Nga Thongba

Dried citrus peel and hooker chives are what make it, not the fish.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 700 g freshwater fish, in medium pieces
• 2 onions, sliced
• 3 green chillies, slit
• 30 g culantro, Mexican coriander, chopped
• 80 g hooker chives, with their roots, chopped
• 2 teaspoons heiribob, dried citrus peel, or the peel of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground red chilli
• 3 tablespoons mustard oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. DRIED CITRUS PEEL AND HOOKER CHIVES ARE WHAT MAKE IT, NOT THE FISH. Its article says so directly: the distinctive flavour comes from a combination of herbs, spices and a citrus fruit called heiribob. And its ingredient list is unusually precise about the greens -- culantro rather than coriander, and hooker chives WITH THEIR ROOTS. Those three are the dish. Made with coriander leaf, ordinary chives and a squeeze of lemon it is a perfectly good fish curry and not this one, which is worth saying plainly because two of the three are hard to buy.
2. THE CHIVE ROOTS GO IN AND THEY ARE NOT A MISTAKE. Its article specifies hooker chives with roots. The roots are starchy and much stronger than the green tops, and they are chopped in with everything else.
3. THE PEEL CAN BE SUN-DRIED OR FRESH, WHICH ITS ARTICLE ALLOWS. Dried is sharper and keeps; fresh is more floral. Either goes in near the end -- boiled long, citrus peel turns bitter.
4. THE FISH IS CUT INTO MEDIUM PIECES AND ADDED LATE. Its article says small to medium pieces. Into the simmering gravy for the last eight minutes and then not stirred, only shaken, or it breaks up.
5. THE OIL IS MUSTARD OIL AND IT IS SMOKED FIRST. Heated until it just smokes, then taken off for a moment. Raw mustard oil is harsh and the smoking is standard across this cooking.
6. THE ONIONS ARE SLICED, NOT PASTED. Which is the difference from Yen Thongba, as on its own page, where its article specifies a paste. Here they stay as pieces in the gravy.
7. IT IS A THIN GRAVY, NOT A THICK ONE. Enough to spoon over rice. There is no tomato, no cream and no ground nut in it.
8. IT IS A HOUSEHOLD STAPLE AND A FEAST DISH BOTH. Its article records it as the staple freshwater fish dish in Meitei households and as something served at festivals.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes