Chara ponar Patla Jhal

Chara Ponar Patla Jhal





It was my first experience with Chara pona (Baby rohu/rui). So I had no clue as to how this is supposed to be made. Mother in law to the rescue, I asked my hubby what could be done with the baby rohu and he said generally Ma would make like a patla jhal. I hadn't a clue what a jhal was as far as I knew jhal meant something being hot. A phone call later I was all wise thanks to my MIL who gave me directions of how to make this simple curry. My hubby tatsted it and gave his approval nod aswell. So here we have the recipe.

Ingredients

Chara pona 2 no

potatoes 2

kalonji/onion seed/kalo jeera 1 teaspoon

bay leaf/tej patha 2

turmeric 1/2 + 1/2 teaspoon

green chillies slit 3

salt to taste

mustard oil about 4 tablespoon (could use less aswell)

2 cups water

Method

clean the fish and sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of  turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon salt over fish and marinate for about 15-20 minutes.

peel the potatoes and slice them into thick wedges.

heat about 2 tablespoon of mustard oil in a kadal until it begins to smoke, at this point place the fish and fry until its almost done. remove from oil and keep aside.

now if you need extra oil you could add a bit, again take it to smoking point and add tej patha first, then the kalonji and potatoes. I added the green chillies at this point. fry till the potatoes are browned a little then add 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and  2 cups of water and some salt to taste. but be careful not to add too much salt at this point as the fish also has a little salt. when the potatoes are done add the fish and boil for another 5-7 minutes on sim fire and then take off the flame. the gravy has to be really light so don't try to dry it up too much. serve with hot rice.