Do you love Bengali fish steak curries but feel intimidated to make one yourself? Do you believe that Bengali fish curries are complex recipes that belong only in grandmas’ kitchens? It is true that Bengali fish curries may seem daunting for many at first, especially if you live outside of India/Bengal, but trust me, they don’t have to be. The recipe I am sharing today is super easy. The ingredients are simple and common. If you have spent any time in the kitchen, you have cooked with these ingredients, no matter where you come from.
I have used Rui/Katla (rohu) fish steaks for this recipe. I just seasoned cleaned pieces of steaks with some salt and turmeric powder and shallow fried them in very hot mustard oil until golden. But you can use any fish you like. Salmon is a great choice for this dish.
Aloo phulkopi die maache
Fish steaks fried and cooked in a simple gravy made with tomatoes, cauliflower and potatoes.
For those of you uninitiated in Indian food, Kulfi is basically an ice-cream made with thickened milk and no eggs. Flavored with cardamoms and saffron, Kulfi is the most flavorful dessert I have ever had, and I have had a lot of desserts in my life. Just ask my weighing scale. The recipe is surprisingly…
Any Bengali with a teeny bit of sunlit space has a potted lime plant. We brighten up our dals with gondhoraj lime, we juice up a boring meal with a wedge of lime, and no bier bari (wedding) is complete without a side serving of nun lebu (salt and lime wedge). So, it’s a shame that lime…
First, my apologies for this long absence from my blog. Much of my time and energy over the last two months was spent on travel to and in India. My initial plan was to visit the popular food joints in the different cities that I was visiting (primarily Calcutta), and to recreate the recipes at…
Remember those big, round, gingery cookies that you get at the roadside tea-stalls in India? The ones that you dunk in tea and hold until they almost break? The ones that you get for a rupee each? These masala molasses cookies that my dear friend Kate made for me are exactly like that. Do try the…
Tadka is the most iconic dhaba dish of Kolkata with a history as elusive as its recipe. Kolkata dhaba style tadka, or “Torka” is basically the Punjabi ma ki dal or kaali dal recipe that has been heavily modified to cater to the famously discerning Bengali palate. Before the torka was invented in 1970s (most likely)…
It is sharat kal in Bengal now–a fleeting season after spring and before fall. A season of receding rains with the tranquil sun, blue skies speckled with nonchalant white clouds, air heavy with pollens, sideways sprinkled with shiulis and dried flower petals, and lakes and ponds encircled by kans grass–all of this occasionally ruined by begrudged…