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Macher Jhol Recipe

A Bangladeshi fish curry made with fish steaks, tomatoes, mustard seeds, and mustard oil.

From the NHS (UK) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Macher Jhol Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Put the fish steaks in a bowl with the turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. Mix well and set aside.

  2. Blend the tomatoes, garlic, 3 green chillies, powdered mustard, a pinch of salt and 120ml water to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons mustard oil in a pan. Add the kalonji seeds and let sizzle for about 10 seconds. Add the blended tomato mixture. Turn the heat down to low and stir for 8 minutes.

  2. Once the mixture has a deeper, darker colour, add 350ml of water, stir well and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to simmer on low for another 10 minutes.

Cook the fish and serve

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons mustard oil in a pan and fry the marinated fish steaks until golden brown on both sides. Add the fish to the tomato mixture and leave to simmer for 2 or 3 minutes.

  2. Top with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

293Calories
23 gProtein
14 gFat
18 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Salmon100g cooked208
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Mustard Oil1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the NHS (UK).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Turmeric + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Turmeric + clovetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,876 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fish steaks
Provide the main protein, which cooks through gently in the simmering sauce.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and body, breaking down into the base of the sauce.
Powdered mustard seeds
Give the sauce its sharp, pungent flavour once blended and cooked.
Mustard oil
Carries strong mustard aroma and adds richness to the frying and sauce.
Garlic cloves
Add pungent aroma that deepens as the sauce cooks.
Green chillies
Add heat and fresh sharpness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the tomato mixture until deeper and darker. Stirring the blended tomato paste on low heat concentrates its flavour and deepens its colour before water is added. Rushing this stage leaves the sauce thin and raw-tasting.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, turmeric, tomato, garlic, mustard, onion):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, turmeric, tomato, garlic, mustard, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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