Rohu, with cocnonut milk curry

Kavya told me this is the best fish recipe she’s ever had the last time I made it for her. It is my favourite too.

Like most of my go-to recipes, it’s quick to make and uses ingredients that are almost always available in my pantry.

Despite it’s simplicity, it packs in a lot of complex flavours because of the way the spices and fats are combined. The dish brings together spices traditionally used in Bengali cooking — paanch phoron — with a coconut milk and curry leaf base that’s more characteristic of Malayali cuisine.

The initial inspiration for this combination came from a chicken curry with a coconut milk base that I once ordered at a Malayali restaurant in Calcutta.

Soon after, I read Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. One idea from the book that stayed with me was that a cuisine’s flavour identity is shaped by the fats and spices it commonly uses.

Certain pairings are immediately identifiable. Ghee with garam masala is distinctly North Indian, mustard oil with paanch phoron is distinctly Bengali, olive oil with herbs like basil or parsley is distinctly Mediterranean.

Combining fats and spices from different cuisines is the easiest way to experiment and create something new and interesting. That’s what gave me the idea to combine Bengali spices with a coconut milk curry base (other than me incidentally being in Calcutta and ordering from a Malayali restaurant).

Cooking tips

• If possible, try to get Rohu cut-pieces from a larger fish. It may cost 2-3x more per kg, but the difference in flavour is worth it. (That said, a small whole fish still tastes perfectly good.)
• I like to add a small amount of flax seeds whenever I’m blending something. They’re a good source of dietary fibre and are only bioavailable when ground, which makes an onion–tomato paste a convenient place to include them. They add a slightly earthy, nutty flavour, so use them sparingly as it can easily overwhelm rest of the flavours.
• I used to marinate the fish with salt and turmeric for 15–20 minutes before cooking, as is customary. Over time, I’ve realized it doesn’t make much difference to the final flavour for me, so I skip that step now.
• In traditional Bengali fish dishes, the fish is often cooked twice: first fried, then simmered in a curry. I strongly recommend not doing that here. A coconut milk–based curry works best with fish that’s very soft and tender, and the firmer texture of fried fish doesn’t suit it.