Bengali Fish Fry

Bengali Fish Fry 

The Bengali fish fry is this crunchy breadcrumb coated delicious snack. Served with the piquant Bengali mustard sauce 'kasundi' and some thinly sliced cucumber and onions this makes for a superb snack.

To be fair the fish used in this recipe plays a major role. So yes, Bhetki aka Barramundi is irreplaceable for the Bengali fish fry.
I prefer my fillets to not be too thin or too thick so usually I purchase a 1kg to 1.5 kg Bhetki and then get about 16 fillets from it.


Serves 4 to 5 people

9 fillets (Bhetki/Tilapia) weighing 370gm  in total
2 tsp thick smooth garlic paste (Garlic paste can be smooth and watery or thick and smooth,  I used a number of garlic cloves to make it thick an smooth)

Juice of  1 Tbsp ginger paste 

Approximately 2 tsp onion paste which must be extremely smooth
2 tsp green chili coriander leaf paste  

Salt as per taste 

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 

For the dipping batter
1 cup gram flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1tsp
Sufficient water to make it to a dripping consistency

3  cups bread crumb

Mustrad oil for frying 

Marinate the fillets for about 1 hour to 2 hours
Make a smooth batter -  If the batter if too thick it does not coat the fish well and the coat keeps coming off from the fish .
Dunk the fillets in the batter and then pat it with  breadcrumb making sure the breadcrumbs coat the fillets without leaving any spots. 

Important tip :-

1. If you use high heat while frying the fish easily becomes blackened on parts which is unwanted. 
2. Make sure you keep changing the oil when there is some residue at the bottom of the wok. In my experience this prevents the fish from crisping up. I do not know why this happens though.

Enjoy this lovely snack with some Bengali mustard base condiment (Kasuni)  onion rings 

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