SHEEM BEGUN ALOO DIYE BHOLA BHETKI
A FISH CURRY OF CHOICE, A DAL, A VEGETARIAN DISH, SOME PAKORA, A SWEET CHUTNEY; THATS HOW I WANT MY MEALS TO BE!
The main among these for the maximum of the Bengalis would be the fish curry and that is where I fail; I hardly get my choice of quality & variety of fish here! I could not get away with my habit of having fresh water fish even after living for a decade in this seaside! Whilst many Bengalis visit Digha, Puri, Mandarmoni to have deep fried sea fish in the evenings, I continue to remain a stupid! Pomfret managed a royal status from a non-entity in the late 80's, and a few other sea fish varieties sneaked into the Kolkata fish markets; I wish I did not have to see this! Such scenes make me sad, we have to accept that with time people's taste buds would travel to different directions. It is also not wise to stick to old habits totally! With the rest of the things with regards to cooking Bengali, I can create almost all of the Bengali dishes I grew up eating! Okay, we do not get water lily / shapla here, my family has good recipes with it; shapla / shaluk! I doubt how many Bengalis suffer from such nostalgia, I see the Bengalis in West Bengal do not crave for shapla / shaluk, echor, mocha, kochur spring bhaja; all you see is people running for either Oriental food or Biryani or Kebab or Lasagne! You have to traverse to the interiors of Bengal to see what actually is Homely Bengali Food!
I STAYED IN DUMDUM FOR 19 LONG YEARS & DUMDUM BAZAAR SOLD SHAPLA-SHALUK TO GERI-GOOGLI!
I have a tremendous wish to blog about some recipes with Water Lilies; not even the Bengali vendors here get those for us! My young adult baby & his Babai do not bother about all these, the senior would say those "NRIs who make it a point to wear "dhoti-panjabi" during Durga Puja are in constant fear to prove themselves, I do not have to prove or show anything, I know I am a Bengali"! The son being the present generation kid, the world is his home! Mumma is not bothered much if he does not eat Garui er Dal with shapla / shaluk, Mumma only thinks if he does not marry a Bengali or at least an Indian, nothing of his culture, language would get restored in his family; the thought worries me to the core! Even that Agnipriya wears a saree during our biggest festival and arranges for a panta bhaat feast at home! Then, I saw in the Didi No.1show, how a bride from the West left her country and stays not in Kolkata but in the places like Chandannagar, Chuchura! Even we might be going for a day tour to those places, buy sandesh and then come back to the city! Anyway, at this time I am more concerned about the bowels not getting clear this morning, last night I skipped the salad part, hence!
I really do not know why I am this much into rustic Bengali Food, why I have no urge to maintain a status! But yes, I absolutely dislike those who fail to maintain minimal decorum in public, trigger controversy often! Even in private, I would avoid such people and my child would learn mumma tried to remain honest beyond the social media! Mumma is also trying not to overload herself with too much of food! We were in the Tekka Market & Mustafa area today as someone ordered mutton tomorrow, we had to buy few stuffs for us too! I had a bowl of Idli Podi, the podi masala was tasteless! May be because the ginger tea had overdose of milk or because I tasted a bit of sour skinned dosa from Cristine, I got acidity! I never thought, bowel movement would get this important in my life, more than romanticising with the abstract in my head!
This lady got older, she takes her steps carefully, I walked until Potong Pasir and took a train from there! I finished buying flowers for my God Family and the lamb from Osman, started walked towards the Mustafa Centre and then called Cristine to join me! In that time she finished her cleaning job at home, took the MRT to meet me! Back home she cleans, washes, dresses the fish, meat, vegetables! Maam just takes a relaxing shower! This is the reason why I do not mind having food from Cristine's plate, how hygiene conscious you are is my concern! Where from Indian helps would know it; they are poor & uneducated! See how I enjoy clicking the greens amidst the concrete! One day, we have to leave this safe country!
I had an Idli Podi because I had the plan to have "muri-jilipi-cha" back home! I would buy 3-4 jilipi once every month!
At night, I would have a little of Brown rice-Quinoa mix, palong shaak er ghonto & peyaz-mushur dal, salad! No, I do not eat right! I do what makes me happy! We dropped off at the station, Cristine went home & I headed to my hair parlour, 15$ was my limit to feel good and I was charged 12$ today, felt happy with the layers! I would never go for a 88$ rebonding just anytime! T knows that, I am happy baby has learnt to manage finance!
WHAT IS SHEEM BEGUN ALOO DIYE BHOLA BHETKI?
There is confusion with it's English name; let me stick to "Indian Jew Fish", wiki also is calling it "Pama Croaker"! I too felt it belongs to the yellow croaker family! My beloved Bhola Bhetki is not yellow croaker but one from the croaker family and we siblings started loving it from day one of it coming to our home from the DumDum market! It used to come in winter and that curry with fresh coriander paste or a dry curry with onion paste have my heart! I want it every week but the supply got irregular post the pandemic! Today, I got them from an Indian fish store. But they are really small sized, T would get upset, I have my excuse, "Bossy, I cannot tolerate the smell of Sardine, King Fish, Gurjali, Mullet"! What to eat if I cannot stay without fish for long? Here is how I cooked a much loved fish variety with my choice of vegetables, in a curry base I immensely love! I named this gluten-free fish curry appropriately as SHEEM BEGUN ALOO DIYE BHOLA BHETKI! Yup, I know there is a 9th August, 11th August, and yet something next; all in a row!
BHOLA BHETKI / PAMA CROAKER / INDIAN JEW FISH : 6-7 [DO NOT BUY THEM TOO BIG]
POTATO : 1 STANDARD SIZED
EGGPLANT : 1 MEDIUM SIZED
HYACINTH BEAN : 5-6
GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 2 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 1/2 TSP
GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP
NIGELLA SEED / KALOJEEREY : 2-3 PINCH
BAY LEAF : 1
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 6-7 TBSP
PROCEDURE :
This fish variety is scaly, it takes time to clean them! Make sure you clean the scales & the stomach well! Wash thoroughly under running water!
I prefer buying them small sized, cook keeping them whole! If I buy bigger sized as per family's choice, I would make two or three pieces from each! Cristine takes this hassle!
After the wash, we would marinate the fish with salt & turmeric! Keep them aside for about 15 minutes!
We would peel the potato, wash & cube; cube the eggplant, wash! Each of the hyacinth bean we would half & wash, do not forget to throw it's fibre from the side! We would marinate all of the vegetables with a little of salt & turmeric!
In a bowl, we would take together the cumin+coriander+red chilli+a little of turmeric powders+salt +the ginger paste; add 2 tbsp of water and mix well!
We would heat the oil in a wok, fry the fish pieces lightly discarding the marinade and take out.
We would temper the remaining oil with the nigella seeds & the bay leaf! We would add the spice paste to it and stir fry at minimal heat for a minute!
We would add the marinated potato & hyacinth beans and stir cook at minimal heat for 2-3 minutes. We can add just a little of water [bati dhoya jol] at this point!
After stirring further for a minute, we would add 2 coffee mugs of water to the wok and cover cook at minimal to low heat for 3-4 minutes!
We would remove the cover, add the eggplants, fried fish, the washed and slitted green chillies, cover cook at low heat for 3-4 minutes! If we need, we can add a little more water in the process!
We should be done, the fish curry is ready to be had with rice! You can see, I also cooked a roasted moong dal with hyacinth bean & radish; a raw jackfruit curry!
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