It is an open secret that we Bengalis love fish, any kind of it. Be it river fish, sea fish, small fish or large fish, it doesn’t matter to us. But the funniest part is we are in so much love with it that we invented different recipes with different parts of it (like bones, heads etc.) to consume the whole of it. Though all parts of the fish is equally important to us, the most popular thing with Bengalis is Fish Head or ‘Muro’. We make them crunchy fried, make veggies of it but what we really enjoy is ‘Muri Ghonto’.
‘Muri Ghonto’ is prepared with rice and fish-head where both are cooked together. We mostly serve it as a side dish with rice. But some people like to have it with roti as well. Actually it doesn’t matter what else you have in your platter as long as you have a bowl full of steaming hot ‘Muri-Ghonto’ in front of you.
Since the core ingredients of this preparation are rice and fish, the quality of both is vital here. Rohu head and ‘Gobindo bhog’ rice are always preferable for this. But if you can’t find ‘Rohu’ near you, grab something similar. For rice you can always go with ‘Basmati’ as it never goes wrong for anything. But personally I don’t like to alter anything in this recipe. You can always go ahead and experiment with your own ingredients 
Ingredients:
- Rice: 1 cup
- Fish head: 1 (medium)
- Onions: 2 (medium; finely chopped)
- Potatoes: 2 (medium; cut in halves)
- Green chillies: 5/6 (chopped)
- Ginger paste: 1 tsp
- Garlic paste: 1 tsp
- Bay leaves: 1-2 (depending on the size)
- Dried red chilli: 5-6
- Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
- Cinnamon stick: 1”
- Turmeric powder: 1 +1 tsp
- Red chilli powder: 1 +1 tsp
- Cumin powder: 1 tsp
- Coriander powder: 1 tsp
- Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
- Ghee: 1 tbsp
- Water: 2 cups
- Sugar
- Salt to taste
Preparation:
Wash and clean the rice and keep aside. If you are using basmati soak it in enough water for 1 hour. For ‘Govindo Bhog’ rice you don’t need do this.
Clean the fish head carefully. Sprinkle and rub some salt and turmeric and red chilli powder and leave it for 20 mins.
Fry the fish head until it turns golden brown. Try to break them into small pieces to avoid mess. It will also help you to relish them later.
Fry the potatoes golden brown and keep aside.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add bay leaves, dry red chillies, cinnamon and cumin seeds with little sugar. Let them crackle.
Add onion and fry until it turns golden in color. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry until fragrant. Few people won’t like the idea of adding garlic. But I just love them and I’m not ready to miss any chance to use them. If you are not that of a garlic lover, skip it.
Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder and fry for 1 minutes or until raw smell is gone. Add potatoes and make sure each piece gets coated well.
Now add rice and give it a good stir. Remember, it shouldn’t be more than 1 min. else rice will become hard.
Now add the fish head (or smaller pieces) and water. I prefer to do rest of the steps in microwave as after adding rice and fish things can get messy. If you feel comfortable in cooking on a gas oven for the rest process, go ahead, add salt and keep the flame on simmer and leave the pan covered for 10-15 mins or until rice is done. Do peep time to time to avoid over cooking. If you find excess water in your pan, remove the lid and keep the pan on high flame to evaporate excess water.
But if you feel like me, use microwave. For that, add the masala and potatoes in a large microwave-safe pot along with the oil. Don’t discard the oil from the masala. Then make a layer of rice. And then top it with fish pieces and sprinkle salt. Now add water and stir in a light hand. Don’t over mix it. Don’t forget to check the seasoning.
Now set microwave mode for 15 mins on high (900W) while keeping the bowl uncovered and wait another 5-8 mins in standby with covered bowl.
Now you are free to sit back and relax for at least 20 minutes. Or you can start cleaning your kitchen desk and all messy stuffs. Though I can assure you will be completely distracted by the lovely smell of ‘gobindo bhog’. But still you can pretend to continue as working: P
Once your ‘Muri Ghonto’ is ready sprinkle the garam masala and top it with 1 tbsp ghee and serve it with rice/roti or as a main dish itself along with crispy fried fish.
My favourite…Looks drool worthy…but I never used Garlic paste…..
Muri ghonto looks amazing and yummy.
Its new to me.Looks delicious and yummy.
Scrumptious muri ghonto. Haven't had it for a while. Your photos are making me crave some right away. I did a round up of recipes for the Bengali new year and included this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
what a lovely recipe. it’s very popular in our house. but we make it in a little different way. but i will tri your recipe next time.