CURRY AND SPICE: BHETKI PATURI

OFF LATE I HAVE STARTED ENJOYING FISH FILLETS!

Do you think otherwise I would ever accepted a Toman Fish? Its so gigantic & fearful to me. Not that all of these fillets are lovable to me! But I have learnt to remove their raw smell. This was a recommendation from Sohail Bhai of Rajdhani Stores; that fish & meat, if rubbed with enough salt & kept for an hour, washed thoroughly & marinated further or cooked right away, the odd smell vanishes! Its so true & I do it regular! I keep telling them why they do not get the right quality of fish, they would say the best qualities go to Australia, England, United States, Japan too may be. They flatly say potential Bengali buyers are there, this is just a tiny island! I am not a potential buyer either, I refuse to buy a 75$ worth Hilsa here too & in Kolkata too! I am just unable to spend beyond a point! After some wrong buys with regards to fish, I feel like getting fillets & frying, grilling & baking them after a good marination! I absolutely do not enjoy Bhetki Mach / Sea Bass, bone on! But a boneless fillet made to a batter fry or a breaded fry or a Paturi is what I would enjoy any day! In my case, the sea fish smell has to be gotten rid of!

I WAS OUT; CAME BACK & STARTED OF LATE!

The man is travelling on work after years! I am feeling lonelier, earlier our boy used to be there! Just when I decided I would walk up to Hougang & eat at Long John Silver again today; it started raining heavily! Around 1 pm, I walked out in the rain, carried an umbrella which I consider an extra baggage! I enjoyed though, "walking in the rain"; literally!

Those eggplants! Wish I had a flower & vegetable garden & enough knowledge, energy to grow them decent!

This time, I had a French Fry, Fish & Chicken Batter Fries platter but do not know why I did not enjoy much! The crumblies & batter seemed salty to me given I eat less salt these days! Unnecessarily, I took upon myself a lot of calories! The amount of vigour I went with seemed useless at this point!

Okay, not really that useless was my venture! I did some shopping from two decent brands; Iora & Bossini at too good a discount! That makes me happy!

I could have come back walking but I had a blog post to write, moreover, I am aging; earlier I used to! We lived in Hougang for four years, I never stopped visiting there; Kushi's Beauty Parlour I go, the mall I roam around! We are at the present neighbourhood for almost six years, yet I enjoy going back there! I am in the midway compiling today's blogpost, teatime arrived & I forgot the guilt of having a high caloric lunch; asked Cristine for a bowl of Jhalmuri! My dinner today may not be carb free! Let me be, else I would get remorseful! Why an incident have shocked me to the core I do not know; I see the cries of smaller kids & then the irresponsibilities of parents amounting to creating disturbed child; wish people did not show off in public a couch where someone laid down all the time & played with a cell phone. I do the same, but I cannot kill anything beyond ants; never gifted the son a toy gun except for one or two occasions or they might have been gifted by someone else! A country cannot fail their kids in this manner! There has to be love, indulgence, disciplining the kids in the right measure! Schools & teachers have to take bigger responsibilities than just teaching from the text books. It goes without saying they are to take special care of the bullied, isolated, economically weak children! And unless the teachers are paid well & their work load eased, they would not bother to do this extra bit!

WHAT IS BHETKI PATURI?

Bhetki & Sea Bass fish seem same to me but some of our friends say they are not altogether the same. Sea Bass fillets are always prized back in Kolkata, here too! Bengalis consider it the best option for fish fries! Here they are unable to take off the skin, so I do not use them in fish fries or fingers. Paturi can be done with what we get as boneless here! Because Sea Bass is too popular here, almost a best seller; they are found too fresh! Paturi is wrapping the marinated fish piece in banana leaves, tied & cooked in minimal oil, covered, at minimal heat until on both sides the leaves get a burnt look! This feature was done back in January, the son was home for three weeks & mumma had to feed him this! BHETKI PATURI was the star item on his rice feeding ceremony, every guest including the family members loved it; the catering was done by a family friend kind of who used the best quality fish! All are there, except our son's "Smiling Buro"; we did not wish to lose our father this soon! Then, people die young too. No one knows whats tomorrow; better we eat, love, enjoy! As of now this non-vegetarian, fish, seafood recipe should we concentrate upon!

On that day, I cooked a prawn curry & an egg drop curry too!

INGREDIENTS :

SEA BASS / BHETKI FISH FILLET : 7-8 [USE BONELESS]

BLACK MUSTARD : 4-5 TBSP

SHREDDED COCONUT : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

GREEN CHILLI : 6-7 + 1 EACH FOR EACH FISH PIECE

ICE CUBE : 2-3

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

BANANA LEAF : SQUARED PIECES AS REQUIRED TO WRAP EACH PIECE OF FISH

THREAD TO TIE

OIL : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP + 2-3 TBSP [WE ALWAYS USE MUSTARD OIL]

PROCEDURE :

The boneless fish steaks should be washed thoroughly after getting rid of the scales. We would then marinate them well with turmeric & salt, as required! We would keep the bowl aside for 15-20 minutes!

I usually soak the mustard seeds in water for an hour or two; wash them taking in a strainer & add to the blender. To it I add some salt, the green chillies & 2-3 ice cubes & a little of water; then blend! This way, the paste would not turn bitter!

Once the spice paste is ready, we would add it to the fish pieces, along with the shredded coconut, oil [mustard oil works the best]! We would mix well & keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

We would wash the squared cut banana leaves, wipe dry, hold on top of the lighted gas burner for sometime! They get ready to be used!

We are to place a fish piece in the middle & cover with the spice paste well; place a green chilli on top [optional]. We would wrap & tie each one, making sure there are no tear!

Cristine does this part with expertise!

We would add some oil to the wok & heat it! We would place the wrapped fish pieces & cover! In my case, each side required 15-20 minutes to be done at minimal heat!