Fish in Tomato & Green Onion Gravy

Pyaj Koli r Tomato Diye Maacher Jhol

My life and that of my entire family took a marked turn in 1964 when we left our home in Burma and moved to India. One of my clearest memories of that time is the happy times we spent with my Mum's family. Her brother's wife and our Mamima made fish this way with tomatoes and green onions.

So when I came across this recipe on the internet, it made me so inspired that I had to try it out immediately. The tempering at the start of the recipe, I was sure, was quite different from my Mamima's way of cooking the gravy. So I consulted my sister over the phone and she confirmed my suspicions. She used garlic instead of ground mustard for a more palatable flavour. The green onions she used were also different from the leafy onion chives we get outside India. The stems of the onion plant with flower buds at the top, available in India, have a much stronger flavour of onion which made the dish outstanding in every way.

But I decided to try this recipe the way it was written, adding my own adaptations along the way. Any white fish, such as snapper, tilapia or carp, will work for this recipe and it goes without saying that fish cut in steaks with the bones intact, always taste much better than filleted fish. I'll try my Mamima's recipe another time and hope to have luck in my hunt for onion stalks in the Asian markets.