Bengalis and their dishes are famous for the variety of fishes they incorporate in their meals. For anyone who hears the term Bengal, the first word that comes to their mind is fish. A famous saying goes by “Mach a bhaat a bangali,” which means a Bengali is an authentic Bengali recognised by their habit of eating fish and rice. “Mach” means fish, and “bhaat” means plain rice. Different dishes made out of different fishes are a must when it comes to authentic Bengali dishes. Bhetki Paturi is one of the most commonly known fish dishes of Bengal. It is a preparation of steamed fish with mustard paste. The star ingredient is mustard paste. Bhetki Paturi is often consumed on special occasions or weekends when all the family gathers for lunch together.
Ingredients of Bhetki Paturi recipe:
- Bhetki fish fillet – 2 cut into small pieces
- Mustard paste – 5 tbsp
- Mustard oil – 3 tbsp
- Slit green chillies (equal amount to fish pieces)
- Banana leaves
- coconut paste – 4 tbsp
- Poppy seeds paste – 1 tbsp
- Sugar – 1/2 tsp
- Lemon juice – 1
- Salt to taste
Method to prepare Bhetki Paturi recipe:
- First, marinate the fish pieces with lemon juice and salt, and leave them for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, wash it off with fresh water.
- Place the fish pieces in a bowl, add all the spice pastes, salt and sugar, and marinade it well and leave it aside for 30 minutes.
- Wash the banana leaves and heat them over low flame for 10 seconds to make them soft. Then cut them into pieces, big enough to wrap the fish.
- Take a piece of the banana leaf and place the fish in the middle, with green chilli on top and wrap the banana leaf around the fish as an envelope. Repeat the same step for all the fish pieces.
- After that, heat a flat pan with 1 tbsp oil, place the fish envelops, and grill until the leaves are burnt. Burnt banana leaves mean that the fishes are well cooked.
- Take them off the pan, open the banana leaves and pour some mustard oil on top of the fish. And it is ready to serve.
NOTE – *Suggested to have with plain rice*
