We visited C R Park last Saturday to pick some fish as we do at least once in a month. However, Our Saturday visit was a bit special this time. It was our last visit there before shifting our base to Kolkata permanently next week. Hubby recently has opted for an overseas assignment. I and Pasta are shifting to Kolkata for now. We just have decided to celebrate our Sunday with some bong delicacy before leaving our small apartment! I love to purchase fish from C R Park market though Mehebub feels things are much expensive there and he is right though! A single Kola Pata (banana leaf) costs us 50 bucks! However, As I decided to make Bhetki Macher Paturi, we ended on purchasing the Kola Pata. Along with Bhetki, I took some Kajori Maach which is a bit rare fish these days!
Bhetki Macher Paturi; is one of my favorite fish preparation. This is a signature Bengali fish preparati0n where Bhetki Maach along with a paste of Mustard and Coconut wrapped in banana leaf and cooked in slow flame and the end result is melting in mouth Bhetki Macher Paturi.
Recipe for this quintessential Bengali dish varies very little family to family, however, there are few tricks that I learned from the Rannar Thakur (traditional Bengali professional cook) who prepared this dish during our Housewarming party in Kolkata. He told me that 2 stage marination played an important role in making makhoner moto norom (as soft as butter) Bhetki Macher Paturi! Level one is to marinate fish chunks with lemon juice and salt for 1 hour. Here I substituted normal lemon juice with Gondhoraj Lebu (lime) for the fragrance. As part of the 2nd level, the fish chunks to be marinated with the paste of Mustard-Coconut and some spices for around 6 hours or preferably overnight.
This dish can be prepared either in a flat pan over the flame. A microwave oven can also be used to Make it, however, I prefer to use a pan to slow cook Paturi. Though Banana leaf is popularly used to wrap fish chunks for making Paturi. However, Gourd leaves or Lau Pata also give an amazing result. If Paturi is prepared using Gourd leaves then that leave or Saag is also eaten along with the fish chunk. I took some Gourd leaves yesterday from Market and wrapped half of the fishes in Banana Leaves and rest in guard leaves. Surprisingly, the taste was different in two variations of Paturi!
- Bhetki Fish: 750 g (boneless; cut into 10 pieces)
- Black Mustard Seed: 3 Tbsp.
- Grated Coconut: 5 Tbsp.
- Green Chili: 8-10
- Mustard Oil: 4 Tbsp.
- Lemon Juice: 2 Tbsp.
- Turmeric Powder: 1 Tsp.
- Salt: to taste
- Banana Leaf: 1 (big)
- Gourd Leaf: 3-4 (optional)
- Thread: as required (tooth pick can also be used)
- Wash Bhetki fish chunks and rub Lemon Juice and half of the salt to fish pieces and leave those for 1 hour.
- Make a thick paste of Mustard Seed by adding little salt and strain that paste through a strainer.
- Make a paste of Green Chilies.
- In a bowl take Mustard Paste, grated Coconut, Green Chili paste, salt, Turmeric Powder and Mustard Oil and mix those using a spoon.
- Marinade fish chunks with this paste and give those an overnight stand (5-6 hours). This step is important to get super soft Paturi.
- Take the bowl full of marinated fish out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
- Take Banana Leaf and cut it into 6”/6” pieces.
- Now brush little Mustard Oil on the glossy side of Banana Leaf pieces and lightly roast those over low flame for 30 seconds.
- Now take a piece of Banana Leaf and put 1 spoon of the marinade on the middle of the leaf and then place a fish chunk on the top of the marinade and finally put some marinade to cover the fish from the top.
- Close the Banana Leaf from four sides to make a close parcel and then tie it using a thread as shown in the picture. In case the thread is not available or you find this process a bit fussy then just close it using a toothpick.
- Following the process make a parcel of rest of the fish chunks.
- I was not available with sufficient banana leaf and used guard leaf to make the parcel for few pieces.
- Now put some Mustard Oil in a flat pan and place fish parcels over the oil and cover the pan with a lid and cook on low flame for 10 minutes.
- Flip all the fish parcels after 10 minutes and cook the other side by covering the pan with a lid for 10 more minutes.
- Take all the Fish Parcels or Bhetki Macher Paturi and store those in a closed container to enable those to get cooked in own heat.
Serving Suggestion: Steamed Rice goes best with Bhetki Macher Paturi!
Bhetki Macher Paturi Update from August 2017
The Original Post was from 2015 and I have changed the pictures in August 2017 for Bhetki Maacher Paturi.
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