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| Jeera Begun Diye Macher Jhol |
I've made variations of this dish and blogged about them in the past. Today I combined eggplants with roasted cumin seed powder to flavour this Maacher Jhol. There was an abundance of eggplants in the fridge, of the Japanese variety, which are my favourite. Eggplant pairs well with roasted cumin seeds. I make a big batch by taking a jar of McCormick’s cumin seeds (or buy in bulk at an Indian grocery store) and dry roasting them in an iron skillet over medium heat just until its aroma is released. Allow the seeds to cool, place in a coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder. Store the roasted cumin seed powder in its original jar or a glass jar with a tight lid, for future use. The base of the gravy for this Macher Jhol comprises two quartered onions, some chopped ginger, a tomato and a green chili that are blanched for 3-4 minutes and pureed in a blender. The resulting gravy is thick and clings to the eggplant and fish pieces. This macher jhol goes very well with steamed rice or hot and fluffy chapatis/tortillas.
