Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia | Light Fish Curry with Potato & Cauliflower

Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi Diye Kalia, a light curry cooked with Indian Barramundi, Potato chunks, and cauliflower! This Bengali Fish Curry is a winter delight and delicious.

Macher Jhol Bhat! the home-cooked bliss

Debjani’s FB status is showing that she is in Pondicherry so what the hell she is doing while in Pondicherry? Isn’t she having some amazing southern food? Hadn’t she gone to visit the Aurivindo Ashram? Well, she reached pondi today for an official meeting. She started writing about her over-the-top homely dinner that she prepared the day before yesterday which started with Bhetki Macher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia and ended on a spoonful (3 spoons actually) of rice.

“Are you crazy Debjani? Why the hell are you in the room? Why are you writing a blog post again while you are in a beautiful place?”  No, I am not crazy! I am done with the day’s official core. I am done with the phone call with my daughter and discussing “angbangchang” with her. Now I am done with a little bit of sightseeing too I found this beautiful resort bed perfect to seat and write about the truly homely light fish curry prepared with potatoes and cauliflower florets. This is what I cooked for us before leaving for the office trip and both mother and daughter enjoyed every bit of it. She elaborated on it to her father in detail over the phone as always.

Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia

Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia or light fish curry with Potatoes and cauliflower is an amazing winter delicacy. Though both Bhetki Maach and Cauliflower are available all through the year. However, having it with hot steamed rice in a wintery lunch/ dinner adds some unique flavor to it; each time; every time.

This is not at all a fancy fish curry. This I guess is somehow applicable to most of the bong fish curries. We prefer to prepare fish curry with common spices with added veggies and those turn amazingly flavourful every time with all the variation; be it a Bhetki Macher Aloo Phulkopi diye or Kalia or a bowl full of Aloo Potol Diye Maacher Jhol.  If Bhetki is not available we cook the same fish curry with Rui Maach or Katla Maach (Rehu fish or Katla fish) or any variety of fish with big bones.

Winter Special Bhetki Fish Curry- Tips

Alike all bong families we cherish our portion of rice with fish curry. The In-laws from both sides are no exception. Nowadays, Mehebub started making a similar curry with tinned fish. He shared this when we told him about having Deshi Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia! Poor him indeed! Anyway, let me come back to the process involved in making this fish curry.  Some very basic ingredients apart from Bhetki Maach, Potato halves, and florets of Cauliflower (“Shiter Phulkopi”). For this recipe, I prefer not to use chunks from a bigger size fish. Instead, a medium size fish gives the perfect taste to this light curry.

Here's how I cook Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia at Debjanir Rannaghar

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Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia

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Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia is a Bengali light fish curry prepared with potato halves and cauliflower florets.

• Author: Debjani Chatterjee
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 45 mins
• Yield: 6 People 1x
• Category: Fish, Side
• Method: Cooking
• Cuisine: Bengali

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 6 Bhetki Fish Chunks (with bone preferably; 100g each)
• 3 Potato (Medium size)
• 1 Cauliflower (Medium size)
• 2 Onions (Medium size)
• 1 Tomato
• 1 Tsp. Ginger Paste
• 1.5 Tsp. Garlic Paste

Tempering:

• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 Dried Red Chili
• 2 Green Cardamom
• ½ Tsp. Whole Cumin Seed
• ¼ Tsp. Asafoetida (Optional)

Spices:

• 1 Tsp. Cumin Powder
• 1 Tsp. Coriander Powder
• 1 Tsp. Bengali Garam Masala Powder
• 1 Tsp. Turmeric Powder
• 1 Tsp. Kashmiri Red Chili Powder (or as per taste)
• 1 Tsp. Sugar (optional)
• 1 Tsp. Salt or as per taste
• 3 Tbsp. Mustard Oil (can be replaced with Refined Oil)
• 1 Tsp. Ghee

Instructions

1. Wash Bhetki fish chunks thoroughly and rub half of the salt and turmeric powder and leave those for 10 minutes.
2. Slice Onions thinly and chop tomato into small pieces.
3. After removing the skin cut the potatoes into halves.
4. Separate the florets from the cauliflower. I prefer to use medium size florets.
5. Take cauliflower florets with a cup of water and microwave for 2 minutes at a high temperature. You can replace this step by boiling cauliflower for 2 minutes and discarding the water completely.*
6. Now heat oil in a deep bottom pan and lightly fry fish chunks from both sides on medium flame for 2-3 minutes.**
7. Strain fish chunks from the oil and keep them aside.
8. Now fry potato halves on medium flame until they turn golden brown in color and cooked ⅔ from inside. This will take around 5 minutes.***
9. After frying the potatoes fry cauliflower florets in the remaining oil for 5 minutes until they turn brownish and crispy.
10. Remove those from the oil and temper the oil with a bay leaf, dried red chili, whole cumin seed and 2 green cardamoms and cook for 1 minute on low flame.
11. Mix asafoetida with a tbsp. of water and add the mixture to the tempering.
12. When the water evaporated completely add sliced onion to the tempering.
13. Cook on medium flame until the onion is fried completely and turned brown.
14. This will take around 2-3 minutes.
15. Add chopped tomatoes and mash using a spatula.
16. Cook until the tomato is mixed completely and leaves the edges of the pan.
17. Add ginger and garlic paste at this point and mix thoroughly.
18. Now add cumin powder, Coriander powder, Turmeric Powder, Sugar, and Salt to the spice mix.
19. Cook for 2-3 minutes or till the oil comes out from the mixture and the mixture starts leaving the edges of the pan.
20. Add 1 Tbsp. of water in between if the mixture dries.
21. Now add fried potatoes and mix thoroughly.
22. Add 2 Cups full of water to cover the potatoes completely and bring the mixture to boil on medium flame.
23. It took me 5 minutes to boil potatoes after covering the pan with a lid. This time may vary with the type of potato. Keep checking the doneness of potatoes in between.
24. Add fried cauliflower at this point and cook for 2 minutes.
25. Now add fried fish pieces and ½ a cup of water and boil the curry for 2-3 minutes finish it by adding Bengali Garam Masala Powder and little Ghee.
26. Serve Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia with steamed rice!

Notes

• You can replace Mustard Oil with refined oil.
• *I prefer to steam Cauliflower a bit before cooking.
• **Fish needs to be fried lightly if Bhetki is being used however required deep frying in case Rui or Katla fish is used.
• ***Potatoes can be boiled before cooking if required and in that case no need to boil potatoes after frying.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 225g
• Calories: 319
• Sugar: 4.3g
• Sodium: 847mg
• Fat: 11.6g
• Saturated Fat: 2.2g
• Carbohydrates: 23.2g
• Fiber: 4.4g
• Protein: 30.5g
• Cholesterol: 50mg

Keywords: Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia recipe, indian barramundi fish curry recipe, bengali bhetki maach recipe, debjanir rannaghar

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I would love to see a picture if you are making it following my recipe. You can share here at dolonchttrj@gmail.com. You can use my hashtag #debjanirrannaghar and share it through Instagram as well. and in addition, you can tag me at @foodofdebjani.

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About Debjani Chatterjee Alam

I am Debjani Chatterjee Alam. A CSR specialist by profession and a food writer, food blogger, and food photographer as well. I live in Kolkata along with my Husband Mehebub who is an architect by profession, my daughter Pasta, and also my dog daughters Coffee and Luchi.

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