Shuntki maachher charchari (dry curry of dried fish)

This is stolen from UB who is the best cook of Bengali food I have met so far (other than my Mom, of course). This is going to be vague as I have not tried it yet.

Take dried small fish (or shrimps, anything about 1-2" long)  and soak it in vinegar for some time (1-2 hr) - this helps in removing the stink of dried fish.

Boil some water and put the soaked fish into it (the water should be boiling hot) for a couple of minutes before draining it out.

Heat oil in a wok and fry the fish lightly to make it crispy and keep them aside.

In the same oil fry panch phoron (at least nigella seeds), chopped (long) onions, green chili (sliced lengthwise into to halves), chopped radish, chopped onion stalks etc (any vegetable that can can be crunchy when cooked).

Add a little water and cook till the vegetables are almost done and add the fish.

Cook for a few more minutes.

Barbecued King fish with mustard paste

Ingredients:

1. King fish fillet - 1 (~500 g)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pacific_king_mackerel, but what we get here in Bangalore does not have spots, looks more like this: http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/106908407/King_Fish.jpg)
2. Black mustard seed (whole) - 2 tsp
3. Black jeera (nigella seed) - 1 tsp
3. Black pepper corn - 1 tsp
4. Garlic - 6 cloves
5. Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
6. Salt - 2 tsp

Procedure:

1. Wash the fish with water and dry it by letting the water drip off.
2. Rub salt and oil on it.
3. Soak the mustard, black jeera and pepper corn in a small amount of water (just enough to submerge them - about 3 tbsp) for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the garlic cloves and make a paste out of all these (the mustard will naturally tend to remain coarser, which is fine).
5. Rub the paste on the fish. Leave for 30-60 minutes.
67. Slowly barbecue the fish on a grill or using a skewer.

Lentil soup with fish head (maachher matha diye mug daal)

This dish is a minor variation of regular moong daal. But it tastes fantastic.

Ingredients:

Head of a large rohu (or head of any large freshwater fish with enough brains and flesh and not too bony)
Rest of the ingredients are the same as lentil soup.

Procedure:

Same as regular lentil soup, except that you have to boil the fish head along with the lentils. You may want to break up the head with a spoon in step 4.

Hilsa curry with eggplant ( বেগুন দিয়ে ইলিশ ঝোল )

 Ingredients:

Hilsa - 500 g (buy ~650 g - which should become ~500 g after cleaning)

Eggplant - 200 g (1 medium)
Potatoes - 2 medium (optional)

Green chili - 3 (slit longitudinally)

Nigella seeds - 1 teaspoonful

Turmeric powder - 1.5 teaspoonful

Red chili powder - 1 teaspoonful (or less if you want it less spicy)

Salt - according to taste

Hilsa is considered the King of Fishes in terms of taste. It takes minimal effort to cook but maximum effort to eat. Its flesh is very soft, has a lot of oil and a special strong smell which is considered so delicious that whatever way it is cooked, it tastes great. Actually, the only strong spice that goes with Hilsa is mustard, anything else will kill the special flavour of the fish itself. It is also one of the few fishes that do not always need to be fried before cooking.
But one must be very careful when eating Hilsa. It is said that every kilogram of Hilsa has 10,000 bones. The bones (especially in flesh around the spine) are vey small, so you can start chewing the fish and separate the bones in your mouth by feeling them and moving them between your teeth  slowly with your tongue. The bones in the belly meat are bigger and are better separated with fingers.

Procedure:

1. Marinate the fish with 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of turmeric, 1 teaspoonful of red chili powder for 15 minutes.
2. Chop the eggplant into ~3" long, ~1.5" wide and ~1" thick pieces. If it is a big one, first cut it crosswise into 3" long parts. Then take each part and have it lengthwise. Then make parallel 1" thick cuts lengthwise.
3. If adding potatoes, chop them into long thick pieces [ 1 crosswise cut, three parallel lengthwise cuts ( ||| ) and another two lengthwise cuts perpendicular to these three (=)] or about the same size as the eggplant.
4. Marinate the eggplant pieces with 1/2 teaspoonful of tureric powder and 1/2 teaspoonful of salt and 1 tablespoonful of oil. It tends to  absorb the oil fast. So mix these quickly (or add more oil) and evenly to give the eggplant pieces an even quote of the spices.
5. Lightly stir fry the eggplant pieces.
6. If using potatoes, lightly stir fry them too.
7. In whatever oil is left over (1 tablespoonful should be enough), add the nigella seeds as phoron. Within 10-20 seconds, add the slit green chilis. 
8. Add water after ~20-30 seconds. 
9. If you are using potatoes add them now and let cook until they are almost cooked. Then add the eggplant pieces and the marinated fish. Otherwise, add the eggplant pieces and the fish right away.
10. Cook until the fish is done (another 10 minutes in medium/low flame with cover) .
11. You may garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve.

Maach-er jhaal (Fish curry with mustard paste)

The main difference between jhol and jhaal is that the latter has a thicker gravy and is spicier. “Jhaal” literally means (spicy-hot, like the taste of chilly-pepper). In its most common form, jhaal gravy is based on mustard paste. Fish with strong smell (like most sea-fish and some carnivorous catfish like boal [wallago] ) are almost exclusively cooked this way as the mustard covers up the smell.

Ingredients:

Fish - 250 g

Mustard - 1 teaspoonful

Nigella seeds - ½ teaspoonful (optional)

Onion - 2 medium (optional)

Green chilly - 2 (each slit into two)

Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoonful

Potatoes - 2 medium (optional).

Procedure:

1. Marinate the fish the same way as in jhol.
2. You may fry the fish as in jhol. But this is optional as some people like the fishy-smell mixed with mustard smell.
3. Potatoes, if added, are to be cut into long thin pieces (longitudinally | | - _ ) and can be fried beforehand (just like jhol).
4. Chop the onions into long thin pieces.
5. The mustard should soaked in water to soften them (~10-15 minutes) and then ground to fine paste.
6. In heated oil, add the green chillies (and optionally the nigella seeds). After 10-15 seconds add the onion and fry until golden brown.
7. You may add the mustard paste now and stir it for about a minute so that it loses any excess water and becomes slightly darker in colour. You can skip the mustard at this stage and add it after adding water.
8. (Optional) Add the potatoes and fry for ~2 minutes
9. Add water. In jhaal the gravy is very thick. So control the amount of water so that after boiling it will reduce to just enough for dipping the fish. Some prefer the gravy to be like a thick coating of sauce on the fish.
10. Once the water starts boiling, add the turmeric powder and salt to taste. If you skipped the mustard paste in step 7, add it now. Stir and mix it well into the water.
11. Just like jhol, add the fish when the potatoes are almost done. If you are not adding potatoes, add the fish when the gravy starts to look uniform and well mixed. The onions should have become very soft by that time.
12. Cook until the fish gets done.

Kaalo jeera diye maacher jhol (Fish curry with nigella seeds)

Same as “Maacher jhol”, except that you need a teaspoonful of kaalo jeera (nigella seeds) and skip cumin and coriander powder.

Procedure:

Same as “Maacher jhol”, except that you add the nigella seeds along with the tejpatta.

Maach-er jhol(Fish curry)

This is perhaps the most popular yet the most variable bengali dish. Every household has its own way of cooking fish.

Ingredients:

Fish – 250 g

Ginger paste – 1 teaspoonful

Onion – 1 (medium sized, chopped into thin long slices)

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoonful

Coriander powder – 1/2 teaspoonful

Tarmeric powder – 1 teaspoonful

Green chilly – 2 (slit into two halves)

Tejpatta – 2 (optional)

Potato – 2 medium sized(optional)

Procedure:

1. Add half a teaspoonful of turmeric powder, salt and optionally some red chilly powder (1/2 a teaspoonful will be enough to give a flavour without making it spicey) to the fish. Pour two tablespoonfuls of cooking oil and mix (preferably rubbing in the spices with hand). Let it marinate for 10-15 minutes.
2. If you are using potatoes, chop each one into 8 pieces. When cooking small (whole) or thin (like pomphret) fish, the pieces should be long and thin (four longitudinal cuts like this: | - / \ or | | =). When it is thick pieces of fish (like rohu), they should be short and thick (two longitudinal cuts perpendicular to each other, one transverse cut). You may marinate them the same way as the fish – this helps them cook fast.
3. Heat oil in a pan. When vapour rises from the surface of the oil, the bubbles on it vanish, it is hot enough. Now put some pieces of fish so that they don't touch each other and you have enough space to turn them around. No piece should touch the pan anywhere without oil.
4. Fry each side until it becomes golden brown. The fish tends to break easily when half-done. Take care not to poke the pieces when turning.
5. If using potatoes, fry them in the same oil until golden brown.
6. Now, in the same pan (add more oil if required – about 5 tablespoonfuls should be there) add the tejpatta to the hot oil. This is the phoron. Now add green chillies. Then add ginger paste. Stir for about 15 seconds. Then add the onion. Fry them until starting to ecome brownish.
7. Add the potatoes and mix so that the potatoes are quoted with the spices.
8. Add water and cover the pan. Cook until potatoes are almost done.
9. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix and then add the fish. The pieces should be just submerged in the gravy.
10. Cook until the potatoes are completely done. (The trick is to add the fish at the right moment. If you put them too early, they get over-cooked and break into fragments. If you put them too late, the potatoes get overcooked – which is more acceptable).

A note on fish

The most popular and easily available fish in Bengal are the carps, particularly Rohu and Catla. Among catfish, walking catfish (maagur in Bengali) and stinging catfish (shingi) are very common and easy to digest and also easy to eat for having fewer bones. Climbing perch (koi) is also very popular, but hard to eat without experience because of too many sharp bones. While the above are everyday fish, Hilsa (ilish) and Chital are both the contenders for the top position for taste. But Hilsa is notorious for its innumerable small and sharp bones and needs some experience to eat efficiently.

The most popular fish in restaurants is Bekti (distortoin of Bhetki in Bengali). It has few bones and can cut into boneless fillets. Another easy to eat and widely available fish is pomfret.

Usually fresh water fish are sweetish and have a mild flavour. These are best cooked in light gravy (jhol). Sea/brakish water fish have strong taste and smell. If that is undesirable (as many Bengalis find it), a thick spicey gravy (jhaal) is good for cooking them. Depending on the nature of the fish, you can cook any fish using either of these two kinds of gravy. A friend living in London reports that Salmon jhol tastes better than any Bengali fish dish.