Guilty Eats
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Kolkata’s ‘Macher Jhol Bhaat’ is a foodie’s delight

ByAmit Shukla|
KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL, INDIA - 2021/12/24: The Christmas lights and decorations in Park Street in Kolkata are illuminated during Christmas eve. (Photo by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL, INDIA - 2021/12/24: The Christmas lights and decorations in Park Street in Kolkata are illuminated during Christmas eve. (Photo by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Kolkata is a delightful place. The City of joy has various reasons to be happy. The history dates back to pre-independence days, the beautiful places to visit, the Bay of Bengal and the lip-smacking food. Mishti Doi is one dish that everyone knows. Firni is another one, but Macher Jhol Bhatt is one for the non-vegetarians. Kolkata has various food items, including Kosha Mangsho, Shorshe Ilish, Shukto, Aloo Posto, and Luchi. These aren’t the only dishes because Kolkata has a variety of food that would feed your appetite.

If you live to eat, not eat to live, then Kolkata is your favorite place to be on God’s green earth. Puchka is the name of the same product that you find across the Indian subcontinent. It is called gupchup, gol gappe and other names across the country, but the taste and the ingredients are the same. While these are some other food items of the beautiful Kolkata, Macher Jhol Bhaat takes the cake. Aloo Posto is a good choice for vegetarians, but we want to talk about Macher Jhol Bhaat here, so let’s get down to it because its process and taste will make you fall in love with food.

Kolkata’s Famous Macher Jhol Bhaat Recipe

What you need:

  • 500 grams of Rohu Fish (cut into pieces. If you don’t have it, use any fish)
  • 1 Cup of Onion paste
  • 2 TBSP of Ginger garlic paste
  • 1 TSP of Turmeric Powder
  • 1 TBSP of Red chili powder
  • 1 TSP of Coriander Powder
  • 1 Cup of Tomato paste
  • 1 TSP of Cumin powder
  • 2 Cups of Mustard oil
  • 2 Green chilies chopped
  • 1 Cup of Yogurt
  • Coriander leaves (for garnish)
  • 2 Cups of Water
  • Mustard seeds (a pinch)
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 5 each Cloves, black pepper
  • 1 TBSP Lemon juice
  • Salt (to taste)

What to do:

  1. Clean the fish thoroughly and keep it in a vessel.
  2. Now add lemon juice, turmeric powder and salt to it and keep it for twenty minutes.
  3. Heat oil in a pan, fry the fish until golden and take it out.
  4. In the remaining oil, add tempering of mustard seeds, bay leaves, cloves, black pepper.
  5. When the ingredients fry, add onion paste, ginger-garlic paste, tomato paste, cumin powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and fry for fifteen minutes.
  6. When the masala roasts, add curd on a cooled mixture, water and salt and let it cook for some time.
  7. When it comes to a boil, add fried fish pieces, green chilies.
  8. Let the ingredients cook for 20 minutes.
  9. Macher Jhol is ready.
  10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.

This dish is bliss, similar to listening to or watching RJ Praveen and his team from Red FM Kolkata. They bring a smile to your face with their Chiggy and Kuch Log series. Kolkata is called the City of Joy. These exceptionally awesome people like Priyanka, Sakshi, Maitrayee, Swagata, Malika, Pooja, Ayan, Neil, Abhishek, Mithun and the trio of Aritro Ganguli, Rohit Gupta and RJ Praveen bring a smile to everyone’s face.

They represent the true spirit of Kolkata, and kudos to Red FM India and their Kolkata team, who go above and beyond their duty to bring a smile. Watch their series as you enjoy Macher Jhol Bhaat, and thank us later for introducing you to such amazing people.

Are you planning to step into the kitchen and start cooking this amazing recipe now? Do tell us how it turned out in the end? How well did you score on your food and what was the taste like?

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