Northeast Indian

Masor Tenga (Sour Fish Curry)

Name: Masor Tenga (Sour Fish Curry)
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Northeast Indian
Ingredients: 1.5 lb fish steaks (rohu or similar); 2 tbsp mustard oil; 2 tomatoes; 1/2 lemon; 1/2 tsp turmeric; 2 green chili; 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds; 2 cups water; 1 tsp salt

Bandana Gogoi @bandana_ghy

Masor Tenga (Sour Fish Curry) is Northeast Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the soup. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.

35 min Medium Heart healthy Low carb Pescatarian Halal Gluten free Dairy free

Ingredients

Serves

The quantities follow this count.

1.5 lb fish steaks (rohu or similar)
2 tbsp mustard oil
2 tomatoes
1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 green chili
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 cups water
1 tsp salt

How to cook it

Rub the fish steaks with a little turmeric and salt and set aside for 10 minutes.
Heat the mustard oil in a shallow pan and shallow fry the fish pieces briefly on both sides, then lift them out.
In the same oil, let the fenugreek seeds sizzle, then add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they soften and break down.
Pour in the water, add the remaining turmeric, slit green chilies, and salt, and bring to a boil.
Slide the fish back in and simmer gently until it is just cooked through, about 8 minutes.
Squeeze in the lemon juice at the end for the signature sour edge and serve hot with rice.

Watch how to cook Masor Tenga (Sour Fish Curry)

Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.

Serve it with

A Northeast Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Masor Tenga (Sour Fish Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.

The cooked vegetable
- Akhuni Yam (Fermented Soybean with Yam and Mustard Greens)
  
  25 min
The protein alongside
- Lauki Chana Dal (Bottle Gourd and Lentils)
  
  45 min
What it is eaten with
- Galho (One Pot Rice, Greens and Chicken Porridge)
  
  40 min

A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.

Safe at your table

Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Masor Tenga (Sour Fish Curry) carries fish. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.

Every tracked allergen in Masor Tenga (Sour Fish Curry)
Allergen	In this dish	Cook this instead
Peanuts	No
Tree nuts	No
Dairy	No
Gluten	No
Shellfish	No
Eggs	No
Soy	No
Fish	Yes	Akhuni Yam (Fermented Soybean with Yam and Mustard Greens)
Sesame	No
Coconut	No

These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.

What it brings to the plate

Estimated, per serving

Calories: 210 kcal
Protein: 25 g
Carbs: 6 g
Fat: 10 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sugar: 2 g
Sodium: 470 mg
Saturated fat: 1 g

Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.

When to cook it

Masor Tenga (Sour Fish Curry) takes about 35 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.