As voracious fish-eaters Bengalis have been able to add numerous fish delicacies on their list of favorites for decades. It's hard to find all the varieties outside of Bengal though, as most fishes that are eaten in Bengal are fresh-water fish, caught from ponds or rivers. On the other hand, the fish we get outside of Bengal are mostly sea-fish. But no matter what, we have never been able to stay away from fish for long. Hence, I have tried a whole bunch of different fishes that I have found in the Asian markets. Once we got a fish called Idiot Cod in California, that tasted exactly like Bhetki. Later I found Giant Perch, which also tasted like Bhetki, and looked more like it. Traditionally, Bhetki fillet is used for making fish fries. Whole Bhetki can be prepared in a variety of ways, from a light gravy to a thick mustard paste based sauce. It can be even steamed while wrapped in a banana leaf. Because of the hot weather I decided to make a light stew with potato and cauliflower.
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Ingredients:
1 big potato
Few florets of cauliflower
1/2 tomato
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin powder
1 medium giant perch
Salt, turmeric per taste
2 o 4 Green chilies
1 tsp whole cumin
1 tbsp oil
1 cup water
Recipe:
Heat oil in a skillet or kadai
Temper the cumin seeds, add the chilies to the oil
Add potatoes first and then cauliflower and fry lightly until half done
Add ginger paste and tomatoes
Sauté for some time
Add turmeric, salt, cumin powder and saute well
Add water
Cover and cook until the gravy reaches its desired consistency
One of my friends recently invited us to a dinner at her place where she served fish batter fry, another delicacy from Kolkata. It reminded me of so many sweet memories. As a lover of deep fried food, I used to look forward to fish batter fry in weddings and receptions. Another place where it became a custom to have fish batter fry was the Kolkata International Book Fair. There was a company called Ben-fish that used to sell varieties of fish-snacks in the fair. Although, many would argue about the quality of their products or fish, I cherish those memories and miss standing in the long queue for one of those batter fries.
Traditionally, batter fries are made from Bhetki fillets. Unfortunately, I couldn't wait to make them till I got some white fillets, therefore, I made them with the Salmon fillets that I had in the freezer.
Fish:
8 pieces (about 2"/3")
Marinate with salt, lemon juice
Batter:
4 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp gram flour
2 egg whites
2 tsp coarse ground cumin and coriander
2 tbsp butter
Salt to taste
2 tsp black pepper or to taste
Water as required
Recipe:
Heat oil for deep frying in a deep kadai or skillet
Dip the fish pieces one by one in the batter and deep fry until cooked
Serve with salads
I found some prawns in the freezer this morning. While thinking whether to bake them or cook them on stove top I remembered a prawn pulao that I once had at a party long ago. I distinctly remember the taste and smell of butter in the rice. It was cooked to perfection. It's somewhat hard to recreate the taste especially when something seems so perfect. Here, I went by the taste and the aroma from the memory lane. It turned out to be quite yummy. And as the French have figured out, the trick is, the more butter you add, the tastier it gets.
Ingredient:
About 10 large prawns, cleaned and fried
2/3rd cup grated coconut, lightly fried
1tbsp oil
1tbsp butter
Whole spices- bay leaf, black pepper, dried red chili
2 cups basmati rice, washed and dried
2 cups coconut milk, 2 cups water
Turmeric, salt, sugar per taste
Recipe:
Heat some vegetable oil and butter together in a deep skillet
Temper some 2 bay leaves, 2 or more whole dry red chilies and a few black pepper
To this add the basmati rice and fry until light brown
Add turmeric (1/2 tsp), salt and sugar per taste
Add all the coconut milk and water
Cook the rice on medium-high heat, adjust the heat as needed
Add the coconut and prawns, cover and cook for about two minutes
Serve hot
It's a hard for me to rule out salmon when I think of comfort food. Healthy, tasty, filling, and quick to make. It can be prepared in many ways, some of which definitely reminds me of childhood dishes. We had never seen salmon growing up in India. The only fish that could be compared to salmon was hilsa. It would also spend most of its lifetime in the ocean, then would migrate upstream to spawn. I personally don't find any similarity in taste between salmon and hilsa, but both have similar properties from a cooking perspective. Both take very little time to cook, and would become fibrous if overcooked. Therefore, I like to cook salmon in a traditional bengali way as well. As Shorshe Ilish (hilsa in mustard sauce) is a very popular dish in Bengal, I made Shorshe Salmon (salmon in mustard sauce).
Ingredients:
Salmon 1 fillet cut into around 2"/3" pieces
1 1/2 tbsp yogurt
1 tbsp mustard paste
2/3 green chillies slit
Salt and sugar per taste
Oil for cooking
1 tsp mustard oil
Recipe:
Mix mustard paste, yogurt, salt and sugar together, marinate the fish with the mixture
Add oil to the pan
Add the fish along with the marinade to the oil
Cover and cook in medium heat, after 2/3 minutes turn the fish pieces over
Cover and cook for another 2 minutes (avoid overcooking)
Add the mustard oil and the green chilies
Immediately remove the pan from heat
Serve with rice
It's been long since I posted my last recipe. Life has become crazy, literally. Especially with the kiddo at home for summer vacation and my folks around. It's fun but sometimes it can be too tiring. Cooking has taken a backseat now. I cook to eat instead of eat to cook nowadays. Hence, these days I am all for making one-dish meals. But one thing I realized years ago, that, simple or complex, it has to taste good otherwise we will eventually end up getting dinner from outside. I had some chicken quarters in the freezer last night, and I was craving for the chicken kabobs that we used to get in the San Francisco Bay Area. I miss those kabobs, cooked to perfection, with their juices intact, yummmmmm! Not a single day, do I remember them coming out dry or look too red, like we are used to seeing in many Indian restaurants. As the name suggests, it's hard to make perfect tandoori without a tandoor (traditional clay oven). This is what I tried and this was worth it.
Ingredients:
3 Chicken quarters
Tandoori spices, store bought
Ginger 2 tbsp
Vinegar 1 tsp
Red chili powder 1 tsp or to taste
Mustard oil 1 tbsp
Salt and sugar per taste
Ghee for brushing
Recipe:
- Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients except ghee
- Preheat the oven at 375F and bake for 50-55 minutes or until chicken is throughly cooked
- Brush ghee on both sides during baking to keep the chicken from drying
- At the end broil on each side for 2 mins or to your liking
Duck egg curry is considered a delicacy in Bengal. Since it isn't easily available in the US, I look forward to Summer when I could buy them from the farmers' market. Our cooking lady was allowed to make a very spicy duck egg curry, as it was prepared once in a while. I also prefer making it a little on the spicier side because of the powerful taste the eggs have. Here is the recipe for you.
Ingredients:
12 Duck eggs boiled
2 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 chopped onion
1.5 tbsp garlic paste
1.5 tbsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin powder
.5 tsp mace powder
2,3 green chilies chopped
1/2 can tomato juice
Salt and sugar per taste
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chili powder
Recipe:
Boil the eggs and cut in halves
Heat oil, add some turmeric, salt and red chili powder to color the oil
Add halved eggs to this oil to fry well. Eggs will take a beautiful red color
take out the eggs, add some more oil
Add onion to this oil, fry well
Add ginger garlic paste, and saute till oil leaves the spices
Add the dry spices
Add tomato juice instead of water to make sure spices don't get stuck at the bottom
Add green chilies
Add some water to this and bring to the boil
Add the eggs to this gravy, yolk side up
Take out the eggs carefully
Pour the gravy on top of the eggs
