp. Kalojire (Kalonji/ Nigella Seed).
- Add 1 Tsp. Baking Soda. 1 Tsp. Salt, 1 Tsp. Red Chili Powder, 1 Tsp. Turmeric Powder.
- Extract and add the juice of the Onion along with the juice of 1 Tbsp. each of Ginger and Garlic Paste.
- Add chopped Green Chillies as well.
- Mix using a manual Whisk.
Add 50ml water and mix. - Keep mixing to make a smooth batter without a lump.
- Add 50ml water and mix.
- Keep this mixture at room temperature for 10 minutes before using it as a batter for a fish fry.
Making Fish fry using Topse Mach
- Heat 150ml or more Mustard Oil in a pan.
- While the oil is heating, coat marinated topse match with the batter.
- It will take 3 minutes (maximum) to fry each set of fish.
- Fry 2-3 coated fish at one go depending on the size of the pan.
- Keep the flame medium all through.
- Flip the fish in between.
- Once done the coating will have a nice crisp texture and light brown color.
Strain fish fry from the oil once done. - Use a perforated bowl or kitchen towel to discard excess oil.
- Following the same process fry the remaining topse macher fry.
- Use the remaining batter to make delicious Byason-er Bora aka Besan Pakoda.
- These fritters are equally tasty and will go amazingly with a cup of tea or coffee!
Notes
- If you wish to skip the dressing and cleaning of Mango fish, ask your fishmonger to do it.
- I used 15 medium Topse Maach for this recipe of Bengali Topse Fry.
- Increase or decrease the ingredients used for making the batter based on the number of fish you are using.
- I do not advise making a paste of the onion as all you need is the juice of the onion which will be easy to extract if the onion is grated.
- If not available or if you don't prefer Mustard Oil, use any vegetable oil instead.
- To make Topse Macher fry, we use whole clean fish with the bone intact. The bone is soft and hence we just eat it, however, you can discard it while eating.
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: Fish, Snack
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Bengali
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 200g
- Calories: 304
- Sugar: 2.6g
- Sodium: 1633mg
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 2.3g
- Carbohydrates: 13.6g
- Fiber: 2.1g
- Protein: 27.3g
- Cholesterol: 43mg