Sarshe sardines ( Sardines in mustard gravy - Bengal style)

Sarshe sardines ( Sardines in mustard gravy - Bengal style)
I very rarely buy fresh fish. The only fish that i buy regularly is hake( similar in taste to lady fish /kellanga meen) , which is easily available (whole fish) individually wrapped & cleaned in the freezer sections . One box of frozen hakes will contain atleast 6 to 7 fish , which are more than enough for me. If at all i wanted to eat Indian varieties like pomfret etc, a trip to China town was all that i was needed to do ! Right now it is the sardine season & fresh sardines were on sale. So i picked up some sardines, planning to serve them shallow fried with some dal rice. But fate had willed it otherwise!;) During my bedtime reading ( of cookbooks) , i came across this recipe & was tempted to try it out. Since i was not sure about the taste, i just added 4 sardines to the gravy & shallow fried the rest of them. I had also reduced the mustard to 3 tsps from the 3 tbsps that the original recipe called for. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. It tasted almost like the meen moillee that my mother cooks! The only thing that i will change when i repeat this recipe, is to shallow fry the sardines & then add them to the gravy . A recipe that will be repeated once again in my kitchen as long as the sardines are in season!:)

Ingredients :

Sardines - 4, onion - 1, tomato ( big) - 1, pureed, ginger - 2 inch piece, garlic - 4 cloves, grated coconut ( Used dessicated coconut) - 1 tbsp, coconut milk - 1/2 cup, mustard seeds - 3 ( level ) tsps , poppy seeds - 3 ( level) tsps, chilli pwd - 1 tsp( or more to taste), cumin pwd - 1 tsp, turmeric pwd - 1/4 heaped tsp, chopped coriander leaves for garnishing , juice of one lemon, salt to taste, oil - 3 tbsps, mustard oil - 4 tsps.

Method :


Grind the onion, ginger, garlic, chilli pwd, turmeric pwd, cumin pwd, grated coconut, poppy seeds & mustard seeds to a smooth paste. Heat both the oil in a pan & fry the ground paste, sprinkling a little water if needed over low heat for 10 mins . Add the pureed tomatoes & continue sautéing for another 10 mins until the masala is well cooked. Now pour in a small bowl of water & bring to a boil. Once the gravy starts boiling, add the raw sardines & continue cooking over medium heat until the gravy has thickened to the desired consistency. Remove from heat & stir in the lemon juice, garnish with coriander leaves & serve immediately with some steamed basmati rice.

Today's 'En veetu samayal' - Sarshe sardines & poritha sardines!!;))