Kajali Machher Tel Jhol (Mulo Diye) – Winter Special

Kajali Machher Tel Jhol, Mulo die! 

Now for the story. The other day Sam and I were watching a Bengali movie, Guptodhoner Sondhane. It was a suspense filled drama where a good-looking historian (Abir Chatterjee) unearths a treasure from the times of the Mughal empire. It was hidden in the dilapidated mansion of an erstwhile zamindar or landlord and he did all that amidst the trysts and travails sprinkled in the screen play for good measure. This post is not about the movie. It is about the Kajali Machher Tel Jhol and a story from a couple of decades back, a rather strange story when I had a full family and my baba was alive.

It was a Saturday, I remember well. I wanted to sleep in but my parents were early risers. So they inevitably would be talking so loudly that it was a futile attempt to try to sleep in. And I would lay awake and hear Maa going over the list of groceries that Baba had to get from the market. We did have a good sized refrigerator but my Dad went for groceries every single morning. Back home, that is a ritual ingrained in the Bengali way of life till this day.

Our markets would be like the Farmers Markets we see here, the only difference, it would not be a once-a-week phenomenon. It was an everyday thing. Vendors would come to the city from the neighboring villages very early in the morning to sell their wares.

Now that Saturday around 7.30 am Baba set out for the market. In my head, I was relieved that the next 45-60 mins would be probably peaceful enough to try getting some sleep again. However, within about 20 mins the doorbell rang. And I could hear Baba. I was so frustrated that I finally just got out of the bed. As I was heading out of my room, Baba came in and grabbed me by my hand and took me to the living room. I had not even brushed my teeth.

In our living room, there was a lady and a man. For a second, I was asking myself why they looked like the participants of a folk dance group. Their clothes were shabby, hair disheveled and they were not faces I had seen in the neighborhood before. Dressed like the migrating tribes from Rajasthan, the lady had clunky silver jewelry, tattooed forearms and several piercings. Now in my wildest dream I was not able to comprehend what they were doing in our living room.

Soon baba explained that a common friend was bringing them to him. They needed help. Maa and I gave him a perplexed look. And he just asked the lady to show us “that thing”. Before we knew, the lady opened a bag she was carrying and took out this humongous necklace. The word necklace is an understatement. It was more like a sash. Yes, the width and length would be as much as that of a sash you see beauty pageant winners wearing. It was made of a metal resembling gold. I say “resembling” as we had no way to know. The lady kept saying that they were working on a construction project and dug it out. This was about 20 years back but whatever little I remembered of “that thing”, I would not be surprised if it was indeed dug out and belonged to the Mughal King of Kings.

However, before we could do or say anything, Maa called us both inside. She politely and firmly asked Baba to stay out of it. She then told the lady to go to the nearest police station as this is something that belonged to the state and was of historical significance. People might think it was stolen from somewhere unless it is reported. The couple did not take it well. They were probably looking for some help to sell it. But my mom would not get into it. So they left. I think somewhere Baba too did not believe their story and so quite unlike him, he did not make a big deal out of it. However, none of us ever forgot that incident even though it ended quite unceremoniously.

Coming back to the Kajali Machher Tel Jhol, this fish is a favorite in both my family and Sam’s family. And Mulo or radish is a winter vegetable in India and would be very aptly paired with our staple everyday fish curries during winter. Kajali machh is a small sardine sized fresh water fish and was not exactly our everyday fish. It was more like a weekend delicacy when Maa had the extra time in hand for the TLC that cooking small fish needed. This particular recipe is by a friend and the recipe is not a typical tel jhol as it has cashew, poppy seed paste, mustard paste etc. A typical tel jhol basically has oil and very basic spices like turmeric and some green chilies.But I still choose to call it Tel Jhol because in the end the fresh fish and the mustard oil is the star of the dish with some smoothness brought to the palate with the cashews and the poppy seed paste. A traditional Kajali Machher Tel Jhol it is but deliciously tweaked to include a few other ingredients at the same time.

Try it and let me know if you like it.

You may also like the recipes below:

Machher Jhol ^[1]

Doi Machh ^[2]

Dry Schezwan Fish ^[3]

Print ^[4]