My mothers authentic recipe for Boal maacher matha. This dish is such a special dish, mom makes it the best and I’ve never had nothing quite like it to be honest. Absolutely mouth watering. A vibrant color and bursting with heaps of flavor. Even more better, almost as if the fish was freshly caught and made there and then. Well that’s how good this Boal maacher matha tastes.

A Bengali tradition you could say, no meal without a fish dish. We love our fish and I’m glad to say that my kiddos love Bengali fish dishes too so that makes me a super happy mommy. The thing about maacher matha (fish head), is you only really get to cook it once when you get the whole fish. So that makes it pretty special too. Also as we only get to have Bangladeshi fresh water fish sold frozen here mom cooks the fish head straight away. Basically the fresher the fish the tastier it is. In this recipe I will be cooking with one of my favorite kind of fish, Bangladeshi Boal maach (Wallago Catfish). I think this fish cooks beautifully in this recipe and that’s just the way mom does it too.

More about my mothers recipe for Boal Maacher Matha

When mom talks about my grandmother (Nani), her food and cooking was pretty amazing…she says how her fish head curries were super tasty and had a very unique taste. I feel like moms fish head curry definitely has that unique taste and I have always wanted to know and learn how to make this special maacher matha.

Well I always thought how it must be such a hard fish dish to make and I’m never going to get it right. I knew that if I had to make this curry than I had to see it first hand and see what the secret was. There’s times when I crave for such yummy dishes and that’s when I think it’s worth learning. Luckily enough mom showed me how to cook this maacher matha. Surprisingly enough it was pretty easy and a few simple steps produced a beautiful maacher matha curry.

A few tips to making Boal Maacher Matha

If you can get hold of fresh Bangladeshi fish then your lucky because the curry will taste just that much better. If not, no worries, soak the fish in turmeric and salt for 5-10 minutes before rinsing the fish off and it will help to get rid of the unwanted fishy smell.

The spices, when you look at this curry and you see how vibrant the colors are you might think you need to add lots of spices to this curry. But in fact you only really need a little. The main spices used are the basics for example, turmeric, chili, coriander, cumin and curry powder. You only need half a teaspoon of each spice. Cook the spices up well making sure the raw spices cook until you see some of the oil floating to the surface before the fish head is added in.

The fish head is cooked in its own juices, so only a tablespoon or two of water is added to cook the curry.

More flavors come from the addition of fresh green chilies and fresh chopped cilantro/coriander leaves.

That’s it really. Easy as that. Check out my mothers authentic recipe for Boal maacher matha below.

Enjoy with hot steaming white rice.

My Mothers Authentic Recipe For Boal maacher matha

Recipe by Shema Course: MainCuisine: BangladeshiDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4-6

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Boal Maacher Matha

Ingredients

• Fish head (Boal Maach) cut into smaller pieces this can be done by fish monger (you can also use any extra tail pieces too

• To soak fish

• 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• Tap cold water just enough to soak fish head

• To cook the fish

• 1/4 cup of oil

• 1 medium onion finely sliced or chopped

• 1 teaspoon of ginger paste

• 1 teaspoon of garlic paste

• 1 and a half teaspoons of salt

• 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of coriander powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder

• 2 tablespoons of water to cook the spices

• 4-5 fresh green chilies cut through the middle along the length

• A handful of fresh cilantro/coriander leaves finely chopped

Directions

• Clean fish head pieces by pulling out any extra gills and loose parts
• Add turmeric and salt to the fish head and mix in well, soak with tap cold water until ready to cook
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom saucepan or wok
• Add in the chopped onions, ginger/garlic paste and salt
• Stir well and cook on a medium high flame until golden brown
• Add in 2-3 tablespoons of hot water to help soften the onions, cook for 2-3 minutes
• You can use a potato masher to mash up the onions while they are cooking
• Lower the flame and add in all the spices one by one, turmeric, chili, coriander, cumin and curry powder
• Stir and mix the spices in well with the onion base, cook for 1-2 minutes on a medium flame. Add 2 tablespoons of water here to avoid burning the spices
• Meanwhile rinse and wash the fish head pieces with clean water, drain the excess water and add into the spices (spices are cooked when you see some of the oil rise to the surface)
• Lower the flame and stir well, this is the best time to stir as the fish pieces will not break or fall apart here
• Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook on a medium high flame for 2-3 minutes, then uncover and gently stir
• Turn the flame to medium and cook the fish head partially covered for an additional 4-5 minutes gently holding the pot and swirling around once in between so nothing gets mushed up
• Add in the green chilies and cilantro, gently stir just to distribute the fresh garnish
• Take the saucepan off the heat and serve with steamed white rice
• Enjoy!

Notes

• Any leftovers will stay good in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.