Mourala Curry

Name: Mourala Curry
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Indian (Westbengal)
Ingredients: Mourala (mola) fish: 400g, cleaned (these are tiny — 3–4cm); Mustard paste: 2 tbsp; Green chillies: 5, slit; Turmeric: 1 tsp; Nigella seeds: ¼ tsp; Mustard oil: 3 tbsp; Salt: 1 tsp; Water: 250ml; Fresh coriander: 2 tbsp; Clean mourala by rubbing with salt and rinsing — their scales are tiny and harmless; These fish are eaten whole — bones are soft and edible; The broth becomes milky-white from the tiny fish dissolving slightly; Serve with a very large quantity of rice — this jhol is intensely flavoured

🍗 Non-veg🌾 Gluten-free📊 Easy

Tiny mola carplet fish cooked in a thin, sharp mustard-green chilli gravy — a rural Bengali dinner of extraordinary flavour from the smallest fish.

⏱️15 minPrep

🔥20 minCook

🕒35 minTotal

🍽️4Serves

🧺 Ingredients

👩‍🍳 How to make Mourala Curry

Toss mourala in ½ tsp turmeric and salt.
Fry in hot oil, stirring gently, 4–5 min until lightly crisp.
Remove.
Add nigella seeds to oil; splutter.
Add mustard paste whisked into water; bring to boil.
Add green chillies, remaining turmeric.
Return fish; simmer 8 min.
The tiny fish almost dissolve into the broth — this is intentional and correct.
Garnish coriander; drizzle raw mustard oil.

📖 Cultural notes

|---|---|---|---|---| | 210 kcal | 22g | 3g | 12g | 1g | Mourala are among the most nutritious fish in Bengal — tiny, calcium-rich and consumed whole. They are a staple of rural West Bengal and Bangladesh's poor households who cannot afford hilsa or rui. In recent years, urban Bengalis have rediscovered mourala as a "heritage" fish — Kolkata's upscale restaurants now serve Mourala Jhol as a mark of culinary authenticity. ---

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