Madam Nupur Sen's Mudi Ghanto (Fish head with rice)

Guess what happened this afternoon-- I opened up y'days Thursday magazine(that I received today) and found tha the lucky winner of this week's contest is Madam Nupur Sen! She was my Statistics lecturer in college! Hooray, madam! CONGRATS on winning !!!!!! I'm sure this dish is as excellent as your teaching used to be in class, hey, no wonder I would always top! :)

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1  fish head (if its too large, halve or quarter it or use 1 medium- preferably use Rohu, Katla or any sweet-water)
• 50  g basmati rice
• 2  medium potatoes, cut into small pieces
• 1  onion
• 1  inch ginger
• 2  cloves garlic
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 3⁄4 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1  teaspoon red chili powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cumin seed
• 4  cardamoms
• 3  cloves
• 1  inch cinnamon stick
• 1  teaspoon sugar
• 1  tablespoon ghee
• 2  tablespoons  oil
• 1  bay leaf
•  salt

Directions

1. Firstly, wash the pieces of fish head thoroughly.
2. Rub in a little turmeric powder and salt.
3. Keep aside.
4. Roast dry cumin and corriander seeds.
5. Grind these with ginger and garlic.
6. Keep aside.
7. Roast half the quantity of dry cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and powder these.
8. Keep this powder in a tightly sealed jar.
9. Heat oil in a frying pan.
10. Fry the fish head pieces till they turn dark brown.
11. Remove from heat and set aside on a plate.
12. Fry basmati rice lightly in the same oil.
13. Keep aside.
14. Fry potatoes and keep aside.
15. Now coarsely crush the remaining half of the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon.
16. Put the bayleaf and cumin seeds in the oil.
17. Following this, once the cumin seeds crackle, put in the cardamom-cloves-cinnamon mixture made in the previous step.
18. Add grated onion and fry till it turns brown.
19. Then add turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and the paste made earlier.
20. Fry well till the oil separates.
21. Put the fish head pieces, potatoes and the rice into the oil.
22. Fry again for a few more minutes, ensuring that the fish head pieces do not break.
23. Add 1 cup of water and cover the pan.
24. When the water gets absorbed and the rice is cooked well, add in ghee, sugar and roasted masala powder made earlier that was kept in the tightly sealed jar.
25. Serve hot with plain steamed white Basmati rice.
26. Tip: The larger the fish, the better the dish!