Bangladeshi traditional food is all about fish curry, spicy dishes, and full of fresh ingredients. There's a proverb in our native Bangla saying, "মাছে ভাতে বাঙালি", which means "Bengali of fish and rice". It's because our major meal is rice-based and we love to have different curries, especially fish curry & gravy with our rice. From our daily cooking to any festive food, fish is a must.
Today I'm gonna share with you one of our traditional way of cooking fish. I choose 'Pabda fish', which is a sweet water fish with extremely flavourful flesh. This fish has one large bone in the middle and some tiny bones along the belly. So, you may not be able to enjoy it with a fork and spoon but hands.
Let's see what we need?
| Number | Ingridents | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Pabda Fish | 250gm |
| 2. | Onion slices | 150gm |
| 3. | Cilli slices | 3 pieces |
| 4. | Cumin | Half tea spoon |
| 5. | Tomato | 1 piece |
| 6. | Salt, Turmeric Powder, Red chili powder, vegetable oil | As needed |
This is an easy curry recipe, doesn't require many ingredients nor it takes much time to cook.
So, let's jump into how we can prepare this dish!
Step 1.
Wash the fish properly. It has a slimy texture on the skin, so rub and wash it with cold water.
I use a kitchen scissor to cut the belly and cut off the fins of the fish.
Step 2.
Cut the onion, chili, tomato to add with the curry.
Step 3.
Put vegetable oil in a pan and add the onion slices. After frying it for a minute, add other ingredients.
Here I use one of our traditional cookware, which is iron made; healthier than non-stick pans.
Step 4.
After the onion turned golden brown, add cumin seeds, turmeric and chili powder, salt, green chili, and tomato slices with it.
Step 5.
Add a small amount of water and cook it for a minute.
Step 6.
It's time to add the fish. Flip them gently because this fish is very soft, will break down easily.
Step 7.
Add a cup of water to make a nice gravy. Put the lid on and cook it for 10-15 minutes.
Step 8.
Remove it from the pan and it's ready to serve.
Isn't it look gorgeous?
We usually enjoy this curry with steamed rice, with some vegetables or lentil curry. Sometimes we add vegetables with the fish curry too. You can add eggplant, potato, or any other vegetable if you want.
Here's how we serve it.
Fish curry is very soft, delicate in flavor, and good going with rice. It's far better than red meat or any kind of meat in general. Because it's full of protein and other nutritions as well.
In rural areas of Bangladesh, you will hardly find anyone who eats meat twice a week. One reason is, our country is full of freshwater sources, which means full of freshwater fishes. But another reason is, it's our soul food, people feel comfortable eating this on daily basis.
I hope you enjoyed my recipe. You can try the same recipe with any kind of freshwater fish, I hope you wouldn't be disappointed by the taste.
