Last year when I was in Kolkata for my annual vacation time, I could spend prolonged time at my hometown. Because of the work from home policy, for the first time after I left home for my job, I could spend so much time back at home. And once you stay for so long you start understanding what you have been missing staying away from your home state. Like almost every weekends we would go and spend time at my relatives, there would be long adda sessions just like the old times when I was in my teens. It would be so good spending time talking with others instead of being glued to the phone or laptop.
Then there would be the trips of the local produce markets. Kolkata has undoubtedly some of the best produce market in the whole country. The moment you step into one you will be bedazzled with the vast variety of fresh vegetables, fruits and fishes. The sheer variety of leafy vegetables itself is such a temptation, mainly because in Pune where I live, the variety is limited to maximum 3-4 varieties at a time. I think more than going out for sightseeing in Kolkata I love visiting the produce markets. For a foodie like me, they are literally a temptation central.
The third thing is definitely the availability of infinite choices of street food. You would get the most exotic flatbreads and curries even in your neighborhood food shack. I would often get rumali rotis and chicken chaap packed from my nearest food shack and it was super delicious. You are really spoilt for choices I food when you are in Kolkata. I wonder how people manage to maintain their weights, because the moment I see all those street food I am tempted to eat them all! And best part, it is cheap. Street food in Kolkata would not burn a hole in your pocket but definitely make you full.
And not only street foods, since you have so many relatives around whenever you visit their home you get treated to delicious home made food. Some of them which I had not had in like million years. Just like the dish called Muri ghonto - a signature dish in Bengali cuisine. Muri or Muro in Bengali means fishhead. So Muri ghonto literally translates to fish head medley. Traditionally there are a couple of ways to make it - either the crispy fried fish head is cooked with rice like a biryani or it is cooked with daal. Muri ghonto is typically considered to be a side dish and is had along with rice. So in yesteryears it was also made with chide or poha (flattened rice) instead of rice. I think the recipe originated to utilize the leftover fish heads in the household in older days. Our great grandmas and grandmas were really pro chefs who could think of making such amazing lip smacking dishes from even leftover ingredients. And Bengali cuisine is full of many such traditional recipes which were born out of the need to use leftover produce.
To be honest, I had only head about muri ghonto before but never got the chance to taste it. Since the cooking process for this recipe is a little elaborated and many a times the fish heads are the most under rated things, gradually not many households used to make these old elaborate recipes on daily basis. So last year when I was visiting one of my masis home and she informed that my dida (grandma) was making muri ghonto for us that day I was really excited. And I was so ill informed about this dish that I had thought muri ghonto was like other ghontos where you would make a medley of some veggies and masalas and add the fish head to it. But at the lunch table when my dida served the muri ghonto, to my surprise it had rice in it. I was a little flabbergasted for a few seconds, I was trying to understand how to eat a rice dish as a side with steamed rice. But then I decided what the heck, let me just try it on its own first. So i took the very first spoonful of it and was totally taken aback by the flavourful dish. Rich in spices, the flavour of the fried fish head was like the perfect match with the aromatic gobindobhog rice. To the uninitiated the combination of fish head in rice might sound a little weird but believe me it was really a match made in heaven and you wont understand how good it tastes unless you eat the version made by someone's grandma. Yes that's right, you just cannot bring the magic into this dish that your grandma would!
But I was not gonna let that deter me from making this myself. So once I was back in Pune I asked my mom to get the recipe from grandma once again ( because I had forgotten when she had told me) and decided to go all in for it. How bad can it be was what I was thinking when I made it. And surprisingly it turned out amazing even at the first try. I was so overjoyed by it that I made it again a couple of times and each time loved it more. So I am now sharing this recipe with you all. While I would still say this definitely would not measure upto what your grandma would probably make but still it is worth the try - at least you will be able to keep a traditional recipe going and help it not get lost in the folds of time. I have added raisin and cashew in this recipe because I liked the taste. But traditionally they are not added so you can skip it. Also if you would have noticed from the title itself this is a pressure cooker method I have used just to make your lives easier and believe it the consistency turned out great. But if you have enough time at hand then go for a kadai method by all means. At the last step instead of pressure cooker use the kadai and cook it.
- Catla Fish Head - 4 half pieces
- Gobindobhog/ Ambemohar Rice - 200 gm
- Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped
- Potato - 1 big, cubed
- Garlic Cloves - 8-9 or 1 tsp
- Ginger - 1 1/2 inch or 1 tsp
- Dried Red Chili - 3
- Bay Leaf - 2
- Kismis (Raisin) - 15-20 (Optional)
- Kaju (Cashew) - 8-10 (Optional)
- Cardamom - 3
- Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
- Cloves - 2-3
- Jeera Powder - 1 tsp
- Dhaniya (Coriander) powder - 1 tsp
- Kashmiri Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
- Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
- Garam Masala powder - 1 pinch (optional)
- Green Chili - 2-3 slitted
- Ghee - 1 1/2 tsp + 1 tsp
- Mustard Oil - 1/3 cup
- Salt - as per taste
- Sugar - as per taste
- Warm water - as needed
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