Macher Dimer Bora or Fish Roe Fritter

I have never thought that I will document the pure Bengali dishes in my blog. Yes, it must sound weird, as being a Bengali how come one can utter those words so easily! But to be honest, I was never a Bengali food lover. Mainly fish was not in my favourite list except Hilsa and Prawns. My taste bud always forced me to love the continental style of cooking. But once you become a mother you become aware of all the tiny little things. I became more aware to teach my daughters the root of our culture and found food is one of the most interesting contributions of it. I wanted my children to know their culture well and loved the way our each Bengali dish interweaves the memories and the stories trailing to us from our great great grandmothers. I love the way the authentic traditional recipes float to us without any change and give us the identity of who we are by birth, by food, and by culture. What was my outlook or my food habit that got lessened because maturity makes us to understand, that unless you know your root well you will be standing in a no man's land. I understood why my Father relocated back in India with us, leaving behind a promising job and a comfortable life. My father is a strong puritan when it comes to his culture and motherland. He wanted his daughters to grow as an educated lady bearing their Bengali culture as their ornaments. I am not sure how much I was able to bear it through to fulfil his dreams, but now the same dream I have woven for my daughters too. I keep on documenting the traditional household Bengali recipes for my daughters, so that when they will grow up they will not miss them out. I also realised that there are so many traditional recipes got lost with the people whom I missed so much to stay in this world alive and help me out in documenting those with the stories related to it. I miss the memories of my grandmother how she used to make each dishes so skillfully, tasty that was also using the less ingredients that a recipe calls for. I missed my Elder Mashi (Maternal Aunty, whom I used call Mamoni). She was a brilliant cook and till her death I saw her using homemade masalas made by her own. I never thought of documenting those when she was alive. But now I realised what treasure she has taken with her and what I missed.

Macher Dimer Bora or Fish roe fritter is something that is one of the most common dishes of any Bengali household cooking. My MIL makes a sumptuous curry out of it. Please check the note for the recipe. I thought of documenting this recipe for the fiture reference for my kids.

Ingredients:

Machher Dim or Fish roe: 100gm (Rohu /Katla)

Onion finely chopped - 1 small

Ginger finely chopped / paste - 1/2 tspn

Coriander Leaves finely chopped - 2 tspn

Turmeric powder- a pinch

Flour - 1 - 2 tbspn (More or less - As per requirement)

Green Chili finely chopped - 1 (More or less - as per your taste)

Salt and pepper as per taste.

Mustard Oil - As much needed for deep frying

Method:

1. In a bowl mix all the ingredients except the flour and mix nicely. 

2. Heat enough oil for deep frying in a Kodai. Make sure the oil should be piping hot.

3. Slowly mix the flour in small amount unless it is ready to hold for frying. To test it, take a tiny portion from it and put it in the hot oil. If it is floating then it is ready.

4. Now take small portions from the dough giving a roll in shapes of a ball by your one hand only and then put it in the piping hot oil. In the medium flame keep on frying unless the fritters turn brown. Serve hot with Rice and Dal.

Note:

1. You can add chopped spring onion, a pinch of cumin and coriander powder to make it more tasty.

2. My MIL often makes a curry out of it. Just adding ginger paste and chopped tomato in little oil. When the tomato is well blended she adds a paste of cumin, turmeric, coriander and red chili powder. If one wants potato cane be added too. Then she adds water and it comes to boil the fritters are added. She adds salt to taste and a some whole chilies. That's all.