Masor Tenga

Ingredients

• 600 g rohu or katla steaks
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 60 ml mustard oil
• 1/2 tsp panch phoron
• 3 green chillies, slit
• 350 g tomatoes, chopped
• 1 medium potato, boiled and mashed
• 500 ml warm water
• juice of 1 lemon, or 4 pieces dried thekera
• a handful of coriander leaves

Before you cook

• Rub the fish steaks with the turmeric and 1 tsp of the salt and leave them for 10 minutes.
• Boil the potato until soft, peel it and mash it smooth.
• Chop the tomatoes roughly and slit the green chillies.

Steps

1. Heat the mustard oil in a wide pan until it smokes, then lower the heat.
2. Fry the fish steaks for two minutes on each side until lightly crusted, then lift them onto a plate.
3. Temper the remaining oil with the panch phoron and the slit green chillies for twenty seconds.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes with the remaining salt and cook for six minutes, mashing them down until pulpy and the oil separates.
5. Stir in the mashed potato, which thickens the broth without flour.
6. Pour in the warm water and boil hard for three minutes, keeping the broth thin and light.
7. Slide the fried fish into the pan and simmer gently for six minutes.
8. Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice, or fish out the thekera pieces if you used those.
9. Scatter over the coriander and serve with a mound of plain rice.