Scrambled Fish with Mustard

This Scrambled Fish with Mustard is my take on a traditional South Indian dish with Bengali flavours woven through. It’s best made with flaky white fish and delicious with the pungent aroma and flavour of mustard. Best paired with steaming hot rice and dal!

Learning the ropes of a new cuisine can be a slightly daunting task!

It is not enough to try and follow a recipe to the exact but it is highly important that you try and have a brief understanding of the ingredients, flavour combinations and food culture of the region in general. This is how you will learn the building blocks of the cuisine and once you do that, the recipe becomes a canvas for your final painting.

And that was my approach towards learning Bengali cuisine; which till two years ago was a totally foreign thing for me. I read a lot about the general food culture and the key ingredients that make the base of this vast cuisine. And just like any traditional regional cuisine of India, food of West Bengal was as varied and colourful as its history. But if you look closely, there are always some key flavours that shine through which makes their food unique.

For me, the one ingredient that stood out was mustard. Now mustard is used in different ways along the length and breadth of India. But perhaps, no other cuisine celebrates it or glorifies it as much as the Bengali cuisine. And I very recently realized that Bengalis can get rather touchy on the subject and talk about this one ingredient for hours. For me, that spells passion!

Today’s dish, scrambled fish with mustard celebrates this ingredient in two different forms – in the seed and oil form. Mustard is often associated with a pungent aroma and flavour which puts it off for so many people. But when used in the right amount and combined with the right flavours, it is an ingredient that can work wonders in your kitchen.

This scrambled fish with mustard is also a celebration of my understanding of the basic flavours of Bengali cuisine combined with my knowledge and love for South Indian style of cooking. This is not a traditional recipe (so don’t go looking for authenticity) but rather an inspired one.

Inspired by the fish podimas of South India, today we have a scrambled fish recipe which has been deliciously flavoured by mustard and with just a hint of chilli through. This dish can be made with any white fish that can be flaked easily and is best paired as a side dish with steamed rice and dal.

Print Recipe

Scrambled Fish with Mustard

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Author: Dhanya Samuel

Ingredients

• 2 basa pink fillets, around 350gm; cut into large pieces
• ¾ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 ½ tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 cup curd
• 6-7 green chillies
• 2-3 tbsp mustard oil
• Salt to season
• Sugar a pinch
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves finely chopped

Instructions

• Grind the mustard to a powder in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and keep aside.
• Whisk the curd well with turmeric powder, salt, half of the ground mustard powder and 1 tbsp of mustard oil.
• Add the fish pieces to this marinade, coat well and keep aside for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Heat the remaining mustard oil in a pan and add the fish pieces along with marinade.
• Add the green chillies whole. Since you are adding the whole chillies, it will only impart the flavour and not much heat. But if you prefer more heat, reduce the number of chillies and slit in half. Add a pinch of sugar also.
• Also taste to check if the dish has enough of the mustard flavour or add more of the mustard powder.
• Cook till the fish is just about done.
• Once the fish is cooked, increase heat and break the fish into small pieces with the ladle like you would while making scrambled eggs, though not so vigorously. Basa is a soft fish so it will break easily and the idea is to get small chunks rather than powdered fish.
• Stir cook on high till all the extra moisture is absorbed.
• Finish off with chopped coriander leaves.