Maccha Manjee bara Tarkari

What do you do when you buy a 3 kg fish and some 250-300 gms of fish eggs come free with it ?? I guess thats a no brainer. Obviously, you make lots and lots of fritters. But what if you still have some fritters leftover after eating to your heart's content. Well, you can refrigerate and microwave them the next day before eating. Or you can come up with a curried version of the fish egg fritters (a better solution I would say as you do not have to prepare another gravy dish to go with the rice/rotis). The method used is similar to that of a regular Odisha style fish curry but with some garam masala and kasuri methi added for extra flavor.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 40 mins

Ingredients -

For the bara/fritters -
100 gm fish eggs
1 tsp besan
1/2 tsp cornflour
1/3 tsp GG paste
1/4 tsp chili powder
a pinch of turmeric
1 tsp coriander leaves (finely chopped)
salt to taste
oil for shallow frying

For the curry -

1 large sized onion
1 medium sized tomato
1 tsp GG paste
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp fish/meat masala (optional)
2 tsp kasuri methi
a pinch of garam masala
2 pinch turmeric
whole spices ( 1 green cardamom, 2 cloves, 1 bay leaf, 1 inch cinnamon stick )
salt to taste
3 tsp oil

Cooking - Clean the fish eggs and drain off excess water. Take it a mixing bowl and mash it up. Add all the remaining ingredients (except oil) listed under "For the baras/fritters" . Mix well and keep aside for 5 mins.

Heat oil in a wok for shallow frying. Take spoonfuls of the fish egg mixture and put into the hot oil. One can make 5-6 fritters per batch. Fry on both sides till golden brown. Remove from the wok and keep aside. Repeat for the remaining mixture.

Remove excess oil if any from the wok. Add the onions along with the whole spices and saute till onion starts to look translucent. Add the GG paste at this stage and cook till the raw smell goes away and the onion start to turn red.

Add all the powdered spices at this stage and stir fry for 1 minute.

Now, add the finely chopped tomato and sprinkle a little salt over the contents of the wok. Cover with lid for 1-2 minutes. Remove the lid and mash up the tomatoes which would have softened by now. Cook the ingredients till they start to ooze oil.

Add around 1 - 1 1/2 cup hot water and bring everything to a boil. Let it boil for 4-5 mins.

Rub the kasuri methi leaves and add to the wok along with the baras. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes after adding the baras/fritters. Remove and keep aside for 5-10 mins for the baras to soak up the gravy.               ( However if you prefer the fritters to remain crispy, add them to the hot/warm gravy just before serving.)

Serve with white rice.

Fish Egg-Sesame Fritters ( Maccha Bihana Bara )

'Maccha Manjee' or fish eggs ( roe ) are a seasonal delicacy and much relished by many Oriya folks. The eggs are usually present in a thin membrane like sac or pouch, which needs to be removed before cooking. It usually takes minimal seasoning and very less effort to prepare them. But one needs to be very cautious while buying them as they can often lead to food poisoning. Never buy fish eggs unless you believe that it has been freshly removed from the fish. Seeing is believing, that is the thumb rule to be followed.

My husband happens to be very fond of these. Today being a Saturday, he religiously made a trip to the nearest Bengali fish stall to shop for 'Maccha manjee' and purposely chose a fish which had eggs in it ( u need to press the belly of the fish and if it yields a bit, then u have got it ). Some people avoid such fish as eggs tend to make the fish less firm. But such argument will not hold water if you are crazy about the stuff.

After getting his prized catch home, he cleaned and seasoned it with much excitement . H decided to experiment ( Surprise : O ) with his much loved recipe. I guess the unopened packet of sesame seeds kept on the kitchen counter was bothering him too much ( well..i am hoarding too much stuff these days thanks to my blogging ). But the sesame added a new and interesting flavor to these fritters and we all enjoyed it.

Read on for the recipe:

Preparation Time - 10-15 mins

Ingredients - Fish eggs ( 200 gm ), white sesame seeds ( 4 tsp ), chilli flakes ( 1 tsp ), 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp besan, 1 tsp corn flour/rice flour, salt to taste, oil for deep frying.

Preparation- Carefully remove the sac from the fish eggs. Mash them and wash thoroughly with water. Add all the remaining ingredients except for oil.

Allow to marinate for 10 mins.

Cooking - Heat oil in a wok. Take spoonfuls of the above mixture and drop carefully into the oil. ( Be cautious as it the oil may splutter )

Fry on both sides to a deep brown color.

Remove and keep on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Serve hot as a side dish with rice or as a snack.