Ilish Mach er Matha die Kochur Mukhi/Taro Root Sabji with fried Hilsa head

‘Ilish Mach er Matha die Kochur Mukhir Torkari’ is an age old Bengali dish. This way the taste and flavour of Hilsa got infused with veggies, and makes it an absolute delight to people who love to eat fish heads. We Bengali cook many veggies with fried fish heads. With Hilsa head the other veggies what we cook are snake gourd, cabbage, malabar spinach, taro greens etc. I hope to blog about all this recipes in future. For now, make it if you are a fish lover and never had Arbi like this before. 🙂

Ilish Mach er Matha die Kochur Mukhi/Taro Root Sabji with fried Hilsa head

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

• Kochur Mukhi/Arbi/Taro Root- 500g
• Hilsa head- 2 ½ piece (that is 1 whole head cut into two pieces and half of another hilsa head)
• Potato- 2 (medium sized)
• Ginger paste- 1 tbsp
• Cumin powder- 1½ tsp
• Turmeric powder- ½ tsp +more
• Green chilies- 3 (cut into halves)
• Salt
• Sugar- 1 tbsp
• Mustard oil
• For tempering
• Cumin seeds- ½ tsp
• Whole dry red chili- 1

Method

Peel and cut Arbi (Kochur Mukhi) into big chunks. Wash well, keep aside. Peel and cut potatoes into cubes. Wash well, keep aside.

Rub little salt and turmeric powder on the pieces of fish head. Heat ½ cup of mustard oil in a deep frying pan/kadai. Fry the potato pieces until golden, remove and keep aside. On medium flame fry the fish heads until golden brown in color. Make sure that you’ve covered the kadai with a lid. Maintain a little gap with the lid to escape the steam.

Now there should be 3 tbsp oil in the kadai to cook the sabji, if not add some more oil at this stage. Temper with the ingredients mentioned ‘For tempering’. Add arbi chunks, potatoes, green chilies, salt, turmeric powder, cumin powder and ginger paste. Mix well and stir fry for 3-4 minutes on medium flame. Add ¾ cup of water. Mix well, cover and cook on low flame. When the veggies are almost cooked, uncover; add fried fish heads. With the help of spatula break fish heads roughly into pieces, mix gently. Cook further until the veggies are fully done.

Add sugar, mix and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Your ‘Ilish Mach er Matha die Kochur Mukhi’ is done. Remove and transfer to a serving bowl.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

Note:

The consistency of this sabji will not soupy, so add water carefully at the time of cooking.