East Indian
Shorshe Maach (Bengali Mustard Fish Curry)
Shorshe Maach (Bengali Mustard Fish Curry) is East Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb fish steaks (rohu or katla)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 3 tbsp mustard seeds
- 4 green chilies
- 5 tbsp mustard oil
- 1/4 tsp nigella seeds
- 1 cup water
- 1.25 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Rub the fish pieces with turmeric and half the salt and let them sit for 10 minutes.
- Soak the mustard seeds in warm water for 15 minutes, then grind them with two of the green chilies into a smooth paste, adding a splash of water if needed.
- Heat the mustard oil in a pan until it just smokes, then fry the fish pieces briefly until lightly golden, and set aside.
- In the same oil, temper the nigella seeds, then stir in the mustard paste, remaining turmeric, and salt, and cook gently for 2 minutes, being careful not to let it scorch.
- Add the water and remaining slit green chilies, bring to a bare simmer, and slide in the fried fish.
- Cook gently for 6 minutes without boiling hard, then finish with a drizzle of raw mustard oil and serve hot with rice.
Serve it with
A East Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Shorshe Maach (Bengali Mustard Fish Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
-
The cooked vegetable
-
The protein alongside
-
What it is eaten with
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Shorshe Maach (Bengali Mustard Fish Curry) carries fish. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | Yes | Aloo Posto (Potato in Poppy Seed Paste) |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- High
- Protein quality
- Complete
- Food groups it covers
- Meat or fish and Nuts and seeds
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Shorshe Maach (Bengali Mustard Fish Curry) takes about 40 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play. Until then this is one still image, which is why the page opens as quickly as it does.
More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on fish and mustard seed.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from East India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.