MY MOST LOVED OF ALL THE FRIES & FRITTERS MIGHT BE A FISH FINGER OR FRY!
I had them all, almost all the varieties any Bengali would usually have; Fish Orly, Fish Butter Fry, Fish Finger, Fish Fry! Ain't they the outcome of the colonial rule of 200 years over the undivided India? Fish fry cannot be Bengali food! I do not much understand the difference between Orly & Butter Fry, I find them both a bit oily; I am extremely fond of fish fry & fingers. Because I am sensitive about sea fish; these days I prefer getting fish fillets, marinating them well, breading & frying them! Because I am also not comfortable with deep frying stuffs now & then, I control the temptation to have them too often! Back in Kolkata, a good quality fish fry demands Bhetki Fillet, very rarely did my family got the fillets & the fries happened at home, neither we frequented a good restaurant to have them often; I would look forward to a festive home to have those! We did not have the liberty to buy from the roadside stall! I got so conditioned with the warnings since a young age about poor quality fish fillet been used that I feared to buy the low priced one compromising on the quality! The parents preferred an ice-cream, kulfi-falooda, chole-bhature, dosa, vada, idli instead when out! With time, I did feed myself a fry from Benfish but they really are not of great quality! On my last visit to Kolkata, I did not have one for a single day; it was hot, my stomach was not in good condition, our mother does not fancy any Benfish product & she cannot digest well outside food anymore & I had on my mind my brother who came home from office late! He anyway destroyed his shape eating outside food too often! This time, I discovered I had no fascination towards outside food whilst in Kolkata, except for a good sweet variety! I was full & content buying fish & vegetables and getting our mother cooking for me!
I CAN COOK A VARIETY OF STARTERS TODAY, BUT OUR SUNDAY MENU WAS FLAT & SIMPLE!
Last Saturday, I simply did not cook anything, we had some leftovers from the earlier week, We had something left from the delivery made on last Friday, we had to finish them. With nothing much to do & the son not in the habit of calling & making us feel happier; I was getting bored yet did not take up a cooking project! I wanted to clear off the refrigerator rack! Okay, I cooked yum paratha pizza on the Saturday night, would blog about it sooner! Sunday was Cristine's elder sister's birthday, she cooked a couple of stuffs and took for the sister & friends. They have an elder brother back in Philippines! It was very nice of her to keep for us MAJA BLANCA, she makes the dessert pretty well. On this day, I do like the milk-cornflour-corn kernel dessert!
This little arrangement I can do, thinking how would be life without Cristine, we got mentally dependant on her after the son's departure for a better future! We were watching movies & series too but I am kind of feeling too restless for the past few days, certain feelings we cannot share in public in details. I did not even wish to go out of home for a walk, went for a swim down. Back home, my lunch was this simple; thereafter banana with maja blanca was a pleasure!
WHAT IS FISH FRY?
I make the explanation easy, fried fish is mach bhaja to me & fish fry I refer to the breaded FISH FRY! Most Bengali would refer to as same! These days I make them fresh, good & way tastier than a store bought one. The way I double marinate them, shops would hardly do. Here in the island, they do not marinate the fillets as such, I cannot have them everywhere, specially those made of cuttle fish! However, I thoroughly enjoy the fish orly types at Long John Silver, Chick-a-Boo, also liked at Manhattan Fish Market once; okay Fish & Co's too! Best if you try mine, a non-veg, fried seafood item that is loved by a sea fish hater like me! I had a vegetarian paratha pizza to share, I had a lentil fritter curry to share, I had a chicken rice or a mutton kebab to share today, but I wished to share this one! There is also a good dried fish recipe in hand, but just two days back the daughter-in-law took our mother to the doctor with much care, I should not! I already have the recipe along with a lentil cake recipe; I needed to make a separate post! As I say, I am not in the best of mood, pretty disturbed with something, I had something good to give to humanity before leaving this earth, but I do not know where to start from. Wish I could give a shout out about what is bothering me for the past few days! 99% of people would not understand me, better I keep to myself & serve food to people! Here we do not get skin off sea bass, so I used frozen tilapia fillets, sooner I would use boneless, fresh toman fillets available in the wet market! And yes, instead of bread crumb I need to try crushed toast biscuit once, I think Kolkata uses the later!
Boneless Fish Fillet : 6-8 [I used fresh Sea-Bass fillets]
Lemon Juice : 1/2small tea cup
Ginger Extract : 2tbsp
Garlic Extract : 3tbsp
Ginger Paste : 1tbsp
Garlic Paste : 2tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp + 11/2tsp
Chopped Green Chilli : 2tbsp [optional]
Bread Crumbs : 200 gm {I used biscuit crumb]
Refined Flour : 1small tea cup
Water : As Required
Salt : As Required
Oil : As Required to deep fry
PROCEDURE :
Let us do the colonial rule influenced BENGALI FISH FRY.... the name Bangalir Fish Fry would have suited the most, then I am not big brother Google's much loved sister... step sister perhaps. A small time food blogger like me has to struggle for a place in the search engine thingi.... it hardly helps though and I do not care.... I love to pen down my thoughts however poor my language is and to cook... hence I have a blog... thats it!
We would wash and marinate the fish fillets with lemon juice, ginger and garlic paste, 1tsp black pepper powder, crushed or finely chopped green chillies and little of salt for an hour. My garlic changes to green once made to a paste .....
After an hour, discard the marinade! Marinate the fillets again with black pepper powder, ginger and garlic extract and salt.
We would fold in well, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 2 hours.
We would prepare a mixture with refined flour, salt, a cup of water. It would neither be paste like, nor watery! We would take the bread or biscuit crumb on a plate. We are also to take some refined flour in a bowl!
We would take the marinated fish fillets, one at a time; coat with the dry flour, then dip into the flour mixture and then coat well with the bread crumb & repeat.
We would take a scale like thing & press from the sides! We would cover the plate with a cling wrap and refrigerate overnight or for few hours before frying.
We would take the plate out before frying & remove the cling wrap. We need to heat enough oil and fry in batches. Mine is a smaller wok, so I fried one at a times.
Once both sides are fried well, we would place on to a tissue paper before serving to get rid of the excess oil. The frying process requires adjusting the heat as and when required!
Kashundi, a Bengali sauce is the best pair with it, however you can serve it with your choice of sauce & salad!
Looks fingerlickingly delicious. We make Fish fry alot especially in winter times. Now we try to cook trout fish in summer times.
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