Tag: mild

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MASOR TENGA (SWEET & SOUR FISH)

Masor Tenga is one of the popular main dish of Assamese cuisine and is an integral traditional Assamese Thali. This dish is light and tangy from the tomatoes, and mildly spiced. This dish is relatively easy to make. Assam (famous for tea) is on the Eastern side of India and so there are a lot of Thai and Chinese influences. Traditionally they use fermented bamboo shoots called kharisa but you can use tinned bamboo shoots if you have.

 I fried the fish in mustard oil as Assamese do but you can use any vegetable oil. The mighty Brahmaputra River flows through Assam and so the local fish is river fish. I used warehou which is local to the waters in and around Wellington but you could use any white fish fillets or even steaks.

Masor Tenga (Sweet & Sour Fish)

For the fennel seed powder, I suggest you roast about a tablespoon of fennel seeds and pound it in a mortar and pestle.

INGREDIENTS

700g white fish fillets

100ml mustard oil or vegetable oil

For the marinade

1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon fennel seed powder

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon brown sugar

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CREAMY MUSHROOM MASALA

This was a dish I used to make on a regular basis when the kids were younger. It’s a mild and creamy curry popular with adults and kids alike. My good friend Mini, asked if I could send her the recipe – I realized I hadn’t prepared this in over ten years! It was my concoction, so I recreated the recipe and my son vouched that it tastes like what it used to.

Please do try as I am sure it will become one of your favourites too.

Creamy Mushroom masala

INGREDIENTS

500g mushrooms

250g onion, divided

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 tablespoons ghee

½ teaspoon caraway seeds or shah jeera

1 teaspoon garam masala powder

½ teaspoon chilli powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

60ml cream

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves to garnish

1 teaspoon liquid honey

1 tablespoon oil

1 clove

1 fresh red chilli, slit in half, optional

2 tomatoes (I used tinned tomatoes)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3-4 roots and stalks of fresh coriander, finely chopped

METHOD

Chop 100g of the onion and finely dice the remaining and set aside. To make the sauce, heat oil in a saucepan, add the clove and let it fry gently. Toss in the red chilli and chopped onion and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and half cup water. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Blitz using a stick blender and when cool enough sieve the sauce through a fine sieve and set aside.

Wipe the mushrooms and if too large, cut in halves or quarters. Heat the ghee in a kadai and add the caraway seeds. When they splutter, toss the garlic and then the finely chopped onion. After frying for two minutes, add the mushrooms. Mix well so mushrooms are coated in the onion mix. Cover with a lid and let sizzle on medium high heat for a couple of minutes. Stir in the garam masala, turmeric and chilli powder along with salt. Cover and cook for a few more minutes. When you see water in the kadai, remove the lid and evaporate most of the water.

Stir in the prepared tomato sauce along with the honey. Let it simmer gently for 4 or 5 minutes. Pour in the cream. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cook for a further minute and turn off the heat.

Sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves. Serve with rice and roti.

Serves 4