Ilish mach’er matha diye Bandhakopi Palang Chenchra (cabbage spinach with fish head , vegetable medley)

"Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there's some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep".

--Robert Frost

Chenchra/Chanchra, as I can recall is basically a chorchori with the addition of fish ,specially the fish head and the oil that comes out after frying the fish pieces and head.Now, the procedure remains the same for a chorchori but at the end a fried fish head is added.
Just thought of creating a label ,pressure cooker cooking onwards ,as this would help many of us in this fast paced world saving time and energy.

Ilish mach’er matha diye Bandhakopi Palang Chenchra/Chanchara (cabbage spinach with fish head , vegetable medley)
Ingredients
Quarter of bandhakopi –cabbage
Approx 100 gms of spinach /Palang
10-12 Mangetout/Snow peas
2 potatoes
1 tsp of turmeric powder/holod
2 tsp of red pepper powder/lanka goron
2 tsp of coriander powder/dhone goron
1 bay leaf/tej pata
½ tsp of panch phoron
2 tsp of sugar
Salt as per taste
For Ilish fish head
1 tsp of Turmeric powder +some salt

Method
Chop all vegetables , clean in water specially spinach leaves.
In a separate saucepan ,heat some oil, and fry marinated the fish head uniformly.
Take out the fried ilish fish head, and take some of the cooking oil to add later in preparing Chenchra.
In this oil,itself, add ½ cup of water,lonka goron/ red pepper powder,holod/turmeric and salt.
Cook the fish head in the above gravy .Take out after 5-7 mints ,keep this as you have to add it later to the chenchra.
Now add the cooking oil which comes out after frying ilish head , in pressure cooker + some more oil 2-3 tbs , add panch phoron and bay leaf , let it splutter.
Now add potato pieces, fry them well , add all the dry ingredients –holod,lonka goron,sugar and salt.
Add in coriander powder/dhone goron.
Now add in cabbage/bandhakopi and mangetouts.
Fry some more time 4mints.
Now add in spinach/palang and sugar also.Mix in well.
At this moment add the ilish fish head+ gravy if any (if you don’t feel like adding the gravy,don’t add it , the chenchra will be knd of dry) into it.
Now cover the pressure cooker lid and let it whistle once.
Now stop the flame and let it cool.When the pressure subside , open the lid and with the spatula/khunti work thro the the Chenchra/Chanchra and mix in uniformly and serve with garam bhaat .

Note-
Sometimes it’s better to open the lid before the pressure subside as this would stop further cooking of the chenchra.How you would do it, simple,take the pressure cooker in the sink,sprinkle some cold water over it and it would be easy to open the lid.
There is perhaps another way of making this, in a korai/saucepan, follow all the procedures except don’t transfer in pressure cooker, cover the korai and let it cook at very low flame till all the vegetables gets cooked or the thing turn out little mushy …in Bengali “makha-makha.

some more recipes

Puin Shaak 'er Chorchori at Spice and Curry
Chanchra at Bengalicuisinenet dot com