You board a time machine and travel back .... not far ... just around thirty years and land in a Bengali home on a festive day ... the grandest of all ...a marriage ceremony! The event is scheduled sometime in the evening followed by a grand feast. The neighbors and the distant relatives will pour in in the evening ... now only the close family members are around ... a few seem super busy while the rest are leisurely busy gossiping. It's almost lunch time - a waft of appetizing smell makes you hungry, you followed it and reached the terrace. There in a corner of the Pandal, rannar thakur (the head cook) is busy cooking his last item for the lunch .... the inevitable chanchra. For lunch you will get a simple menu of steamed rice, daal, chanchra followed by a light macher jhol (fish-curry), chutney and misti.
Chanchra or Chenchra will consist of any edible part of the day's fresh produce that were not suitable to go in the main fancy dishes of the feast. There will be few paka rui (big carps) for the main courses. So after cutting and cleaning the fishes their heads, oils, gills all will go in this chanchra along with all the peels and not so palatable parts of the vegetables and greens (except the bitter ones). So this is literally a mish-mash of all the otherwise throw-able items. Heat mustard oil in a big iron karai/wok. Add seasoning of panchphoron and dry red chili. Then add all the above and cook on low flame until done .... that's it! Simple to cook but delicious in taste! ...... gone are the days! Now that dhoti and gamcha cladded rannar thakur has given way to the sophisticated catering services and the Bengali festive menu has became a hodgepodge of world cuisine ... a mish-mash in its true sense!
Come to present days! After the rain starts the gorgeous Hilsa shows its presence in the local fish markets with a price-tag befitting her queenly status! In spite of the economic condition every Bangalee would try to bring this beauty home at least once in the season. I remember that cartoon: a quintessential Bengali-babu sporting a proud smile and holding in one hand a picturesque Hilsa (hanging from a string from its nose) while a bag-full of vegetables is in the other from which a bright bunch of Puisaak (Malabar spinach) is showing its head. Thats it! ... the head of that precious fish will be reserved for the chanchra only. The midday meal will be a whole Ilish afair .... macher tel-mach-bhaja, chanchra and kalojire-kanchalonka-begun die macher jhol (Hilsa fish fry and oil, chanchra and light curry of hilsa with eggplant) or sarshe Ilish.
Ilish Mach diye Pui Saak-er Chanchra (Bengali Style Malabar Spinach and Fish-head Mish-mash Recipe)
Now come to the recipe. Though I have given a rough measurement of the ingredients, you don't need to follow them precisely. For such a forgiving dish like chanchra, no need to burden your head with all the teaspoon-tablespoon complexity! Adding a little less pumpkin or little more spinach is not going to ruin your dish in anyway. Follow your own intuition and liking and play with the ingredients.
Ingredients:
Hilsa fish-head - one
Malabar spinach (Puin-saak) - one bunch
Pumpkin (Kumro) - 250 gm
Eggplant (Begun) - 2-3 small ones
Potato (Alu) - 2-3
Radish (Mulo) - 2
Parwal (Potol) - 3-4 (optional)
Broad beens (Seem) - 8-10 (optional)
Jackfruit seeds (Kanthal bichi) - one fistful (optional)
Garlic - 4-5 cloves
Green chilies - 4-5
Mustard oil - 3-4 tablespoon
Pancphoron - 1 teaspoon
Dry red chili - 1
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt and sugar - to taste
Method:
- Rub salt and turmeric on the fish head and keep aside for 10 minutes.
- Chop the greens. Take all the leaves .... chop roughly in halves. Chop the stems in 2" pieces. For the thick and tough portions, slit them lengthwise.
- Cut all the veggies in big chunks. It is better to keep the peels ... they enhance the rustic flavor and texture of the final dish.
- Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves.
- Heat oil in a kadai/wok. When the oil is almost smoking, add the fish head and fry lightly. Remove and to the same oil add dry red chili and panchphoron. Let the panchphoron splatter.
- Now add the veggies ..... you can add them all in one go or can start with the harder ones first and then adding the others according to their cooking time. Add turmeric and salt, give a good mix and cover. Cook on medium heat till half done.
- Add the malabar spinach leaves and the stems. Check salt and adjust. Add sugar/jaggery to taste (optional but highly recommended :)).
- Add the fish head. Give everything another good mix. The fish head will get mixed with the veggies.
- Cover and cook on medium heat until almost done.
- Now check the water. The veggies will release enough water to get cooked in their own juices. If it still looks watery, then cook on high heat uncovered till all water evaporates.
- You can stop here or continue cooking until oil starts separating and the bottom gets little charred.
Serve as a side dish with hot steamed rice for lunch. This dish is little heavy on stomach .... so better to avoid as a dinner menu.
Leftover is very much welcome here. It tastes even better the next day. Instead of microwaving try to reheat in a metal kadai and allow it to get charred a little. It will taste fabulous that way!
Notes:
By all means you can add the fish oils, gills and fish-eggs to this dish. Fry them in little oil, keep aside and add to the chanchra along with the fish-head.
There are two varities of malabar spinach or climbing spinach available .... one green and the other is red (red vine spinach). I used both varieties mixed (mostly red) as I collected my greens from my terrace garden. My chanchra got the red hue from those gorgeous red stalks. You can use any variety depending on the availability.
If using jack fruit seeds, pressure cook them for one whistle, then peel and chop in 2-3 pieces before adding with other veggies.
For the vegetarian version, just skip the fish-head.
I have used garlic but no onion. You can use both onion-garlic or can skip them altogether ..... as per your liking :)
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