A FISH FRY OR FINGER IS MUCH LOVED!
I had almost all the varieties any Bengali would; Fish Orly, Fish Butter Fry, Fish Finger, Fish Fry! Ain't they were born of the of the 200 years of colonial influence of 200 years on us? I do not much understand the difference between the Fish Orly & Fish Butter Fry, I find them both a bit oily; fond of fish fry and 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 conditioned with the warnings since a young age about poor quality fish fillet being used, I feared buying 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 it's fish quality ain't good! 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 who got overweight eating out often! This time, I have no fascination towards outside food whilst in Kolkata, except for a good sweets! I was content buying fish & vegetables and getting our mother cooking for me! Not really, I want to cook, she does not let.
OUR SUNDAY MENU WAS FLAT AND SIMPLE!
Last Saturday, I did not cook, 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 clean 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 nice that she kept for us MAJA BLANCA, she makes the dessert pretty well. On this day, I do like the milk-cornflour-corn kernel dessert!
For our lunch; we had few vegetarian dishes and a dried fish bharta! I felt T deserved something more for lunch & I was unwilling to wash a lot of utensils or paste ginger in Cristine's absence. I cooked an egg curry in a small pot using sliced onion, whole garlic & few spice powders. Egg is way better than the smelly sea fish varieties!
That is my Sunday lunch thali, we are no more into an elaborate lunch platter on a Sunday as per the Bengali ritual. If I could show you how happy T looked happy finding two yolks in his egg, thats a rare case!
Our Sunday dinner was simpler with Khameri Roti and eggplant-tomato sabzi!
This little of 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 having banana with maja blanca dessert was a pleasure!
I make the explanation easy, fried fish is mach bhaja to me and fish fry do I mean the breaded FISH FRY! Most Bengali would refer the same! These days I make them fresh, good & way tastier than a store bought one. The way I double marinate them, shops may not. 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 the Long John Silver, Chick-a-Boo, also liked it 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 two days back the daughter-in-law took our mother to the doctor with much of care, I should not! I am pretty disturbed with something, I had something good to gift the earth but I do not know where to start from. I 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! Here we do not get skinless sea bass, I was in Kolkata and got precept perfect Bhetki / Sea-Bass. Instead of bread crumb I used crushed toast biscuits, Kolkata stalls uses the later!
INGREDIENTS : [for the Bengali Style Fish Fry]
Boneless Fish Fillet : 6-8 [I used fresh Sea-Bass fillets]
Lemon Juice : 1/2 small tea cup
Ginger Extract : 2 tbsp
Garlic Extract : 3 tbsp
Ginger Paste : 1 tbsp
Garlic Paste : 2 tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1 tsp + 11/2 tsp
Chopped Green Chilli : 2 tbsp [optional]
Bread Crumbs : 200 gm {I used biscuit crumbs]
Refined Flour : 1 small 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!
We would wash and marinate the fish fillets with lemon juice, ginger and garlic pastes, crushed 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 extracts 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 mango-mustard sauce is the best pair with it, however you can serve it with your choice of sauce & salad!
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