If you want something other than the familiar chitol (knifefish) dishes, chitol fish, coconut and poppy seed kofta kalia is easy to cook at home and makes a good fusion dish for guests too. The recipe, in samakal, is by Syeda Tasfia Islam Mahi.
For the koftas: 500 grams of chitol fish, 2 tablespoons of chopped onion, 2 chopped green chillies, half a teaspoon each of ginger and garlic paste, half a teaspoon of roasted cumin powder, 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander leaves, 1 tablespoon of rice flour, salt to taste and soybean oil for frying.
For the kalia: 2 tablespoons of onion paste, 3 tablespoons of coconut paste, one and a half tablespoons of poppy seed paste, 1 teaspoon of ginger paste, half a teaspoon of garlic paste, half a teaspoon each of turmeric and chilli powder, 1 teaspoon of coriander powder, half a teaspoon of cumin powder, 1 tablespoon of sour yoghurt, a quarter teaspoon of garam masala, 3-4 green chillies, salt to taste, 3 tablespoons of soybean oil and hot water as needed.
Clean the fish and steam it lightly with salt. When cool, pick out the bones, keep only the flesh and mash it well. Mix in the onion, green chilli, ginger-garlic paste, roasted cumin, coriander leaves, salt and rice flour, and shape small round koftas. Fry them in hot oil over a medium flame until golden.
For the kalia, heat oil and fry the onion paste well. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the chilli, coriander and cumin powders and cook the spices with a little water. Then add the coconut and poppy seed pastes, cook on a low flame and stir in the yoghurt.
Add hot water as needed to make a medium-thick gravy and put in the fried koftas. Add the green chillies, cover and cook on a low flame for 5-6 minutes. Finally sprinkle over the garam masala and turn off the heat.
Photo: Henry Sullivan Thomas / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: samakal
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