My First Recipe Post: Ilish machher Jhol

I was browsing through the blogs and incidentally came to know that Indrani di of Appyayan is hosting an event for Fish !! I have been seeing this events for long, but dont quite know what it is and how it works. Actually I will be very busy till 1st week of August and so I coudnt post any recipe in my blog till now. Seeing this,I was immediately tempted to post a recipe in my blog. I made Ilish machher jhol sometime back and have the picture. Since blogging was nowhere in my mind that time, i didnt keep count of exact amount of the ingredients. Both me and my husband love Ilish machh/Hilsa fish the most. So what could be better than to start my recipe post with Ilish mach...favourite of all bengalis :)

Ilish Machher Jhol ( Simple Hilsa curry with potatoes and eggplant)

Ingredients :

• Ilish mach/ hilsa fish
• Eggplant/ Begun
• Potato
• Green chillies
• Turmeric powder
• Chilli powder
• Kalonji
• Mustard oil ( & white oil)
• Salt to taste

Method :

First, cut the fish pcs , wash them and rub with little turmeric and salt.

Heat 2 tbsp white oil in a pan and fry the potatoes along with little bit of salt and turmeric powder till light brown. Keep them aside.

Then fry the eggplant pieces till brown and keep them aside.

Heat 2 tbsp mustard oil and add half tsp kalonji and 1 green chilli to it. Then fry the fish pieces lightly for 2 minutes (or less) on both sides.

Make a paste of turmeric powder and chilli powder with little water and add to the fish and fry for some more time.

Add about 2 cups of water , 1 green chilli and salt to it.

After it comes to boil, add the potatoes and simmer for about 5 mins.

Then add the eggplant pieces and simmer for 5 more mins/ till potatoes are done.

Enjoy with plain white rice ... :)

It turned out really good and after having this at lunch, my hubby sms-ed me " khub valo hoyeche"... :P

I will be sending this recipe to Appyayan's event Spotlight : Fish :)

This is my first ever try to write a recipe. There was a day, not so long back, when I had to call my parents in India and write down the recipe of daal, palong shak , mangsho etc etc.... !! There might be a lot of different ways to make one dish, but I will be posting them just the way I make them in my kitchen. Let me know your opinions regarding this ... :)

Greetings !!

Hi Everybody,

I have been following a few very nice blogs, mainly while searching for recipes , since past 1 year. I was totally a novice in cooking when i came to US and ... its almost a year now !! I have grown up seeing my mother cooking variety of delicious dishes. My Dad never used to let me cook at home and always assured me that I too will learn when time comes. While coming to US, my Mom gave me one of her own cookbooks where she wrote down many recipes for me :) Besides that, I used to search different recipes in the net and gradually found myself visiting regularly a few particular blogs like Ahaar, kichu khon, Bong Mom's cookbook, Appyayan and many more. Back then I never imagined that I too will create a blog one day, which also will contain recipes :)

I love to cook for my husband who loves to eat good food and is a good cook himself as well. I started cooking with an inspiration and urge but soon it turned out to be my passion. I must say one thing, I am still at a very early age regarding cooking experience, just one year... and I am still learning. I have taken suggestions or sometimes completely followed many recipes from different blogs and sites till date and cooked a few dishes on my own too. So this is my humble way of sharing and contributing to this yummy world of Food blogs and learning a lot more... :)

Hope to see you friends in my blog !! :-)