Bangladesh: Bengali Fish Curry, Pumpkin Flower Pakoras Stuffed With Mango, & Aromatic Pulau Rice With Spices, Nuts & Raisins
Bangladesh is a country in South Asia which is officially known as the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It has a large maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal & shares land borders with Myanmar (Burma) & India. Bangladesh is probably better know for its food security issues & history of famine than for its fabulous food, but we found the Bengali cuisine to be fragrant, fabulous & delicious. In fact it was a huge success with all our dinner guests.
I loved the language in the original recipes & it inspired me to get a sense of how a cook or chef from Bangladesh might explain how to do something, so rather than erasing their words into a western way of describing their food I have left much of the language intact. I hope it inspires other western cooks to respect the many ways the people of the Globe view food & cooking, & to cook with courage & heart.
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Our Menu included:
Bengali Fish Curry,
Pumpkin Flower Pakoras Stuffed With Mango,
&
Aromatic Pulau Rice With Spices, Nuts & Raisins
Aromatic Pulau Rice With Spices, Nuts & Raisins
We served this meal with side-dishes of
sliced fresh red chilli, Papadums & Mango Chutney
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BENGALI FISH CURRY
Serves 6
Note: the spices in this curry are fragrant but not hot.
Ingredients
Spice mix:
·
3 teaspoons coriander seeds
·
1 ½
teaspoon cumin seeds
·
3 whole cloves
·
10 dried cardamom seeds
·
6 cm of cinnamon stick
Fish:
·
1 .2 kg or
6 fillets Mackerel or Mahimahi cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
·
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
·
1/2 teaspoon salt
·
3 tablespoons organic sesame oil
Sauce:
·
1 finely chopped red onion
·
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
·
2 garlic clove, minced
·
2 bay leaf
– sliced in chunks
·
3/4 cup water
·
1 ½
teaspoon salt
·
1 teaspoon sugar
·
1 ½ cup plain whole milk yoghurt
Garnish:
·
fresh cilantro / coriander
Side plate:
·
4 fresh red chilli sliced thinly; for those who like
food spicy to sprinkle on the fish
Method:
1.
To prepare spice mix, combine first 5 ingredients in a spice
or coffee grinder; process until finely ground.
2.
To prepare fish, combine cubed fish with turmeric and 1/2
teaspoon salt in a large bowl; toss well.
3.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over
medium-high heat.
4.
Add fish & cook 5 minutes or until fish is lightly browned
and flakes easily when tested with a fork (do not overcook). Remove from pa
5.
To prepare sauce, add onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until
tender.
6.
Add ginger, garlic, and bay leaf; sauté 2 minutes.
7.
Add ground spice mix; cook 2 minutes.
8.
Stir in water, 1 teaspoon salt, and sugar.
9.
Remove pan from
heat; & gradually stir in yoghurt.
Note: Slowly add the yoghurt to the sauce for smooth
results.
10.
Cook over low heat 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
11.
Return fish and accumulated juices to pan.
12.
Cook over low heat 5 minutes or just until heated.
13.
When ready to serve garnish with sprinkling of fresh
corinander
Recipe adapted from original found at:
PUMPKIN FLOWER PAKORAS STUFFED WITH MANGO
Ingredients:
·
12 pumpkin flowers
·
1/2 mild
onion – sliced very thinly
·
1 Mango – meat sliced into thin chunks
·
12 pumpkin plant tips
Batter:
·
1 egg
·
I pinch pink Himalayan sea salt
·
pinch cumin powder
·
I pinch coriander powder
·
I pinch dry ginger powder
·
1 pinch black pepper
·
1 pinch salt
·
I pinch asafoetida
• Oil for shallow frying – we used 150 ml organic sesame oil
Method:
1. We will take only Pumpkin flower’s petal. So remove rest
of part.
2. fill each flower with a teaspoon of sliced onion & a
slice of mango and fold the petals over to enclose the stuffing
3. to make batter place all dry batter ingredients in a bowl
then crack egg into the bowl & whisk until frothy
4. Heat the pan with oil on medium. When oil is ready, dip flowers into egg batter
& gently place in oil
5. Fry it till it becomes golden brown on one side then turn
over. When second side is browned scoop out fritters with a slotted spoon &
lay onto a plate lined with absorbent paper
6. now take the pumpkin plant tips & coat them with the
remainders of the batter mix & drop them one by one into the still hot oil.
fry pumpkin tips rapidly in oil then scoop out
7. Serve pumpkin flower fritters hot.
Recipe adapted from:
http://www.banglarecipes.com.au/kumra-fuler-bora/
AROMATIC PULAU RICE WITH SPICES, NUTS & RAISINS
Ingredients:
·
250 gm Basmati rice
·
3-4 cardamom
·
1 cinnamon stick
·
1 bay leaf
·
3-4 cloves
·
6-7 black pepper seeds
·
4 tsp ghee
·
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
·
1 tsp Salt
·
3 tsp sugar
·
50 gm Cashew nuts
·
50 gm Peanuts
·
50 gm Raisin
·
2 cups of water
Method:
1. Wash
the rice and drain water completely.
2. Heat
a pan and add ghee.
3. Let
the ghee get properly heated.
4. Fry
the peanuts, cashew nuts together
5. When
nuts begin to become brown & fragrant scoop them out of the ghee and keep
them aside.
6. Now
add rice to the pan & stir well so all the rice grains are coated with
ghee.
7. Add
turmeric powder, salt & mix everything together well with a wooden spoon.
8. Keep
stirring the rice in ghee until the rice colour changes,
9. add
fried nuts and raisins & stir & keep cooking
10.
add the water,
bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, sugar & black pepper &
gently bring to the boil stirring often to prevent rice from sticking
11.
Cover the pan with lid
12.
Turn heat down to low & cook covered for 10
minutes.
13.
Do not uncover pot from this time until ready to serve.
14.
After 10 mins turn off heat & allow covered pot to
sit on the cooling element for a further 10 minutes
15.
Before serving fold the rice over a few times with a wooden spoon to ensure it is
fluffy & all the spices are mixed through
16.
Use the cinnamon stick to garnish the dish
Recipe adapted from original found at:
Note:
Photo used under fair use laws sourced from:
https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/bengali-fish-curry/fb273bdf-c18a-4e66-9d2b-a78916769439
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