East Indian
Muger Dal with Fish Head
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Muger Dal with Fish Head is East Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre, the protein alongside, 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.
Ingredients
The quantities follow this count.
How to cook it
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Rub the cleaned fish head with a little turmeric and salt and let it marinate for 10 minutes.
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Heat half the mustard oil in a pan and fry the fish head on both sides until lightly golden and just cooked, about 6 minutes, then set aside.
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Rinse the moong dal and dry roast it in the empty pot for 2 minutes until it smells nutty, then add the water, remaining turmeric, and salt and simmer until soft, about 20 minutes.
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Heat the remaining mustard oil in a small pan, temper with the panch phoron, bay leaf, and dried red chilies, then stir in the ginger paste.
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Pour the tempering into the dal, nestle in the fried fish head, and simmer gently for 8 minutes so the head flavors the dal and breaks apart slightly.
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Finish with cilantro and serve hot over rice, a frugal Bengali way to stretch a fish head into a full family meal.
Watch how to cook Muger Dal with Fish Head
Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.
Serve it with
A East Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Muger Dal with Fish Head, read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The cooked vegetable
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What it is eaten with
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. Muger Dal with Fish Head carries fish. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | Yes | Aloo Posto (Potato in Poppy Seed Paste) |
| 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
- 230 kcal
- Protein
- 12 g
- Carbs
- 22 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fiber
- 4 g
- Sugar
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 540 mg
- Saturated fat
- 2 g
Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.
When to cook it
Muger Dal with Fish Head takes about 45 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.
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Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.