Rohu Kalia, Fish Cooked In An Aromatic Turmeric And Yoghurt Sauce

It has been quite a week but alas! the much anticipated long weekend is finally here! As the day continues to heat up, lying in bed composing a blog post in my very cool room seems like the best thing to do at the time being. 

I have had a box of New Zealand deep sea cod fillets sitting idle in the freezer for months. There were many failed attempts and recipe ideas to use them up, I finally managed to do that last Sunday with a bit of planning and a will stronger than usual.

I came across this very simple Bengali specialty in The Food Of India - a beautiful cookbook that I often refer to whenever I want to try out some new Indian dishes at home. The end result didn't disappoint and this is certainly a recipe that I will go back to.

recipe adapted from The Food Of India

serves 4 as part of an Indian meal

you'll need;

600 g of cod or other film fresh fish fillets

oil for cooking

5 cm piece of cinnamon stick

4 cardamom pods

3 cloves

3 cassia leaves or bay leaves

1 small brown onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

3 cm piece of ginger, grated

1/2 tsp of turmeric powder

1 tsp of cumin powder

1 tsp of chili powder

400 ml of Greek yoghurt

3 green chilies, julienned 

salt and black pepper to taste

Prepare the aromatics and set aside.

Pan fry cod fillets in batches until golden on both sides, remove and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the pan, fry the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves and bay leaves over a low heat for about a minute. Add the onion saute until golden (~5 minutes). Add garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin and chili powder and continue to saute for a further 30 seconds.

Remove the pan from the heat and slowly add in the yoghurt (this prevents the yoghurt from splitting and curdling). Return the pan to the stove, add chillies and bring it to a simmer, season with salt and return the fish to the pan. mix the fish gently with the sauce and simmer until the fish is cooked completely. 

We had this mild dish with Punjabi cabbage (recipe up next) and plenty of steamed basmati rice.