The enormous population of India as well as the presence of regional diversity has created different food habits in different parts of the country, giving rise to a variety of culinary dishes. These include both vegetarian dishes as well as non-vegetarian dishes. As the two largest religious groups of the country – Hindus and Muslims don’t eat beef and pork respectively, so the items consumed by non-vegetarians of the country, usually centers around chicken and goat meat & fish for those, who live in areas close to river and sea. For those who are fond of fish, the fish cutlet is a very popular dish because of its taste and ease of preparation.
As would be obvious for preparation of fish cutlet, first a person has to choose the right fish for the preparation. This should fulfil certain basic criteria. These include – the presence of minimal bones and absence of fishy repulsive smell. Unfortunately, choosing a fish that does not suffer from the combination of the above-mentioned characteristic is very difficult, if not impossible. The two fishes most commonly used by chefs all over India are Rohu (Carp fish) or Catla (Bengal Carp). To minimise the difficulty of preparation, the abdomen portion of the fish is usually chosen, as it is relatively easier to separate the bones of the fish from its flesh in this area.
In the beginning, water is taken in a container and a pinch of salt is added to it. Now this container is put on an oven on a medium flame and the water is heated, and a lid is used to cover the container. Once the water starts boiling, the cleaned fish is put in it and kept for 5 minutes, so that the fish gets boiled. In between, the extent of softening of the fish is checked from time to time. Once it gets really soft, the container is taken off the burning oven and allowed to cool down. Next, the potato mentioned in the ingredients is boiled in a similar manner and afterwards, its peel removed. The onion and ginger are next grated, then squeezed to remove the fluid in them, and kept aside.
Now the fish is taken in a plate and a little pressure is applied to it. This crushes the flesh of the fish and it becomes easy to remove all its bones, manually by hand. The remaining soft tissue is later totally crushed. Next, the potato is smashed and mixed homogenously with garam masala & salt, which is later mixed with the softened fish flesh.
Now a container containing 2 teaspoon oil is put on an oven, over a low flame. Once the oil gets warmed, then grated onion and ginger are put on it and stirred nicely for 2 to 3 minutes. Next, the fish & potato mixture should be added to it, and the mixture stirred constantly for another 5 minutes. Later the container is taken off the oven and the contents allowed to cool.
Once cooled, the mixture is taken in small amounts and moulded into a flat circular shape, by pressing between 2 palms of hands. Many similar pieces are created with the rest of the previous mixture. Now bread crumbs and flour are taken in 2 separate plates. The upper mentioned prepared mixture is rolled in bread crumbs followed by doing the same in flour.
Afterwards, a non-stick pan/or any flat surfaced container is put on a burning medium flamed oven, which is thoroughly greased in oil. When the container gets warm adequately, then previously described flat circular shaped fish mixture preparation is put on it and fried on both sides, till a desired golden-brown colour is obtained. Fish cutlets are ready now for serving, which can be done with tomato sauce (like snacks) or may be taken as a part of the full meal, along with rice.
