Bhaja Mug Dal Diye Mach / Moong Dal Fish Curry

As much as I used to hate moong dal, I started loving them as soon as I discovered their beautiful nutty flavour and their potency to adapt with almost anything. It’s absolutely stunning. Even when you are not dry roasting them it gives a very earthy, raw yet subtle taste and flavour to the Dal.

 Just a little tempering with Bengali five spices and with an end note of a spoonful of butter “kancha muger dal” has become my go to dal recipe. You can never go wrong with it and its light texture makes it perfect for any day. But, dry roasted moong dal is different. Its nutty flavour developed from dry roasting makes that shy yellow lentil a dashing diva who flaunts her beauty seamlessly and shamelessly in every grand Bengali occasion.

Fry the marinated fish until golden.

Temper the reamining oil with whole garam masalas.

Add onions and cook until lightly golden.

Then add the minced ginger. garlic and chilli.

Cook until onions turn golden brown.

Pour the cooked dal and add the turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder.

Add water (if required), fish and simmer for 10 minutes and then wait for the dal to thicken.

Finish off with garam masala powder and ghee.

Cooking Bhaja Muger Dal with fresh seasonal vegetables is always visually as well as soulfully pleasing, but it’s not the vegetables that had made us to look upon the moong dal the way we see it now...it’s the fish heads. And it’s needless to say that almost every Bengali loves this dish. But recently I read a recipe where the fishes were cooked with the lentils...and trust me...its beautiful. It’s like a very Bengali version of Daal Gosht...where we cook the fishes with moong dal, and I am loving it!!

Bhaja Mug Dal Diye Mach / Moong Dal Fish Curry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

¾ th cup of moong dal

4 thick pieces of fish

1 medium onion – chopped

4-5 fat cloves of garlic – minced

1 inch stick of ginger – minced

2 green chillies – minced

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 medium cinnamon stick

3 green cardamoms

3 cloves

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp ghee

Salt

Method:

Wash the moong dal and drain the water. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

Then dry roast the moong dal on medium flame on a skillet or kadai until the lentils start to turn brown and you start to get a nutty flavour. Stir them continuously while dry roasting or else they will turn black and will taste bitter. It means your moong dals are already prepped, so now put off the flame and pour the dry roasted moong dal in a pressure cooker.

Add in 2 and ½ cups of water, salt, a little turmeric powder and cook the lentils on pressure until the cooker blows 4-6 whistles. Let the steam escape and then open the cover. Pour the cooked dal in a bowl and keep aside.

Marinate the fishes with turmeric powder and salt and keep aside for 12-15minutes.

In a kadai heat the oil and fry the fishes in them until they become lightly golden from outside. When done, take them out of the kadai and keep aside.

Temper the rest of the oil with cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, cloves and bay leaf.

Sauté them for half a minute to make the oil aromatic and then add the chopped onions into them.

Sprinkle some salt and sugar and cook the onions till they are lightly golden.

Now add the minced ginger, garlic and chilli and sauté the mixture for 2 minutes more or until the raw flavour of the garlic is gone.

Now pour in the cooked dal into the kadai and mix everything well.

If you feel the dal is too thick then add some water to make a thinner consistency.

Now add the cumin powder, coriander powder and mix them well with the dal.

Let the dal come to a boil and then add in the fried fishes to them.

Put cover and boil the dal for about 10 minutes more.

After 10 minutes open the cover and simmer the dal until it reaches your desired consistency.

Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Finally sprinkle the garam masala powder and ghee over them and put off the flame.

Give them a good stir and serve hot with plain hot rice.