If my father was sitting with me for what could have been his birthday dinner… he would be smiling with a lot of content for obvious reasons. The spread as you can see includes all his cherished seasonal produce including the Dussehri mangoes, fried fish and obviously tempered rice. We would have then hurried the eating process both because of greed and adherence to his valuable teaching that food once served, must not be kept waiting.
All this spread, but the glass of water stands out for me. Why? For him, water was the primary serving at the Dastarkhwan. Especially with a meal with fish, for someone or the other would be choking on the bone.
Despite being diabetic, Babba would not compromise on his appetite for rice. A mandatory accompaniment with our fish fry, the rice would be boiled with a bay leaf and gotten rid of the excess water. Before serving it would be tempered in Ghee, cumin and clove.
I used a fillet of frozen basa fish, because work from home and limited access to meat, thanks to Covid-19. Otherwise what has made this dish really special for me is the fact that on hearing the fishmonger at our doorstep, Babba and I would be exchanging glances that it was time! I would then watch with him how the monger cleaned the scales and gutted the fish. But the theatre would obviously be in the fish kept whole to be fried.
A recipe based on making the simplest ingredients shine, only a handful of ingredients went into cooking the fish. Fresh cracked pepper then obviously becoming the hero ingredient after the fresh fish. This preparation even though similar to the original recipe turned out to be a whole lot different today. Maybe now I know what not to do with the fish, i.e. never leave the skin off. That crispy skin makes all the difference.
A lot of people how their dislike for fish comes mostly from how fishy it smells. Well, that has never been a concern for me since my father taught me the easiest hack to get rid of it. First thing first, after we would bring the fish inside the kitchen it would get its besan (chickpea flour) and lemon rub. After sitting in this mixture for nearly 30 minutes, the rub would be rinsed with water. A tried and tested method for me 10 years, never disappoints.