Beckty Fish Gravy Curry
A traditional Bengali fish curry made with beckty fish, prepared without acid unlike hilsa curry. The fish is sliced, cleaned with salt, and cooked in a flavorful gravy with aromatic spices.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs Beckty fish, cleaned and sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces (Head and tail removed)
- 2 tablespoons Salt, for washing fish (Used to clean the fish)
- 3 tablespoons Mustard oil (Or vegetable oil)
- 2 teaspoons Onions, ground to paste (About 1 small onion)
- 1 teaspoon Red chili powder (Adjust to taste)
- 0.5 teaspoon Ground turmeric
- 0.25 teaspoon Garlic, ground to paste (About 1 clove)
- 1.5 teaspoons Salt (For the curry)
- 1.5 cups Water (For gravy)
More recipes using Beckty fish
Instructions
- 1Remove the head and tail from the beckty fish. Cut the fish into slices slightly more than half an inch thick. Wash the fish slices thoroughly in several changes of water with salt to remove any impurities and fishy smell. Drain well.
- 2In a small bowl, combine the ground onions, ground chilies, ground turmeric, ground garlic, and salt. Mix well to form a paste. Add a tablespoon of water if needed to make a smooth paste.
- 3Heat the mustard oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed pan or kadai over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke lightly. Reduce heat to medium.
- 4Add the prepared spice paste to the hot oil. Fry the paste, stirring constantly, until it becomes fragrant and the oil begins to separate from the spices, about 3-4 minutes.
- 5Pour in the water and stir well to combine with the spice paste. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
- 6Gently slide the fish slices into the boiling gravy. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and flakes easily. Avoid stirring too much to prevent breaking the fish pieces.
- 7Remove from heat. Serve hot with steamed rice. Note: Unlike hilsa fish curry, no acid (tamarind or amchoor) is added to beckty fish curry.
