West Bengal is the queen of seafood and there is no dearth of classic recipes to try your hands on. When you think of Bengali food, the first thing that comes to mind is Machh. Though Ilish or Hilsa get full marks when it comes to taste, bhetki fish is not far behind when it comes to its versatility of preparations in Bengali cuisine.
Bhetki fish has fewer bones and is easier to prepare. The bhetki fish fillet is a good way of enjoying any Bengali fish preparation, especially when you are not too confident about how to eat a fish with a lot of bones.
Here is a fried Bhetki fish recipe to savour in your next meal. It is a quick recipe that you can prepare with limited basic ingredients and don't need anything fancy except for a good fresh fish fillet.
Ingredients ●
500 gms Bhetki fish fillet
Ingredients for the marinade: ●
1 small onions
●
6 cloves of garlic
●
1 cup chopped coriander
●
1 lemon juice
● 1 inch ginger peeled ● 2 green chillies (less or more as per your taste) ● Salt to taste
Ingredients for the batter ● 1 cup maida ● Salt to taste ● ½ tsp black pepper powder ● ½ tsp red chilli powder ● ½ tsp haldi ● ½ cup milk ● ½ cup soda water ● 2 tsp hot water
● 1 tsp baking powder ● Oil for deep frying Method ● Grind all the ingredients for marination. Clean and cut the bhetki fillet in 2”x2” size or as desired. ● Marinade the fish in the paste and keep aside for 1 hour. ● For the batter, mix all the ingredients and check the seasoning. You might need a whisk to make it into a smooth paste. ● Heat oil in a Kadhai, keep a plate ready with parchment paper or tissue paper to soak excess oil. ● Dunk the marinated bhetki fish fillet in the batter, making sure the fish is fully covered with it. Pat the excess batter from the side of the bowl and leave the fish in the hot oil. ● Let it fry from one side and then use a perforated spatula to turn it over. Reduce the gas/heat at this point and let it brown from both sides. ● Once it gets a crisp texture and golden brown colour, take it out of the kadhai and leave it on the tissue paper to remove excess oil. ● Pair it with mint chutney or Bengali Kasundi to enjoy the crispy hot fish! Don’t be afraid to add some personal touch to the recipe if you wish. You can play around with the flavours as long as the marinate consistency is maintained.