A common snack / starter in almost all Bengali households. The most recent occasion when I made these delicious & easy-to-make fish chop during my hubby's birthday. The typical Fish Croquette or Maachher Chop is a mashed and spiced fish fillet in an envelope of mashed potato, rolled into a sphere/oval shaped, coated with bread crumbs and deepfried.
Ingredients :
Katla / Rohu fish : 1 kg
Ginger paste : 1 tsp
Garlic paste : 1tsp
Onion (finely chopped) : 1 medium
Bay Leaf : 1
Whole Garam Masala : 2 elaichi; 2-3 cloves; 1 medium cinnamon stick
Salt to taste
Sugar : a pinch
Turmeric : a pinch
Red chilli powder : 1/2tsp
Roasted and powdered Cumin- coriander : 1 tsp
Green Chillies (finely chopped) - 1 or 2 (depending on spice)
Oil : 2 tbsp & 250ml for deep frying
Potatoes : 4 medium (boiled and mashed)
Cornflour - 3-4 tbsp
Bread crumbs/crushed cornflakes : 2 cups
Coriander leaves : 1 tbsp
Lime juice : 2 tbsp
- Wash the fish pieces. Marinate the fish pieces with Lime juice, a pinch of salt and turmeric for 5 minutes. Steam the marinated fish for 8-10 minutes. Let it cool.
- Mash the steamed fish and carefully remove the bones. Mash it to a smooth paste.
- Mix the mashed fish with mashed potatoes, add the desired salt.
- In a wok, heat some oil. Throw in the bay leaf and whole garam masala. As it splutters, add the finely chopped onions and little sugar for taste & caramelisation.
- Fry the onions till brown, but not burnt. Add the turmeric, cumin powder, red chilli powder and cook the masala well to eliminate the raw smell.
- Add the mix of mashed potatoes and mashed fish. Stir well and mix it well with the onion-masala paste. The mixing should be uniform and the raw taste of potato & fish should be totally eliminated. It takes around 12-15 minutes. Keep stirring to ensure the mashed mix does not burn!
- Sprinkle garam masala powder just before taking the mashed mix off the flame. And again mix well.
- The fish chop filling is ready for the shaping, moulding and coating to begin.
- Let it cool. Roll them into circular tablets or any shape you desire! The outer surface should be smooth.
- In a flat bottomed bowl, mix the cornflour with water to make a paste of thin consistency.
- In a flat plate, take the bread crumbor crushed cornflakes and make an even layer.
- Take each shaped fish chop, dip it into the cornflour thin batter, immediately followed by rolling in the bread crumb to form an uniform coating. Repeat for all the chops.
- In a deep flat bottomed frying pan, take the oil, heat it and fry the chops. Take out the fried chops and place them on a kitchen tissue to soak off the excess oil.
Serve with Salads and/or tomato sauce or any other sauce.
Sending this to Krithi's "Serve It" series.... Serve It - Fried Event
