MACHER PATURI/WRAPPED BENGALI STYLE FISH

(Serves 3-4)

Ideally paturis are wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. But for the want of banana leaves in my part of the town I settled for cabbage leaves. The advantage of using cabbage leaves for this recipe is that you can eat the fish with the wraps. Unwrapping and discarding each banana leaf before eating a paturi is quite an annoying task to me, considering how many of them I can devour in one go. But, there is no contesting the fact that they taste heavenly when wrapped in banana leaves. 

Ingredients

• Fish fillets: 500 grams cut into 6-8 pieces
• Mustard oil: 3 tablespoons
• Mustard paste: 3 tablespoons
• Poppy seed paste: 1 tablespoon
• Yogurt: 2 tablespoons
• Turmeric powder: ½ teaspoon
• Red chilli powder: 1 teaspoon
• Green chilles: 3-4 chopped
• Banana or cabbage leaves: enough to individually wrap all the pieces
• Salt: to taste

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a pan with cooking spray.

If you are using banana leaves cut out the hard stem like portions. You can further cut each leaf into several pieces depending on the size of the fish pieces. Ideally the wraps should be three times the size of the fish, otherwise the marinade will escape. If you are using cabbage leaves remove the core of the cabbage with a sharp knife and immerse the cabbage in a pot of salted boiling water. Let it sit for a few minutes. Remove and refresh with cold water.   Now very carefully peel off the leaves one by one. You want to use the soft leaves for wrapping because they are more pliable.  Cut out the hard portions from the leaves to prevent the leaves from breaking when folded.

Method

Mix all the ingredients in a glass bowl and set aside for fifteen minutes. Individually wrap each piece of fish with a leaf. Secure the edges with threads if needed. Arrange the wraps on the baking tray and bake for eight to ten minutes or till the fish is done. To avoid scorching drizzle some oil on the wraps before baking. Serve with steamed rice. 

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