Chaler Muro Ghonto - Fish Head Curry with Rice

Chaler Muro Ghonto

I was browsing through a Korean market recently and came across their open freezers and found bags of 'Rohu Fish Head and Tail'. One of my favorite Bengali dishes is Muro Ghonto and it tastes best with rohu or rui or carp fish heads. When I make it, I have only me to please, so it turned out to be spicy hot and rich!

On a phone call with my sister, she gave me the instructions for this simple and straightforward way of preparing this delectable dish. She kept stressing the importance of frying the pieces of fish until they were fully cooked so it took some time to brown the fish, but that was the most complicated step. 

It's a one-dish meal and I was quite happy to have it without anything else. 

Maacher Muro Diye Bhaja Mooger Dal - Fish Head in Toasted Split Mung Bean Lentils

Maacher Muro Diye Bhaja Mooger Dal

Maacher muro or fish head adds an enormous amount of flavour, also known as umami, to anything to which it is added. Umami, in my opinion, is that robust taste that is tough to satisfy; it makes the epicure crave more of the same. There are a myriad ways to prepare fish head and since I have so many of them in my freezer, I plan to serve them up in all the known ways. 

I have blogged about a few of these ways - Fish Head Pilaf, Squash with Fish Head and Bottle Gourd with Fish Heads. Toasted mung bean lentils serves as a creamy base for fish heads. The whole head is pan-fried to a golden brown crisp before immersing in the lentils to finish cooking.

Served with a steaming bowl of Basmati rice, I need nothing more than some peace and quiet so I can focus on removing the bones before enjoying this dish.

Bottle Gourd with Fish Heads - Lau'er Muro Ghonto

Lau'er Muro Ghonto

A friend of Hubby's enjoys fishing and brought me some of his catch. We got into a discussion of how the fish he catches is cleaned. He catches salmon and trout that are pretty big in size. Fish is my protein of choice and he was quite surprised to hear that the head is the most tasty part of the fish. He throws the heads away, so I begged him to save a couple for me the next time he went fishing.

Today he dropped by with six big heads. So I'm all set for the next month. Can't believe I don't have to go to the Asian store and pay for my next fish head. These heads are so fresh which I could tell by the bright red color of the gills. It took me a fair amount of time to clean the heads, discarding the mouth, fins and gills.

Fish head or muro in Bengali is prepared with a number of different vegetables, such as spinach, potatoes, eggplant, cabbage and even in pilaf with cauliflower. Bottle gourd (chayote squash is a good substitute) also pairs well with them, so I spent this afternoon making Lau'er Muro Ghonto. Regardless of how big the squash is, it amounts to practically nothing once it's cooked and releases its juices, so use 2 bottle gourds or 5 chayote squash, if necessary.

Enjoy!

Chaal Diye Muror Ghonto - Fish Pilaf

Chaal Diye Muror Ghonto

In Bengali, muro means fish head and ghonto is a melange of different ingredients. Adding rice and potatoes is one way to cook fish heads in the Bengali style. Muror Ghonto can also be made with a variety of vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage or bottle squash. It can also be combined with mung dal and served as a lentil course. 

Most Bengalis love fish. Filleted fish is only used to make breaded fried fish. In most Bengali households, the entire fish, bone-in and including the head and tail, is consumed. In fact, fish head is considered to be the tastiest part of the fish. In my experience, the heads of rui or katla (both of which belong in the carp family) are the tastiest. I've tried using salmon head and love its flavour, but the bones are very sharp and takes expertise to remove in order to avoid injury to the throat. Today I was in the Asian market and picked up a package of grouper head. Unfortunately, rui & katla are not as readily available.

Hubby won't touch fish head because of a fear of its bones, but enjoys the rest of this pulao. For him, I included a few pieces of fish, devoid of bones. Make sure to marinate the fish head in a lot of garlic paste to get rid of the fishy odour. Even though it's getting very cold outside, the doors and windows were opened wide while this was cooking. 

A combination of mustard and olive oil has been used to cook this dish, but any vegetable oil will do. 

Muro Lau

Squash with Fish Bones

I remember Mum making this for us. She is such an inspiration to us all! She had such a zest for life and enjoyed cooking till the last and was so willing to share her recipes. I've tried to reproduce this as best my memory will allow.

Fish bones are available in any oriental market that sells live and fresh fish.  The bones that are left over from filleting fish are packaged and sold separately.  Fish heads may be included among the fish bones.  I recently purchased a package of Garupa/Grouper fish bones which was used in this recipe. Marinating the fish bones in garlic paste, turmeric and salt removes the fishy smell.  

The green chilies are of a tiny Thai variety that I grew in a container on my front porch. When the weather got too cold I had to harvest the remaining chilies on the plant so I froze them in a ziploc bag and have been using them ever since. If left to ripen on the plant, the chilies turn a bright red.

Chayote squash may be replaced with Lau/Lauki (Bottle Gourd) or Zucchini.

Ingredients:

3 chayote squash, peeled & julienned

Marinate for ½ hour: 

1 pkg. (1½ lbs.) fish bones, cut in pieces

1 Tbsp. garlic paste

½ tsp. turmeric

Salt 

Gravy:

1 cup hot water

1 Tbsp. ginger paste

½ tsp. roasted cumin powder

Salt to taste

Aromatics:

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 green chili, chopped

¼ tsp. cumin seeds or Shah Jeera

¼ tsp. black mustard seeds

Garnishes:

4 green chilies

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

½ tsp. garam masala powder

1 tsp. ghee

Method:

1.    Marinate fish bones in garlic paste, salt and turmeric for ½ hour.

2.    Bring water to boil & simmer gravy ingredients over low heat until needed.

3.    Heat oil in a pan and pan-fry fish bones until golden; set aside.

4.    In the same oil, fry aromatics, stir in squash and cook until soft.

5.    Add simmering gravy and fish bones, cover and cook until oil resurfaces.

6.    Garnish with garam masala powder, green chilies, cilantro and ghee.

7.    Serve on a bed of hot Basmati rice.