Bengali fish head dal

Ingredients

• Mung dal - 1 cup
• Rohu or any carp head - 1 cut into 4 pieces
• Onion - 1 medium size finely chopped
• Ginger and Garlic paste - 2 teaspoons
• Tomato - 1 large chopped
• Cumin seed - 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric - 1 tablespoon
• Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• 2 Whole Red Chilies
• Bay leaf - 2
• Cardamom pods - 3 to 4
• Cinnamon - 1 stick
• Cloves - 4 to 5
• Salt and sugar as per taste
• Ghee - 1 teaspoon(optional)
• Mustard oil - 4 tablespoons

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Preparation

• First take a pan and heat it on a oven. Then put the Mung dal and dry roast(fry the dal without any oil) the dal till lightly brown and keep aside. Let it cool down for sometime.
  
  When the dal is in room temperature wash the dal and boil in a pressure cooker with 1 & 1/2 cup water and little salt to cook the dal enough.
• Now take the fish head and clean them very well. Make sure there is no dirt inside the head. Now rinse the head and marinate with salt and turmeric and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
• In a pan, heat oil, till the oil smokes. Add marinated fish heads to the pan and fry them till they turn golden brown.
  
  Now take them out from the pan and place on a paper towel. Now in the same oil add whole red chili, cumin seeds, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom pods, cloves and fry for some time till they start splattering.
• When the whole spices starts splattering, add the chopped onion and some salt to the oil. We are adding the salt to make the onion soft and even more tasty. When the onion becomes soft, fry them till slightly brown.
  
• Now take a small bowl, add ginger garlic paste, turmeric, cumin powder and 2-3 tablespoons of water and mix it to make a paste.
  
  Add the paste to the pan and fry them together with the onion for couple of minutes. After 2-3 minutes, add the tomatoes to the it and cover the pan and simmer the heat to cook the tomatoes.
• After some time open the lid and you will see that the tomatoes have become soft and pulpy. Now higher the heat and stir fry the mixture to dry.
  
  When the mixture turns dry, it will start leaving oil. Now add the boiled dal to the pan along with fish head and add 1/2 cup of warm water. Cover the pan and cook the dal on lower flame for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes open the lid and check if the head pieces can be broken by the ladle. If the head pieces are broken then it is cooked.
  
  So higher the oven and bring the dal to a nice boil for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes turn off the oven and pour the melted ghee on the top of the dal and mix it well . Your dal is ready to be served.

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