Kalojire diye Macher Rosha! Tangy Big Carp (Rohu or Katla) fish curry tempered with Nigella seed! Deep-fried fish is cooked with a tangy curry sauce and then served with steamy rice to soak it all up. By the way, you can have the Bengali-style fish curry tempered with Nigella Seed aka Macher Rosha with Roti as well!
Jump to:
- Bengali-style fish curry tempered with Nigella Seed
- Kalojire diye Macher Rosha Video Recipe
- The Makho makho affair!
- The Regular Macher Jhol Bhat
- Ingredients For regular Kalojire diye Macher Rosha
- Macher Rosha FAQ
- Recipe Card
- Bengali Fish Recipes
- Have you tried the Bengali Kalojire diye Macher Rosha recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!
- Here's the Perfect Bengali Kalojire diye Mach Recipe Pin for your Pinterest Board!
Bengali-style fish curry tempered with Nigella Seed
Macher Rosha is neither a typical Bengali Macher Jhol nor Macher Kalia. This is a semi-dry fish preparation served with a tangy sauce cooked with onion and tomatoes and tempered with nigella seed aka Kalojire. In my place, we call this fish curry paka macher rosha. Paka Mach stands for big-size fish with bigger bones. Mostly fish that are beyond 3kgs are considered Paka.
Kalojire diye Macher Rosha Video Recipe
The Makho makho affair!
I prefer to make the gravy for this Bengali fish curry a bit on the thicker side. This is a personal choice. You can keep the curry runny as well. There's something called "makho makho" and "gorgore" in Bengali cuisine and this is one such gorgore macher rosha! You can use Rui / Katla / Mrigel / kalbosh mach for this recipe. Pieces from big-sized fish work best for this recipe! Ask for paka mach.
The Regular Macher Jhol Bhat
It is a typical Bengali thing to cook Mach Bhat for a mundane Bengali meal and I am no exception. We as a family eat fish curry and rice at least four times a week and even more without any complaints. This is normal in a fish and rice-eating Bengali family. I or our house-help cook the general jhol, jhal, bhapa, doi mach, or bhapa at home. While I cook, I prefer elaborate dishes on weekdays. Macher Rosha is one such dish that can be cooked within 30 minutes.
Ingredients For regular Kalojire diye Macher Rosha
You can find everything needed to whip up your very own homemade basic macher rosha. Most importantly, the ingredient list is beautifully short and basic.
Macher Rosha FAQ
No, they are not. In the local Bengali dialect, we refer to Rui, Katla, Mirgel, and Kalbosh as Pona Mach. They look almost identical yet they are different; both in look and taste-wise.
There are thousands of recipes for fish curry in Bengali cuisine Pona Mach I suppose. In some, we do fry the fish and skip. The base of the gravy differs too. I will be sharing a list below.
Once someone told me rasha came from Rassedar which means a tangy gravy-based dish. Who knows! All I know in my family a tomato-based tangy thick curry is called Rasha. We use both fish and veggies such as pointed gourd or cauliflower in Rasha.
Yes, Rasha is supposed to be spicy though not loaded with different types of spices.
Both plain rice and Roti go well with well-made macher Rosha. I do not like to serve it with Pulao or Paratha.
Recipe Card
Kalojire diye Macher Rosha
Kalojire diye Macher Rosha! Tangy Big Carp (Rohu or Katla) fish curry tempered with Nigella seed! Deep-fried fish is cooked with a tangy curry sauce and then served with steamy rice to soak it all up.
Ingredients
- 4 piece fish Katla fish, 100g each
- 1 Onion
- 1 Tomato big
- 1 Tbsp. Garlic Paste
- 2 Green Chilies
- 8 Tbsp. Mustard Oil the entire will not be used
- 1 Tsp. Red Chili Powder
- 1 Tsp. Sugar
- 1.5 Tsp. Turmeric Powder
- 1 Tsp. Nigella Seed aka Kalojire aka Kalonji
- 1.5 Tsp. Salt
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry fish chunks.
- Sprinkle 1 Tsp. Salt and 1 Tsp. Turmeric powder as well.
- Marinate fish chunks and leave those for 10 minor before frying.
- Meanwhile, finely chop 1 Onion and chop a Tomato too.
- Now cut 2 Green Chilies into halves.
- Heat 8 Tbsp. Mustard Oil in a pan/wok/ Kadhai.
- You can fry the fish in less oil; I use extra oil to fry fish however use the remaining in other dishes.
- Heat the oil till it changes color.
- Start frying fish chunks.
- Keep the flame high and fry one side for 30 seconds and flip and fry the other side.
- Following the same process fry the remaining fish.
- I use extra oil and once done I keep 3 Tbsp. Oil in the pan to make the curry and temper the remaining oil with chili to make flavored oil to serve with rice.
- Temper the oil remaining in the pan (3 tbsp.) with 1 Tsp. Nigella Seed aka Kalojire aka Kalonji.
- Add Green Chillies to the tempering.
- Now add chopped Onion and stir continuously.
- Cook on medium heat; till the onion changes color.
- Now add chopped tomatoes and mix.
- Once soften add 1 Tbsp. Garlic paste.
- Mix continuously and cook for 2 minutes.
- Now add ½ Tsp. Turmeric Powder, 1 Tsp. Red Chili Powder, 1 Tsp. Sugar and ½ Tsp. Salt as well.
- Mix and cook for 2 more minutes; you can adjust the spices if needed.
- Once the mixture started to release oil add ⅓ cup of water and mix.
- Cook till the water evaporates completely.
- You will see the oil is having a nice red color and the tomatoes soften completely.
- Now add 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil.
- Once the boiling starts, add fried fish.
- Mix properly and cook till the gravy thickens on medium flame.
- It will take around 5-6 minutes to cook properly.
- I prefer this texture for Macher Rosha. You can, however, make it runny and obviously can skip the sugar.
- Though macher rosa goes amazingly with rice, however, do try once with Roti!
Video
Nutrition
Bengali Fish Recipes
- Chitol Macher Muitha
- Aam Shol (also known as Shol Macher Tawk)
- Kumro diye Ilish Macher Jhol (also known as Hilsa fish curry with Pumpkin)
- Magur Macher Rosha
- Shobji diye Shutki Macher Jhol
- Piajkoli ar Aloo diye Tangra Macher Jhol (also known as Bengali Light fish curry prepared with Tyangra Maach, Onion Stalks and Potato)
- Shorshe Bata diye Parshe Macher Jhal (also known as Mullet Fish in Mustard Gravy)
- Charapona Macher Kabiraji Jhol (also known as Charapona Macher Jhol)
- Biye Barir Macher Kalia (also known as Katla Macher Kaliya)
- Doodh Maach (also known as Bengali Fish Curry cooked with Milk aka Dudh Mach)
- Bhetki Maacher Aloo Phulkopi diye Kalia (also known as Light Fish Curry with Potato & Cauliflower)
Have you tried the Bengali Kalojire diye Macher Rosha recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!
I would love to see a picture if you are making the prawns following my recipe. You can share here at [email protected]. You can use my hashtag #debjanirrannaghar and share it through Instagram as well. In addition, you can tag me at @foodofdebjani.
Here's the Perfect Bengali Kalojire diye Mach Recipe Pin for your Pinterest Board!
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.
payal says
Hi Debjani,I have made this fish recipe many times, and everyone likes this recipe.Keep sharing such good recipes like this.
Debjani says
Thank you so much for your kind words.