Miguel's cooking challenge: Fish Paturi from Bangladesh

COOKING CHALLENGE FISH PATURI

Cooking an unknown dish, something that you never tried even in a restaurant, is a particularly interesting challenge. It’s like that kid’s game where you have to walk blindfolded while somebody guides you using only his voice. It can be frustrating and, at the same time, lets you use different senses that you didn’t know you had. You can smell, listen and even feel the floor below your feet. Cooking Fish Paturi is something similar to this, it was like a glimpse in someone else universe.

Groceries

The first challenge for this dish was the gathering of all the ingredients.

• Some of them were fairly straightforward. Finding the fish, Barramundi or Asian Seabass (Lates calcarifer) was out of the question considering availability and freshness. The replacement I decided was a regular Seabass, a regular white fish with good texture.
• Other ingredients were also really basic and easy to find like the lemon, green chiles (jalapenos in this case) and coconut.
• Most of the spices I had it already, Tumeric, white mustard salt and sugar.
• The last ingredients were a little more difficult. Black mustard was something I never used, but I found in a big supermarket.
• I had the chance to find a small Indian store for the last couple of ingredients. They had the Banana Leave and the mustard oil. About this last one, it was the only product that I’ve never even heard about.

Mise en place

If coconut was something I always known, when I started the recipe, I’ve realized that I never actually opened a coconut. After a short youtube video, I got a drill and a hammer among my tools, and I proceed to open my first coconut. Once opened I took out the white flesh with a spoon, and cleaned up from the brown substance under water.
Another new experience was cooking with banana leaves, in spite that I always known the tree, and even I had one in our garden while growing up. I’ve never worked with it before.  I used some scissors to cut up the leave in big squares, and because I felt that I didn’t had enough, I also made some squares in parchment paper.
Finally, the green peppers, I only took the skin, without the seeds, to avoid the dish being too hot.

Marinade

I mixed in a chopper the coconut, the two different mustards, the tumeric, lemon juice some of the green chiles, salt and sugar. I had to add a little bit of water to make a paste. The past was fragrant and with a nice yellow color thanks to the tumeric. The coconut give it a rough texture.  Once the past was done I added the fish in small pieces and I let it in the fridge for about an hour (the time to go to the swimming pool).

Cooking

This was the most difficult part of the process. I put the fish, mustard oil and green pepper on top of the banana leave and I fold it. I used butcher twine to close it in a small envelope. It was a slow process, and some of the leaves cracked, but finally I ended with five banana leaf pouches, and the rest of the fish inside parchment paper.

Steam

I used a simple steamer, with an inch of water, to cook the fish. I piled up all the small envelopes and let it cook for around 10 minutes. The smell was mouth watering.

Serving

I presented individual envelopes on top of some basmati rice with the juices of the fish and coconut/mustard running into it.

Tasting

This dish was one of the most different flavor combinations I ever had. I’ve eaten most of the ingredients separated but the mix, the marinating and the steaming of the fish, turn the dish into something delicate and fragrant, frankly quite unique. The subtle texture of the fish worked with the more fleshy flavor of the coconut. The yellow tinted flesh of the fish was almost spicy with the mustard oil, without being overwhelming.
My only regret was perhaps that the cooking was too long, and the fish and sauce felt a little waterlogged.

Miguel Esquirol Rios

(originally from Bolivia)