A delicious and spicy Bengali fish curry recipe inspired from the kitchens of Nawabs of Bengal. A total treat when paired along with steamed rice
Macher kalia or Bengali fish kalia is a favourite with everyone in my family. All of us love fish and we love this curry the way my mum makes it. Even though, maa makes the kalia as as often she makes the other Bengali fish curries but it still feels special. After all, that’s how yummy it is. This fish curry is richer than the mustard sauce or yoghurt fish curries in the Bengali cuisine. In fact, the roots of the macher kalia recipe can be traced back to Mughal kitchens of the Nawabs of Bengal. However, even though rich, this curry doesn’t have any cream or nut paste in it. It is yoghurt that makes this fish curry deliciously creamy. Additionally, it helps in dialing down the heat that fresh chilis and chili powder impart. Nonetheless, you could always choose how spicy you would like to keep this curry.
In this fish recipe, both, sliced onions as well as ground onions are used to make the curry. This gives it a beautiful texture and richness. Also, the onions impart a delicious sweetness to the kalia. The curry tastes best, when made with catla maach, which is what even I’ve used. This is a meaty fish whose chunky fillets taste great in the kalia. Alternatively, if it isn’t available to you, any fish from the carp family also works well. The curry is delightfully thick making it totally blissful when served along with rice. What more can a fish loving Bengali ask for! And whenever I make this fish curry for the husband’s and my lunch, this is all that I make. So that we can devour it to our heart’s content!
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Macher chop (Bengali fish cutlets)
Doi maach – Bengali fish curry with yoghurt
Fish rezala (Bengali style fish in white sauce)
The recipe
Maa’s macher kalia (Bengali fish kalia) is a fairly quick and easy recipe. Even the pre-preparation will not consume a lot of your time. Moreover, similar to most Bengali fish recipes, you will have to fry the fish pieces before adding them to the curry. And yet it remains a one pot recipe, as you can continue cooking in the same fish flavoured oil to make the curry. Speaking of the oil, I have used mustard oil in this recipes, as is traditionally used. Again, this is what is used to make Bengali fish curries. The pungency of the mustard oil turns to a flavoursome sweetness when treated properly, thus enhancing the taste of the curry.
Whenever using mustard oil, be sure to heat it in your cooking pot until it smokes. Thereafter, reduce the flame and start cooking in it. This little trick ensures maximum flavour out of the oil. However, even if this doesn’t work for you, regular vegetable oil can also be used to make the kalia. But it tastes best when cooked in mustard oil. This catla kalia recipe is a great idea to try out on weekends and an absolute treat for family and friends when they are over for dinner.
Share it
Are you planning to make my macher kalia for your lunch/dinner? I’d love to know from you about how you enjoyed it. You could drop your feedback in the comments section below. Also, you could share you food pictures with me over on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you.
Eat hearty!
Macher kalia (Bengali fish kalia)
Equipment
- Shallow cooking pot
Ingredients
- 600 g catla fillets or any firm fish
- ¼ cup yoghurt whisked
- ½ cup onion sliced
- 1 cup onion roughly chopped
- ½ inch ginger roughly chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 4-5 chilis or to taste
- 2-3 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ inch cinnamon stick
- 2-3 dried red chilis broken
- 2-3 cloves
- 2-3 green cardamoms
- 1 tbsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder for the colour
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ cup mustard oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Grind the roughly chopped onions along with the ginger, garlic and chilis to a fine paste. Keep it aside, until needed
- Apply the turmeric powder and half of the salt on your fish pieces. Heat the oil until it smokes and then lower the flame. Now add the fish fillets in batches and fry until they turn light brown on both sides. Remove and set aside
- In the remaining oil add the whole spices and the dried chilis. When fragrant add the sliced onions and fry until they turn light brown
- Then add the onion mixture paste, powdered spices along with 2-3 tbsp of hot water. Mix well and cook until you see oil leaving the sides
- Lower the flame and add in the whisked yoghurt and stir in immediately to combine well
- Add a cup of hot water, salt to taste and bring it to a boil, over medium flame, and gently drop the fried fish pieces in
- Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes. Switch the flame off, drizzle the garam masala and coriander leaves over and mix gently
- Keep covered for 5 minutes. Serve this lip smacking macher kalia (Bengali fish kalia) with steamed rice. Enjoy!
Notes
- You may choose to replace mustard oil with any other cooking oil of your choice. Traditionally, however, the former is used and the curry tastes best when made in mustard oil
- g - grams
- tsp - teaspoon
- tbsp - tablespoon
