Bengali - Bangladeshi Fish

"Macch-e-Bhat-e-Bangali" which translates to “fish and rice make a Bengali” can sum up their cuisine pretty well. Fish, rice, and lentils are staples in this country, which is about as big as Greece, however, it’s also the ninth most densely populated country in the world (2,917.6/sq mi, about the same a Phoenix). One thing to note about Bangladeshi cuisine – it’s spicy! Everywhere I seemed to look the word “chili” was staring me in the face whether it was in the form of powder or pepper.

I had terrible flashbacks to sophomore year when I thought I could hack a 5 at Pato Thai after ordering 4’s for several months. For those of you who are Thai illiterate, 5 is the highest number you can go on the spicy scale. I spent the rest of the night guzzling water trying to quench the inferno in my mouth. I’m convinced the waitress was openly mocking me for my stupidity. I’ve been ordering 3’s ever since then.

So you can imagine my hesitation at cooking “traditional” Bangladeshi food. In the end I told myself to just suck it up though and go for it, however hot “it” may be. In the end I narrowed down my choices to a type of spicy potato curry or fish in a hot mustard paste. I have had Indian, Thai and African curries and make them fairly regularly so I figured it was time to try something new. I went with the spicy mustard fish recipe and while I did have my reservations on how hot the recipe could actually be, it still sounded like a dish I should try. I can handle spicy food (for the most part) – perhaps it won’t be too hot…

Sorse Bata Diya Maach is the name of the dish and I found that most of the recipes online and in “The World Cookbook for Students” were similar enough, give or take a couple ingredients. I had some salmon already in my freezer so that became the fish of choice for this, although trout is recommended as well. This being my fourth country, I realized I was already entering very unknown territory as far as spices are concerned. The recipe called for cracked mustard seed and I felt a little ridiculous at the store when looking for cracked mustard seed and not finding any. I must have stood there for ten minutes reading every jar. After a quick Google search I realized that you actually use whole mustard seeds and crack them yourself. Needless to say, I felt incredibly silly for what now seems like common sense. In my defense, I never said I was a culinary master. I also had an interesting encounter with some chilies when trying to decide which one to buy, the recipe didn’t specify. Turns out I bought Serrano chilies which are supposedly hotter than Jalapeños. Good going Chelsea, pick the hottest pepper in the store for an already spicy dish.

After attempting to crack mustard seeds (tiny little buggers) and sweating over my chili choice (I may have “accidentally” forgotten to include all of the seeds out of fear), my fish was left to marinate over night. By morning one whiff of the mixture cleared any sinus problems I may have been having. On another note, I don’t recommend you take a whiff of salmon and lots of cilantro in the morning – it’s really not pleasing. That night it was all thrown into a pan with some leeks and green onions and steamed to completion. Now don’t let all my remarks about the potent aroma of the sauce influence your choice to ever make this, it was delicious and surprisingly not all that spicy. It had a little hint of chili as an aftertaste, but by no means did it leave me running for water. In fact you could probably add a little more chili and be fine as long as you like spicy food. The tomatoes, fish, and the rice really do make the dish milder. In fact I tasted the cilantro more than the chili and will add less next time I make this. That’s right, I liked it so much I would make it again! Note to cilantro haters: you will not like this dish.

I also found that the mustard seed really adds a unique undertone that’s almost hidden. I’ll never look at mustard as just a condiment ever again! One thing this dish taught me is that salmon could actually be used as an accent in a dish. Normally I just coat it lightly with olive oil and herbs and toss it in the oven and voilà dinner! Hey I’m in college, you should be surprised I even use an oven! I always looked at chopping it up and mixing it with something as ruining a perfectly good piece of fish. I’m not sure how my way of thinking was brought about, but I’ve learned my lesson and will be exploring more options from now on. I definitely give this one five stars for it’s unique flavor, although I will be doubling the “sauce” in the future since a lot of the juices are lost during cooking. Bangladeshi food will have to be something I explore more sometime, this was my favorite dish thus far. With Bangladesh I have finished week one of cooking and still have so many countries left to go before I reach 30, let's hope I can accomplish this by the end of September!