Breadcrumb coated Fried fish

Breadcrumb coated Fried fish 

I come from a part of India where a piece of fish is almost compulsory with every principal meal except breakfast. Now to be honest I am not a fishoholic. I know there is no such word in the English dictionary but if selfie can become a word fishoholic is a perfect word to describe people who are obsessed with eating fish but then again I do love certain fish and Bhetki (a local fresh water fish with one single bone which is used for coated fries and curries ) is one of  my absolute favourite fish . Its probably the soft texture , the sweet taste and then of course there are memories attached to this fish.  Special occasion in a Bengali household would definitely mean Bhetki being served one way or the other. Usually India being the land of spices the breadcrumb coated fish fries served in Bengal have quite a sharp taste from the use of onion paste and ginger paste and garlic paste and green chilies but on an afternoon when I was dead tired and my best friend had come over I decided fries I would make but one that didn't need too much of work.

I must mention that I do enjoy the flavours of the ingredients I cook and so when I am cooking fish I do not mind the fishy smell. For me the idea of covering up its own flavours is not compulsory.

At first I had decided on the Classic British Fish n chips but without adequate all purpose flour at home I quickly changed it to breadcrumb coated fish fry since I had baked a sour cream bread a few days ago and when there is bread at home making breadcrumb doesn't take much time.

While many fish connoisseurs from the part of the world where I come from might not be too happy about the use of pork fat I decided on it because I read about beef dripping making Fish n chips tastier and so pork fat it was for my recipe but you can always leave that out. This breadcrumb coated fried fish along with a creamy homemade dip on a lazy Sunday afternoon with your best friend makes some great memories indeed.

So here is the recipe which serves 2 :-

I used two large fillets (say about 100gm per fillet)
I rubbed salt and freshly and finely ground black pepper on both its sides and marinated it for 1 hour

For the coating :-

1.5 cup of breadcrumbs (These cups hold 210ml of water)
1 egg whisked well
Salt and finely ground black pepper
All purpose flour for dredging the fillets , say a handful of it

Pork fat + vegetable oil for frying.

For the dip

2 tbsp sour cream
4 tbsp soft feta
1.5 tsp finely chopped jalapeno soaked in vinegar

Simply marinate the fish in salt and pepper and int he meanwhile make the bread crumb by preheating oven to 180 C and making small squares from your bread slices and baking them for 20 minutes. Turn them once after 10 minutes.

While it gets marinated make the dip by whisking soft feta , sour cream and then add the chopped jalapeno. You might add salt but I didn't need to since the soft feta had enough salt for my taste buds.

Now heat the vegetable oil with pork fat if using it or just the vegetable oil is not using pork fat. Don't let it smoke else your fish fry will turn black on the outside.

Now first dredge the fillets with all purpose flour and then dip it in the whisked egg and coat it well with breadcrumbs and then dip it in the egg again and finally coat well with breadcrumbs and fry on medium heat till its golden brown on both sides. Serve with the creamy dip.

Parmesan poached fish

Parmesan poached fish 

If you really are passionate about culinary topics you tend to pick up little tips here and there and from everywhere. It was on a lazy afternoon when I was watching TLC that I came across this fabulously simple Spanish dish for fish. Now TLC usually doesn't repeat the recipes in writing so I quickly noted down that all that one needed was a slab of fish which was poached in milk with fresh Parsley. Cut to May and it was on a happy Summer's morning when Calcutta had cooled down a teeny weeny bit from 40 C to 30 C after a 2 minute shower the previous night I was ready to stock my refrigerator in the morning. I have been wanting to have fish for the longest time and so I marched to the market and bought a nice bhetki out of which my fisherman sliced and made thick fillets. I immediately knew what I wanted courtesy TLC's Spanish fish recipe, sicne my fresh parsley had wrinkled up in this terrible heat I decided I would make my own dish. Back at home after a bit of cleaning of the home I was pretty hungry and so I wanted lunch. Well here is a recipe which takes 15 minutes and yields a fantastic dish indeed

Serves 1

100gm fish
230ml of milk (I used skimmed milk)
3 tbsp  Parmesan which has been freshly grated
1/2 tsp Freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1/2 an onion thinly sliced
1.5 large potato
Salt as per taste
1 tsp finely chopped cilantro

I will tell you what I did. So I popped the two large potatoes in the micorwave at 900W for 12 minutes and while it cooked I brought 230ml of milk to a boil and added some salt , the freshly curshed pepper and simply added my fish along with thinly sliced onions and thinly sliced garlic , poached it for 4 minutes on each side and then I took out the fish and switched off the gas stove. I peeled my potatoes and then sliced it in thin circular pieces, some crumbled but that's how it should have been in my mind. The idea was to have potatoes which weren't perfectly sliced but with a crumbly yet some whole circular pieces. I switched on the gas stove with the pan of milk and added the potatoes and brought it to a boil and simmered for 50 seconds and then drained it and put it on a plate and added the fish on top while the milk kept on simmering . I used 1.5 potatoes and reserved the rest since I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the entire bit. Now I added the grated Parmesan and Cilantro  to the simmering milk and whisked well to create a smooth thick sauce and topped my fish dish with the sauce and garnished with some cilantro. It was cheesy yet light and perfect for the summers yet it filled the stomach.