Mustard Fish:The Fire Within
Maunika and Kainaz
Kainaz and Kalyan
This Sunday was eventful.The Knife cooked a special Bengali meal for Maunika Gowardhan,a celebrity chef and blogger from UK.Maunika is glamorous and gorgeous and wows Britain with her traditional Indian cooking.None of the cliched "Indian food" for her.She serves Sambhar in shot glasses with Mini Idlis and Mishti Doi in ramekins with passion fruit compote.Recently she toured Goa and Sindhudurg.She caught crabs and then made a curry.She helped cook food for a wedding in Malvan.That's Maunika Gowardhan for you! Someone who left a successful corporate career to follow a path her heart told her to.She is private chef to celebrities whom I cannot name.All I can say is that some of them are footballers in England.I sure hope she gets her own TV show,she has the talent!
Banu
It was a Sunday spent discussing food and books and books on food.
It's a good thing having friends who cook.I do too but by no stretch of imagination could I call myself a chef! Kalyan cooks well.He was assisted by his sous chef Banu.Of all the dishes they made, I liked the Doi Poshto Ilish the best.
It's a good thing having friends who cook.I do too but by no stretch of imagination could I call myself a chef! Kalyan cooks well.He was assisted by his sous chef Banu.Of all the dishes they made, I liked the Doi Poshto Ilish the best.
Best Buddies...Kalyan and Ranjit
Ilish is a freshwater fish.Most of you might know it as Hilsa.It has a number of bones and it's amazing how Oh Calcutta serves Smoked Hilsa,in a boneless version! Doi Poshto Ilish is made with curds,poppy seeds and mustard seeds.The predominant flavor was the mustard...pungent but thrilling! Made the dish come alive!
Was jolly glad when Kalyan gave me some spice mixtures(Cook Me) from Kolkata.One was that of Shorshe Bata or Mustard Paste....a mixture of white and black mustard.All we had to do was to mix it with water,saute fish and add the mixture and cook.Voila!
A fish curry was ready in no time! Made it with Parshe or Boi,a fresh water fish.The zinginess of the mustard pepped up the lunch.Shorshe Bata is a dish of importance.The seeds have to be ground to the right amount else the dish turns bitter.Prospective brides in Bengal had to make this dish to prove their excellence in cooking.Various fishes can be used:Rui,Ilish or Parshe.It's a dish that provides the good fat omega 3 fat in abundance as it is present in fish and mustard seeds.Here's to Mustard Fish and the fire within!
Comments
I had always thought of the dish that i cooked as 'doi posto' ilish - curd and poppy seeds with mustard as an after thought...your reaction was very interesting as it mad me realise how powerful and domineering mustard can be...a bit like Mamata Banerjee? :)
What your post doesn't mention is how sweetly you helped us clean up including helping K wash the dishes. It was really helpful with banu taking an off the next day. Indebted to you for that :)