Recipe: Mackerel and prawn coconut curry with drumsticks

It was a morose evening for my best buddy was heartbroken. Nancy had passed away that morning. She was more than a pet to him, his first child, his true love and his comforting pillow at the end of a tiring day. That evening everything about him was different and I strangely did not belong in his personal space. Thankfully, Baba had come down from Delhi and was going to meet us outside R’s office. I was to meet Baba for the first time. To meet a member of his family for the first time, on any other day, would have sent a zillion butterflies fluttering in my tummy, but today it was simply comforting. Baba was waiting for us at the traffic signal nearby, a splitting image of the man walking next to me. As they both left for home, Baba looked back at me and gently patted on my shoulder with a reassurance that all will be well. From that day, several years hence, when I lost my father, it was the same hand that patted me with the same reassurance. But today, as I write this, I stand alone.

Baba was a foodie. R gets his swag, his sideburns :), passion for music, his creative quotient and an appetite for good food from his father. This recipe is for Baba, for it has everything that he absolutely loved. Mackerel, prawn, drumsticks, all there! While it is a simple fish curry, the stock made from prawn shells and drumsticks lend a beautiful flavour to the dish. It’s a delight to scrape off the flesh from drumsticks which are loaded with flavours of the curry. I went overboard with my proportions of drumsticks for I had forgotten that there was a member less at the dining table.

Bangda and prawn coconut curry with drumsticks

Ingredients-
8 small sized bangda/mackerels
100 gms small sized prawns + prawns shells for the stock (ask the fisherwomen for “koshe”=prawn head, if you’re in Mumbai)
2 drumsticks
7-8 teppal / sichuan pepper (optional, but really adds flavour)
1 coconut, scraped
1 tsp turmeric + 1 tsp extra for marination
1 tsp coriander seed powder
7-8 dry red chillies (preferably begdi mirchi)
8-9 cloves of garlic
1 betel sized ball of tamarind, soaked in hot water
1 tbsp vegetable or coconut oil
Salt to taste
Chilly powder, to adjust heat

This is how I made it-

1) Wash, remove veins and dice drumsticks into 4 inch long pieces and pressure cook them with half tsp of salt upto 1-2 whistles, till they’re cooked. Make sure you don’t overcook them, else they’ll make for a messy curry, tasty nevertheless 🙂
2) Wash and devein prawns.
3) Clean mackerels and cut them in half width-wise such that you have separate head and tail portion. Depending on the size of mackerels, you can make 2 or 3 pieces and adjust quantity accordingly.
4) Devein and clean prawns.
5) Marinate mackerel and prawns with salt and a tsp of turmeric, set aside.
6) In a colander wash the prawn shells under running water. Boil them in about 2 cups of water till water is reduced to half, your prawn stock is ready. Let it cool, strain and keep aside,
7) In a grinder, make a fine paste with coconut, garlic, 1 tsp turmeric, broken red chillies, coriander seed powder and a tbsp of tamarind pulp. Add little water if necessary, but make a thickish paste.
8) If using teppal, add a tbsp of water and coarse grind in a mortar pestal to extract milky juice which has all the flavour. Strain the teppal extract and add it to the curry. Make sure you do not grind it in a mixer with rest of your masala as teppal is very sharp and pungent and the shell is not to be consumed.
9) In a wok, heat oil, add the coconut paste, teppal extract and sauté for a minute.
10) Add a cup of water to the above masala and let it come to a rolling boil.
11) Time to add your prawn stock to the curry. Also add your drumstick stock for added flavour. Adjust curry consistency with more water, if necessary, and keep it on a simmer of another 3-4 minutes. It’s advisable to keep a slightly thinner curry as fish adds mass to the overall curry.
12) Once you see oil floating on top, the coconut masala has cooked through. Taste and adjust seasoning for salt, heat and sourness.
13)  It’s time to plonk the marinated mackerel, prawn and cooked drumsticks into the curry. It takes only about 3-4 minutes for the fish to cook on simmer without lid. Keep an eye out so that you don’t overcook the fish.
14) While you’re at it, hope you made your chapatis and steamed rice. Also, as baba would’ve said it, rava fried bombils on the side would be nice 🙂

Patole recipe: Rice dumpling steamed in turmeric leaf

I’ve been to Goa 68.7 times. Okay fine, I’ve lost the count. But the first time I went to Goa was 11 years back. We were 7 or 8 months into our marriage, a getaway was must, pockets were shallow and Goa was kind.  Ever since Goa visits have been on an average of 3 times a year, sometimes more, never less. No two trips have been the same, each one as memorable as the other. We go for the beach, beer and food, oh yes, but we go there MORE for the people we leave behind. We miss them. Our friends, comrades, our extended family. Our sins and secrets are safe with them. Like R says, it’s our combined baabul. How true!

No trip to Goa is complete without a visit to the bustling Mapusa market. Friday is market day! Apart from Choriz, you can find the best and choicest local seasonal produce konkan has to offer, here at the market. This time of the year, haldi chi paana (turmeric leaves), neer phanas (breadfruit, and the best substitute for fish, trust me!) are in season. Even as you drive along NH17, you’ll find vendors selling these at every 3 kms. You cannot escape, I did not want to. I picked up my Mapusa loot on my second last day in Goa and hoped it would stay fresh till I reached back home, and hell yes, it did!

Mapusa Market Loot: Cashews, Coconut, Turmeric Leaves, Neer Phanas a.k.a Breadfruit

The very next day I whipped up a Konkani fare in my kitchen- Kaju chi usal (kaju curry), neer fansa che kaap (rava fried breadfruit slices) and patoli (rice flour batter with coconut jaggery filling steamed in a turmeric leaf.) It was quite a hit.

Konkani fare: Kaju chi usal (kaju curry), neer fansa che kaap (rava fried breadfruit slices) and patoli (rice flour batter with coconut jaggery filling steamed in a turmeric leaf.)

Tender cashews and neer phanas are almost impossible to find here in Mumbai, but turmeric leaves are an easy find, therefore putting down Patoli recipe for your reckoning..

Patole must’ve been an invention of a very lazy grandma of Konkani origin who’d care less for shaping intricate ukdiche modak (rice flour dumplings with coconut and jaggery filling offered to Lord Ganesha as a prasad). Lazy, but ingenious nevertheless! Patole is an easy Modak hack, but with absolutely no compromise in taste or visual appeal. Infact I dare say, it tastes uniquely awesome, a tad more than the traditional modaks, because of the flavour and aroma turmeric leaves lends to them. I’m all for hacks, ALWAYS! 🙂

Patole: rice flour dumpling with coconut jaggery filling steamed in a turmeric leaf.

For the covering:
8-10 turmeric leaves
1.5 cups rice flour
salt to taste
water
desi ghee to grease the leaves

For the filling:
1.5 cup fresh coconut, grated
1 cup jaggery, grated
1 tsp cardamom, powdered
a pinch of saffron
half a cup full-fat milk

Here’s how I made it-
1) For the filling, in a thick bottom wok or kadhai mix together grated coconut, jaggery and milk on a low flame. Keep stirring till jaggery is well incorporated and milk completely reduced and absorbed in the coconut. Add cardamom and saffron in the end, give it a quick stir, take it off the heat and let it cool completely. This should take about 15 minutes.
2) Sort torn turmeric leaves from intact ones. Torn ones come handy as dish liners. Wash, pat dry and remove stems of turmeric leaves.  Keep them aside.
3) Add a pinch of salt to the rice flour and add water just enough to make a thick paste, mind you, the paste should not be runny.
4) Prepare the steamer on the side.
5) Line the pan in which you are to steam with turmeric leaves, this ensures that your patole does not stick to the pan.
6) Take a turmeric leaf, if it is too big then you could divide it into two, not along the stem, but along the width. Dot the leaf with desi ghee. Then spread the rice flour batter on the leaf with the back of a spoon as thinly as possible without leaving any gap. Then spoon the coconut jaggery filling on one half of the leaf and gently fold the other half of the leaf over this. (ref to the pictures).
7) Place the prepared leaf into the lined pan and once you’ve filled the pan, steam it for 8-10 minutes.
8) Serve pipping hot, unfold the leaf and top it with a dollop of ghee.

The fragrance of the turmeric leaf fills up the house and sets the tone for the festive season.

Pictorial Step by Step

Put grated coconut, milk and jaggery in a thick bottomed wok.

Keep stirring till jaggery is well incorporated and milk completely reduced and absorbed in the coconut.

This is the final consistency we’re looking for. The mixture should be dry retaining slight moisture. At this stage add saffron and cardamom and give it a quick stir before removing from heat.

Wash and pat dry turmeric leaves.

Spread the rice flour batter on the leaf evenly with back of a spoon. Add a spoonfull of coconut jaggery filling on one side of the leaf.

Gently fold the other side of the leaf ovr the side which has the filling and lightly press.

Place the prepared leaf into the lined pan and once you’ve filled the pan, steam it for 8-10 minutes.

Patole: Unfold on a plate with a dollop of ghee