Recipe: Ingredients:

Basa fish: 4 medium size pieces (fillet)

Mustard seed: 3 tbsp. (20gms)

Poppy seed/ posto/ khuskhus: 2 tbsp. (optional)

Tomato: 2

Green chillies: 4-5

Mustard oil: 3 tbsp. (no other oil can give the typical aroma to this dish)

Turmeric powder: 2 tsp.

Red chilli powder (preferably Kashmiri red chilli): 1 tsp. (optional)

Salt to taste

Directions:

Clean fish chunks carefully and rub little salt and turmeric powder to the fish pieces and leave those for 10 minutes

Make a paste of mustard seed using either a grinder

Mix a little salt with the mustard paste and leave it for around 15 minutes. Instead of mustard paste, mustard powder can also be used

Make a paste of the poppy seeds with a little water and salt. Adding poppy seeds paste is optional but it gives a rich texture and taste to the gravy

Now make a paste from the tomatoes

Take two tablespoon of mustard oil in a wok and heat the oil sufficiently

Now fry the fish pieces carefully in medium heat till the fishes turn golden brown in colour

Strain fish pieces from oil and keep them aside

In the same oil, add tomato puree and cook for around five minutes or till the aroma of the uncooked tomatoes goes

Add salt and turmeric powder to the gravy

For a rich colour, add Kashmiri red chilli powder to the gravy, which can be optional

Now add poppy seed paste and cook for one more minute, which also can be optional

Add three cups of water to the mustard paste and strain the liquid to discard mustard skin

Now add the mustard water to the gravy and bring the mixture to boil

Now it’s time to add fresh fish pieces to the gravy

Cook for around eight to 10 minutes in medium flame and turn the fried fishes to coat them properly with the mustard gravy

Water level can be adjusted if required, however, we prefer medium consistency

Add one tablespoon of raw mustard oil to the gravy and cook for two more minutes

Switch the flame off and serve mustard fish curry or shorshe bata diye mach er jhal with plain rice