Monday, September 3, 2012

FRIED BATA FISH IN MODIFIED BESARA SPICING

It has been ages since I could open my blog or yours, thanks to the very slow Internet deep in side Sahara deserts. Back home on a short vacation and trying to make up in kitchen and reading missed blogs. 
Fish is a staple diet for most bongs. Hence trying to make up for the fish I did not get to eat. Only fish I got to eat in the desert were shrimps, some fish stakes, flown in from the  Mediterranean  coast, 1800 KM away
This fish, Bata is one of my favorites . It is small and extremely bony but very tasty . I decided to try a fried version with a very well known spicing of Odisha , called the Besara. 
THE RECIPE.
 The besara is cooked with vegetable or a combo of vegetables, fish or dry fish. The spicing is simple . a combination of cumin and mustard paste and a sour note is added through dried raw mango ( called ambula or amsi) , very sour lime or tomato. Traditionally it is dried mango . This is a temple version without garlic or onion and tomato is also not permitted in temple version. Green chili,, red chili powder and turmeric is used as usual.
In a non vege version ( with or without fish) , garlic paste is added to the spicing . The final product will have a curry consistency and may be runny. Here I have dried up the spice to stick to the fish.
INGREDIENTS 
Bata fish ( any fish , small or big will do ) 2 pcs cut to half 
cumin powder 3 tsp
mustard seeds 4 tsp wet ground and filtered 
garlic 6 cloves  paste 
Red chili powder (hot) 1 tsp or more 
green chili 4 
Turmeric powder 1 tsp.
Tomato , one medium , grated to a pulp.
Mustard oil ( preferred) or any other oil 

PROCEDURE 
Marinade the fish in turmeric and salt, keep aside for 30 min.

 ( The lioness share is on the left and the lions share ( the tiny one) is to the right )

Shallow fry the fish to brown on both side. ( one can use raw fish if a Besara curry is made). I like it surface fried and bit hard fried.



Mix the cumin,  chili , turmeric powder, garlic and mustard paste , with 5-7  tbsp water and set aside.
Add 3 tbsp fresh oil or the left over oil from fish frying and heat
Add tomato pulp and fry for few minutes,




 then add the spice mix, green chili  and salt. 


Immediately add the fish , mix , lower heat and cover.

Stir gently from time to time. When the oil starts to come out , remove from heat .



Serve with steamed rice. 

As mentioned earlier, you can make a runny curry ( Jhol ) with all types of vegetables and dried mango as souring agent ..kokum or sour lime is also good . 



17 comments:

Akila said...

After a very very long time I am seeing a post from you... This looks so great n tempting... N today I too have posted fish recipe...

Jaya M said...

Is it me first here? :-)..anyways soo good to see this space active again..and Bata fish ki boli r ..eto khete iche hoche, bojhte he parchen..acha ami kothao shune chilaam jey Bata fish hoye kids Rui mach, jokhon rui mach choto obeshtha te thakhe , full grown noye ..eyi ta ki theek? ..and eyi moshla is very similar to the moshla my grandmother used to make with "kancha ilish" steamed version ..and moshla te kancha lonka dito laal lonka noye..but this looks soo delicious..regards and bhalo thakben Ushnish Da..

Unknown said...

Masala fried bata machh bhaja ta dekhei khete ichha korchhe. Eta gorom bhater sathe ekdom perfect...

My Experiments with Food said...

Good to see you back Ushnishda!
My husband prepared fried fish at home a couple of weeks back. I am going to show him your recipe now. Both my husband and I were raised as vegetarians and cooking meat / fish does not come naturally to us.
Hope you are able to blog more while on vacation!

Shobha said...

How nice to see you back in action ..
I always try out your recipes and this one looks so yummy .. tempting me to cook it right away.
I will make it this week-end.

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

glad to see you back... I love sorisha fish! My favorite any time...

Shri said...

Good to see you back Ushnishda! Bata is sardine right?
We have not had this for many years!
Perfect with rice!

Chitra said...

Nice post.a visual treat for non-veg lovers :)

Sanoli Ghosh said...

Absolutely delicious! Eto bhalo bata mach dekhlei jive jol ese jay....kintu ekhane to paoya jay na, ki r kori. Thanks for returning back to blogging world. Ami majhe majhei apnar recipe try kori, asadharon! Pls visit my space, if your time permits..
http://sanolisrecipies.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Inviting Yummy fish fry...first time to ur space...Hapy to follow you:)

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

welcome back to blogging...nice to see your lipsmacking post again..:)

Tasty Appetite

Hamaree Rasoi said...

I am geared up for some delicious fish recipes from your kitchen...I liked the fact that you dried the curry ar ekdon makha makha korlen...

Rwitabhadra Chatterjee Dasgupta (RITZ) said...

Really loved the recipe !!! Shall give it a try soon, and let you know how it turned out.

lubnakarim06 said...

That's an extremely new version of fish recipe....sounds yum....

Priya Suresh said...

Mouthwatering here, irresistible.

Arti said...

Now this is not fair, back with a recipe after such a long time and that a non veg one :(

Welcome back, Ushnish Da! Enjoy your India break, but we are not letting you go anywhere without a recipe for veggies too... it always feels so wonderful to learn something from you.. Please do keep posting, you and your recipes are missed. :)

arundhati mishra said...

USNISH DA,
(I took this liberty myself to call u this way, hope u don't mind)
ya thanks for the reply, i was overwhelmed. ya actually we had been to Bergamo in 2008 and i 'd liked it most out of all other tourist places we have visited some of which are common in your list..you know your current porta cabin reminds me of my husband's stay in abdalli border here when he used to work for snamprogeti, eni group....and his sense of humor and habits quite resemble to that of yours ..that is why your blog attracted me so much..given a chance he would also quit every thing to travel and explore all over the world and test all types of cuisine.