Rui mach er Jhura - spicing up the plain Rohu

The Mach er Jhura or Maach er Jhuri is an authentic  dish from far away Bangladesh.
Take a piece or pieces of any plain fish , add some beautiful masalas and spices is all that takes.
Also, since it is a jhuri / jhura, the pieces are not kept whole but pulled apart into a mince.
And fried till dryish.

When I was down with my injured hand and shoulder, thankfully long back, I did nothing but watch the telly.  The reason because I was simply not allowed or able to do anything.
It was during this time I watched a lot of regional cookery shows and picked up this recipe from one of them.
Most recipes call for boiling the fish first and then removing the bones.
But I lightly fry it first. The only reason is I cannot stand the smell of boiled fish.

I used to make this Fish Keema  whenever I needed to use it for stuffings.
But in this jhura, I have not used anything chopped but all pastes.
The result is you don't get a bite of onions or green chillies but you do get the flavours.
This Jhuri is spicier and has a good dose of garlic and red chillies.

The macher jhura can be made from any fish, small and big sized.
The small ones can be the Parshe, Pabda, the Loita or even the little Morala mach.
I prefer to use the bigger fish, mainly if using for a stuffing, like the Katla or the Rui or Rohu ... the main reason being I find it very difficult to deal with the smaller and finer bones of the former variety.

Need :

 Rohu fish or Rui mach - a few pieces, lightly fried in mustard oil
Onion paste
Garlic paste
Ginger paste
Green chilli paste
Haldi / Turmeric powder
Red chilli powder
Dhaniya / Coriander powder
Jeera / Cumin powder
Garam masala powder
Mustard oil
Salt - to taste

How to :

Pick the fish pieces for bones.
Keep the shredded meat aside.

Heat oil in a kadahi or wok.

Add the pastes one by one, stirring continiously.


Add the haldi powder and the red chilli powder.
Fry till dryish and oil starts to leave the sides.

Add the dhania and the jeera powder and the shredded fish.
Mix well.

Keep frying on low heat till everything comes together and there is no more moisture left.

Add the garam masala powder and another round of red chilli powder.

Remove from heat but do not keep tightly covered.

This goes great on the side with rice and dal.

I sometimes add some big sized bones to it too ... great to chew on during a meal ... as any Bengali would agree.

Enjoy!!