Mach'er Matha Diye Peyanj Kolir Charchori- Spring Onion with Fish Head Stir/Fry

" Joto shukno peyanj kolir fridge-e-sheet e, ami Obelar dal bhaat e phoriye gechi…
Gelas’er jol e, r bhashbo Na...nanaa naa …Amake amar moton thakte dao..."

Wow! My type of song...Talks about cooking – peyanj koli and daal bhaat...Two things/food which I like to eat, hopefully you all. But this song is probably more, more than what it is interpreted by me here. Listen to This Here and close your eyes and mouth for couple of minutes, without passing judgments. The simplicity of lyrics is even more mesmerizing.

Anyways, now to the cooking part. I have been making peyanj kolir torkari- I mean spring onions with potatoes quite a while now. Sometimes I do add small shrimp or chingri when making it for my in-laws or my parents whenever we visit them back home.(DH is allergic to shrimp so, he skips eating it and that’s the reason you all are not seeing any chingri recipes for quite a while now here).I also like to do a quick stir/fry with brinjal /potato for niramish way of making it, since peyanj koli is itself is amish I don’t know how that would be going to justify a niramish charchari.Any clue readers- peyanj koli is amish or niramish ?

I had some rui fish head and portions from tail end and luckily the spring onions were not that in bad shape as depicted in this song. Usually I do like to use Mach’er kanta/fish bones the big-back bone and macher matha/fish head to make this charchari, so inspired from the mach’er kanta charchari, I did add the fish head, tail portions and made an Amish charchari with spring onions and I wished to use peyanj koli -the stalks but spring onion is what we get here abroad,didn’t use the kanta/bones of fish as I had none. However, if you want to add then go ahead, it will add up to the flavor of this Charchari.

We really liked eating it with warm cooked rice.
Here is how we made it
Mach’er Matha Diye Peyanj Kolir Charchari
Recipe reuirements- (Serves 4 )
 1fish head+ tail portions- rui/ilish/katla etc
About 300 Gms of spring onions or peyanj koli the stalks
1 medium size potato
1 tomato (optional)
2 garlics
1 tsp of grated ginger
For seasoning
1 tsp of kalo jeerey/kalounji/nigella seeds
½ tsp of turmeric powder
1 tsp of red pepper powder
1 tsp of salt
Pinch of sugar
2 tbs of mustard oil + some more to fry fish head

Method
Marinate fish head and tail portion very well in salt+turmeric powder. Keep aside.
Heat up a fry pan/kadai; add about 3-4 tbs of cooking oil .Now fry the fish head very well in oil.
Fry the tail portions also. Take out and keep aside. Do not discard this oil, we will use this oil to make charchari.
Add more oil to it. Now temper it with kalo jeerey/kalounji/nigella seeds. Add in garlic chopped and ginger grated.
Add in potato cubes, fry very well. Add in turmeric powder, red pepper powder, salt and sugar.
Add in chopped spring onions- just remove the portions from root end about 1 cm, do the same from the tip portions. And then chop them in equal lengths of 1 inch.
Add in chopped tomatoes. Mix well. Add in fried fish head and fish tail portions. Break the fish head in small portions. Mix well. Adjust salt or sugar if required. Sprinkle about 2-3 tbs of water- “jol choda deba” so that the gravy doesn’t stick at the base.
Cover it and let it cook, till potatoes are cooked well and can be mashed. If you don’t like to mash potato or the “makho-2” consistency then remove the pan little bit early from the flame.Add a dash of mustard oil at the end.
Enjoy with garam bhaat

Note-
I have added ½ tsp of turmeric powder; if you like you may add more.The turmeric powder brand that I am currently using is at par quality. The colour of charchori will depend on the amount of turmeric powder +red pepper powder used. Please refer the brand of turmeric powder you are using as every brand has different quality of content.
If mustard oil is not available, olive oil or other oil can be used.
Any fish head- rui /ilish/katla/mrigale can be used with this recipe. Ask the fish monger to cut the fish head into 4 portions , this way the fish head can be easily fried even in a not so big wok/kadai or saucepan.

Happy Cooking Friends