Alu/Kopi Diye macher Patla Jhol (Potato/Cauliflower Fish Curry)

Today we woke up with a light frost covering all the roofs around our home. As if a light white blanket has been spread on them. In the bygone times when vegetables were bought fresh and were truly seasonal, winter meant a lot of special treats. So I decided to make one of those special treats for today.
This stomach friendly light fish curry is simple yet very tasty. Even though I am using cauliflower, feel free to be creative and use other vegetables and different spices for tadka or phoron.

Ingredients

1. Fish (Rohu, Catla or Grass carp) cut into 6 steak pieces
2. 1 large potato cut in wedges
3. 8-10 medium sized cauliflower florets
4. 2 tomatoes finely chopped
5. 1tbsp ginger paste
6. 1tbsp coriander
7. 1tsp chili powder
8. 2tbsp turmeric powder
9. 5 green chilies
10. 1tsp whole cumin seeds
11. 1 fistful of chopped coriander leaf
12. Mustard or any other white oil

Procedure

1. Wash the fish steaks and pat dry. Smear them with salt and turmeric powder.
2. Take oil in a pan and heat  till it is smoking. Note don’t burn the oil though. Fry the fish steaks till both sides are golden brown, remove from the oil and keep them on a kitchen towel. Discard the oil.
3. Again take oil in the Kadai and heat it Temper the oil with whole cumin seeds. Add potato and cauliflower florets and fry them. The vegetables should be lightly fried. 
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry till they are soft. Add ginger paste, coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric powder and sauté it with little water.
5. When the vegetables are well coated with all the spices and there is no smell of raw ginger add two cups of water. Cover the pan and cook till all the vegetables are done.
6. Once the vegetables are cooked (don’t overcook and make them mushy) add the fried fish pieces along with the green chilies. Cook it for another 5-6 minutes. The gravy will be light and runny.
7. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander.

Some times when I feel too lazy to take out my grinder and make ginger paste, I mix coriander powder, cumin powder, chili powder and turmeric powder in half a cup of water and use this mixture to sauté the vegetables. Rest of the procedure remains same. It reduces my cooking time a lot without compromising the taste.