Patrani Machhi...Parsi cousin of the Bengali Paturi

Fish fillet marinated in spices, wrapped in an envelop of Banana leaf and steamed or baked.

To a Bengali the spice would be predominantly Mustard paste while to a Parsi it would be a green chutney consisting of predominantly coriander leaves, pudina, coconut. 

The end result? Either a Bong Paturi or a Parsi Patrani Machchhi...both favourite, subtly flavoured fish delicacies of the respective communities.

Of course, while the Paturi is made of Bhetki or Hilsa, the Patrani Machchhi is made of Pomfret, Rawas, as far as I know.

The Bong me, this morning, wanted to try her hand at making her favourite paturi's Parsi cousin.

Internet came to my rescue and I followed this Parsi recipe from Devaki's Weave a Thousand Flavors. 

The changes I made due to availability/non-availability - For my Patrani Machchhi, I used Bhetki, freshly grated coconut, desi green chilies but it was sans pudina as I did not have the herb at home.

Ingredients : yielded approximately 24 pieces of fish

Bhetki fillet - approx 600 gms (since I had no plans of making patrani machchi, I had marinated the fish with ginger, pepper and salt)

** Dry grind spices: Jeera / cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1.5 tsp ,
Fenugreek/Methi - 1/2 tsp ,
Mustard seeds - 1.5 tsp

Dry grind all the above ingredients in the coffee grinder to a fine powder. Add to the ingredients of coconut chutney (given below) to make the chutney.

Coconut Chutney: Grated coconut - 1 cup ( I used half a coconut),
Ginger - 1” piece,
peeled garlic - 3-4 cloves ,
Green chilies (depending on tolerance to heat) - 2, 

Kashmiri mirch powder - 1 tsp (not in original recipe)
fresh cilantro leaves - 1 cup (+ ¼ cup mint leaves - did not use),
sugar - 1 tsp ,
salt - 1-1/2 tsp ,
Dry roasted (instead of raw) peanuts - 1 tbs &
tamarind paste-2 tbs
**Dry ground spices from above,

1/2 cup water (more only if required)

4-6 inch wide pieces (approx square ) banana leaves , 24 nos ( I needed 3 medium sized banana leaves) to wrap fish
toothpicks

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F/175-180 deg C

2. Fish – Cut the fillet into approx.2"x3" sized pieces. Rubbed with salt  and pepper (not mentioned in original recipe) 

3. Prepared the Coconut chutney by blending all the ingredients in a grinder to make a thick pesto like fine paste. The mixture should be of thick consistency.
5. Marinade: Apply the chutney all over the fish on both sides. Marinate 4-5 hours. (I had time for only 1 hour marination)




Method:

1. Wash and dry the surface of the banana leaf . Apply oil on the surface of each leaf. Cut the banana leaf into approx. 4"x6" pieces 

2. Place each fish fillet in the center of a piece of banana leaf so the fish is parallel to the seams in the leaf. Cover generously with the marinade. 

3. Fold over on both sides and then fold over the ends ad seal with one/more tooth pick

4. Place the fish parcels on a baking tray. 'Bake' for 20 minutes in the preheated oven at 170-180 deg C.

5. Remove from the oven.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

Enjoy!

Cooking Her Own Harvest...

Alu Chaat (Spicy Potato Salad)

 My 7 year old was back from an outing to a vegetable farm! She was super excited and her most prized possession for the day was her precious bag full of fresh potatoes, other vegetables & cotton which she'd picked up / harvested herself! And she proclaimed that SHE & ONLY SHE would cook the potatoes and serve us!

And what would that be? Super confident after her debut as a masterchef just the week before with nothing less than SCRAMBLED EGGS, she proclaimed ALU CHAAT!!! I did a mental somersault in joy, thanking my lucky stars that she hadnt been too ambitious and opted for other lofty dishes!!!

So the potato harvester's recipe of Alu Chaat...

Ingredients for :

A) Potato Mash

8 medium-large sized potatoes

A bowl of Chhole - luckily it was readily available at home as when she announced her culinary plans for the day, the overnight soaked Kabuli Chana had been pressure cooked for our breakfast of Chana Masala!

very finely chopped onions - 1-2

rock salt

roasted jeera powder

chili flakes

Chaat masala

chopped green chilies (was not added today...for obvious reasons ;))

Chopped coriander

B) Tamarind chutney/water

2 tbsp of readymade tamarind paste or a 2" dia ball of tamarind soaked in water and made into a pulp

rock salt

roasted jeera powder

chili flakes

chaat masala

sugar - a little

a mug of water

Procedure :

1. Wash and pressure cook the potatoes after halving/quartering them. 2 whistles are enough. 

2. While the potatoes are being boiled, prepare the tamaring water (tetul jol/imli paani) by mixing all the ingredients under "B" with water.

3.Now coming back to the potatoes....Cool, dunk in cold water and peel the skin. Mash with hand or masher.

4. Mix the mashed potatoes with all ingredients (except chopped coriander) under "A".

5. Add the tamarind water / tetul jol to make a moist  spicy potato mash. Taste and adjust the other spices if required. 

6. Garnish with sev bhujia / crushed phuchka/paani puri's puri / cornflakes and then finally with chopped coriander leaves

The yummilicious ALU CHAAT was ready!! And what made it yummier was the fact that it was harvested and prepared (fully) by my little lady!

Tangy Herbalicious Prawns!!!

An impromptu recipe which I hope I can remember correctly! But actually there isnt much to remember in this recipe of Prawns except the fact that I dunked in a lot of fresh herbs into it and the final product reflected the freshness of herbs blended beautifully with the buttery fresh prawns with minimum spices....

Ingredients :

750gms cleaned shelled de-veined  prawns.

1 bowl full of chopped coriander and some (for garnishing)

1 bowl full of curry leaves

1 mmedium sized capsicum chopped
8-10 garlic cloves

1 diced onion & 1 finely  chopped onion
1 chopped tomato

freshly crushed peppercorns

chilli flakes

juice of 3 lemons

rock salt

a pinch of sugar
chopped green chillies & whole green chilies

potatoes cut as in french fries. 

white sesame seeds - 2-3 tbsp

rice flour (optional) - 2-3 tbsp
Oil
Tej Pata -1 

Procedure
Prawns :
1. Marinate the prawns in lemon juice, rock salt, crush pepper for 1/2 hr - 1 hour.
2. Lightly saute the prawns. Keep aside.
3. In a kadai / wok, heat oil and throw in a Tej Pata, a tsp of crushed pepper corns and finely sliced garlic cloves. Also add the diced onions & chopped onions and a pinch of sugar for caramelizing . Fry till the onions turn translucent.
4. Add the chopped capsicum and fry on medum to high heat.
5. Now add the 2 bowls of fresh herbs - curry leaves and  coriander leaves. Stir them around. The aroma of fresh herbs is mindblowing!!!!
6. Add the chopped tomato and stir it around on high heat.
7. Add rocksalt.
8. Now add the sauted prawns and add salt, pepper and chili flakes as per your taste.
9. Stir briskly on high heat till prawn is done but ensure it's not overcooked. Squeeze a lemon, mix it around and garnish with the leftover chopped coriander.

French Fries with a crunchy twist:
1. While frying and stirring the herby prawns, marinate the sliced potatos lemon juice, salt, chili flakes and (slightly moistened) rice flour and abot 1-1.5 tbsp white sesame seeds (Til) .
2. In a frying pan/wok, heat oil and fry the potatoes on medium to high heat.When it's almost done, sprinkle some more white sesame seeds on the almost-done-potatoes. To minimise oil consumption, while frying potatoes, the potato slices may be blanched followed by being chilled in freezer.

Serve the herbilicious prawns with rice and garnish with the crunchy crispy french fry kind of potato fries!!

"Bangali Begun PoRa Dhoney Paata Baata Diye"

A non-recipe.....Smoked (Burnt) Brinjal with Ground Coriander leaves

Disclaimer : Considering that although this is a dish prepared almost religiously at least once a week, I NEVER ever thought it could be categorised into a 'to be blogged' recipe...it's that simple and almost a zero-spice non-recipe.... and one more thing....it's DIFFERENT from Baingan Bharta!!!

This simplest of recipes reinforces and exemplifies the fact that Bengali cuisine is predominantly less on spice and the focus is more on retention of the authentic taste and flavour of the vegetables.


Well....Begun PoRa with Dhoney Paata Baata is a slice of my Mom/Grandmom's Saturday & Tuesday dinner menu....especially in winter when fresh green corianders leaves were in abundance.

I dont know why, but'Begun porano' i.e Brinjal Roasting was / is carried out ONLY on Tuesdays and Saturdays....and strangely, I too, despite claiming to be non-prejudiced and non-superstitious and logical minded, I too roast my brinjals on Tuesdays and/or Saturdays!

Well...now coming to the basics :

Ingredients :

For Begun PoRa or Roasted Brinjal :
One Big Fat shiny Brinjal
Mustard Oil - about 2-3 tbsp
Green Chilli - as many as you want
Salt
Onion chopped (optional)-I did not use.

For Dhonepaata Baata or Coriander leaves Ground / Paste :
Coriander leaves - 6-7 bunches  or one big colander full of chopped coriander
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Green chillies - as many as you want
Mustard Oil - 1 tsp

Procedure :
Begun PoRa / Roasted Brinjal
1.The Big Fat Brinjal needs to be slit (criss-cross) right upto the stalk. Please dont remove the stalk, it helps to hold it over the flame while roasting.
2. Smear the surface with Mustard Oil and Rub it all over.
3. Hold it over the flame and keep turning it around as the flame scorches and roasts the skin of the brinjal. The idea is to roast it uniformly all over.
4. A smoky aroma fills the surroundings. And the outer skin of the brinjal is black, charred and almost peeling off.
5. Poke the inner smoked flesh to ensure its softened uniformly.
6. Peel off the outer charred skin and mash the inner smoked brinjal flesh well after adding the requisite amount of salt, chopped green chillies and chopped onions (optional). I had only one green chilli @home, hence used chili flakes for spicing up my begun pora!

Dhoney Paata Baata / Coariander leaves ground/paste :

1. Chop a colander full of coriander leaves and wash them well. Also wash some green chillies.
2. Now make a paste of the chopped coriander leaves + green chilies.
3. Using a Shil Nora (grinding stone used in most Bengali kitchens) would be the best option to make this 'Baata' / Paste, but the chutney jar of the food processor is a more convenient option (at least in my kitchen).

4. In a wok/kadai, heat a teaspoonful of mustard (and ONLY mustard oil) till smoking hot and pour the watery coriander leaves+green chilli paste. Stir briskly on medium to high flame till the moistness dries off and the paste turns a moss green colour. It's no longer watery now.

The 'Begun PoRa with Dhoney Paata Baata' is ready to be mixed with rice and savoured. 

Try mixing only Dhoney Paata Baata with hot steamed rice....I could devour a plateful of this rustic rice-Dhoney Paata Baata mix!!!

Bhetki Hariyali

My Ma introduced me to this dish...she had first tasted it at a Wedding Feast (Biye Baari). She being the great cook she is, made this awesome fish preparation abiding by the instructions of her taste buds!

Much later, after marriage, when I was the one who had to do the cooking whenever friends or relatives came over, instead of just placing my 'order' to Ma, I improvised Ma's green fish recipe, made it microwaveable and hence easier, faster and hassle-free.

This dish has never failed to score brownie points whenever it has been on the menu when I entertained and its ease of preparation makes it one of my favourite recipes.

Ingredients:
A. For the marinade :
- Vinegar : 4-6 tbsp
- Ginger : 1tbsp
- Garlic : 3/4 tbsp
- Chilli flakes : 1 tsp (or depending on your spice preference)
- Black Pepper (freshly crushed) :1 tsp
- Salt : 1 tsp

B. Other Ingredients
- Bhetki fillet - 750gm
- Coriander leaves - 2-3 big bunches
- Green chillies (1 or 2)
- Pudina leaves - 1 small bunch
- Pearl onions - abt 10-15 (I didnt have pearl onion, so I used normal onions, diced)
- Cream - 2 tbsp (optional)
- Capsicum : 1 big or 2 small- diced

Procedure:-
Fish
- Mix all the items at 'A' of Ingredients to prepare the marinade
- Now marinate the washed and cleaned fish fillets. For my convenience, I marinate overnight and cook in the morning. In case of hurry, 1/2 hours marination is sufficient.
- Grill or pan fry the marinated fish fillets. (This is an optional step and may be skipped)

Green Sauce Paste :
- Wash and roughly chop the coriander and mint leaves.
- Put them in a Mixie. Add a dash of sugar and salt, one or two green chillies. Make a smooth paste.

Assembling to bake :
- In a non-stick pan, stir fry the pearl onion and diced capsicum
- In a microwave proof deep container, spray/smear some oil.
- Arranged a layer of the fried pearl Onion and capsicum (keep a small quantity aside) in the cooking container.
- Pour half the quantity of green sauce paste on the fried pearl onions.
- Arrange the grilled / fried fish pieces.
- Cover with the remaining green sauce paste.
- Garnish with the remaining sauted diced onion/pearl and capsicum and a dash of cream (cream is optional).
- Bake it in microwave mode for 7-10 minutes.
The fish is ready to eat.

Note: Sorry about the awful formatting in this post...Blogger has been extremely non-cooperative...So till I reformat this post, please bear with me...
I had forgotten to click a pic of the Pudina/mint leaves. And this picture was taken from Google images