Believe me when I say that this lebu pata die bhetki macher paturi recipe is so damn good that I couldn’t even wait to take pictures of the finished product. They were all gone within 15 minutes of cooking. And that’s saying a lot because I am a food blogger; prioritizing photography over eating is what I do.
Bhetki macher paturi is nothing new to us Bengalis, and every Bengali family has its own recipe. Paturi is not a recipe that needs to be updated and I am not suggesting that you change it at all. What I am, however, suggesting is that you just add lime leaves the next time you make paturis. Adding gondhoraj lime leaves, or kaffir lime leaves, or regular lime leaves elevates this dish to another plane. If you cannot find fresh lime leaves. Amazon sells dried kaffir lime leaves. They don’t go bad and smell as good.
Pro tip: If you don’t have banana leaves, you can also use cabbage leaves for rolling paturi. Follow this recipe for details.
If you cannot find bhetki, use basa or tilapia or cod. Literally any flaky white fish will do.
Lebu Pata die paturi
Ingredients
- 500 grams fish filets
- 4 tbsp poppy seeds
- 4 tbsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
- 4 green chilies, plus extra for folding
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup mustard oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 10-12 lime leaves
- salt to taste
- 2 banana leaaves
Instructions
- Add poppy seeds, mustard seeds, coconut, green chilies, and 1/4 cup water to a grinder and grind to as smooth a paste as possible.
- Add coconut marinade to cleaned fish fillets, add salt, and mustard oil and let sit for 30 minutes.
- Lightly heat the banana leaves over an open flame. This will make the leaves more pliable and easy to fold. Cut banana leaves into required number of pieces making sure they are large enough to hold the individual fillets.
- Arrange a fish fillet on a banana leaf, drizzle some mustard oil, add a few strips of lime leaves, and one whole green chili. Fold as shown in the video or use kitchen twine to tie the leaves.
- Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan. Arrange the folded paturis making sure not to crowd the pan. Fry on one side for 5-6 minutes. Flip and fry on the other side for 3-4 more minutes. You can alternately steam the paturis for 20 minutes using a double boiler.
Dhrubaa Mukherjee--An academic by profession, a contributor to Huffington Post, a dancer by passion, a compulsive foodie, a former flight attendant, and a constant traveler, I am, what they call, a transnational gourmand (gourmet?). I am not only fascinated by the tastes, colors, textures and aromas of food, I am equally intrigued by the histories, traditions and cultural inter-junctions that drive/influence recipes.
I made it with Salmon and Kaffir lime leaves and it turned out great! Thank you for the mouthwatering recipe!!