Salmon Paturi

Hi Guys,
Hope you all are doing fine. In my native place (Kolkata in general) people are now enjoying Ilish (Hilsa) of the rainy season. But in many parts of the global village there is not enough opportunity to get a good quality or any Hilsa. I think that is why Salmon is created by the God. Today, I will be talking about a dish which is usually prepared with Hilsa or Bhetki. But the love for the Salmon bugs me to experiment this recipe. Don’t worry, I won’t make you cook something distasteful. It was an successful experiment and hence I am sharing the recipe. The recipe I am talking about is called Paturi. Paturi is a method to cook ingredients wrapped in a leaf. The package of leaf is roasted on a griddle or tawa and steam-cook the ingredients inside. The leaf is typically banana leaf (the leaf also brings flavor while roasting) and the ingredients can be veg or non veg. This paturi almost resembles En papillotes - a French cooking method where ingredients are cooked by the steam generated from the wrapped paper pocket. The cooking method with wrapped leaves can be found in many geographic cultures and they use variety of leaves for wrapping like banana/plantain, corn husk, lotus, grape, bamboo, taro, yam, etc. I have used Salmon as the basic ingredients as it has a distinct flavor, less bones and buttery texture. From my previous experience with Salmon, I know Salmon and mustard poppy seeds paste are best buddies.
Hence I came up with the mustard poppy seed coconut sauce to coat the fish. They go very well together. Everything blended well and developed the origin of the dish - Salmon Paturi. Lets start the cooking.

Salmon Paturi with white rice

Salmon Paturi

Recipe yields 4 servings

Mustard poppy seeds coconut sauce

Ingredients for the mustard coconut sauce

1. 1 tbsp black mustard seeds
2. 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
3. 1 tbsp poppy seeds
4. 2 tbsp shredded coconut
5. 3-4 green chilies (according to the heat you can handle)
6. 2 tbsp yogurt
7. 2 tbsp mustard oil
8. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
9. 1/4 cup of water
10. Salt according to your taste
11. Sugar according to your taste

Methods

1. Soak the black mustard seeds, yellow mustard seeds and poppy seeds in water in a bowl for at least an hour. After an hour you can see the seeds have pulped up and became soft.
2. Now in a blender jar add the soaked seeds and chilies. Blend it for a min. Add the shredded coconut and blend it for another min. You can see all the seeds are pulverized and coming in the form of paste
3. Add yogurt, salt, sugar and turmeric powder and again blend it for 2 minutes. Now you can see it as a yellow sauce. Taste it and adjust salt and sugar accordingly.
4. Add the mustard oil and mix it with a spoon. It will emulsify the solution. And finally your sauce is ready for the fish.
(Note: The sauce should be little thick not completely runny. So try to avoid water while blending.)

Now comes the packaging of the fish in the banana leaf. While roasting the wrapped packages , the flavor of the leaves mingles in the fish.



Ingredients

1. 4 banana/plantain leaf of size 8 x 8 ( approximately)
2. 4 kitchen stings of length 1 yard (approximately)
3. 8 green chilies
4. 4 tbsp of mustard oil
5. 4 pieces of Salmon
6. Mustard poppy seeds coconut sauce
7. Salt according to your taste
8. (Note: For the friends who are in US: The banana leaves can be found in Indian stores.)

Ingredients for Salmon Paturi

Methods

1. Prepare the banana leave by dry roasting them on the heated tawa/griddle pan. Dry roast both the surfaces of the leaves. It will make the leaves soft and it can be easily folded.
2. Sprinkle some salt on both surfaces of the fish. And mix it well.
3. Marinate the pieces of fish in half of the sauce. Reserve the other half.
4. Take one dry roasted leaf and lay it flat. On one surface add one tsp of the sauce. Spread it a little and add the marinated fish on top of it.
5. Add one more tsp of sauce over it and place two green chilies on top of it. Then drizzle 1/2 tbsp of mustard oil on the top.
6. Now close the two sides and hold it tight. Then close the other two sides making it as a gift parcel. Holding it tight in one hand, wrap the kitchen string with another hand. Wrap the string around the package as many times as you need and at the end tie a knot. (Note: Don’t make too tight as it can break the fish. Also don't make it too loose so that all the sauce drip.)
7. Repeat the step 4 to 6 for the rest of the fish.
8. When all the fish parcels are complete then heat the tawa or frying pan with flat surface. Add and heat 1 tbsp of mustard oil. When the oil is hot enough, place two packages and fry it one side for 4 minutes and flip it and fry another side for 4 minutes. While frying cover it with a lid in between so that the fish is cooked from inside. The heat should be medium to medium high.
9. Take out the two cooked paturis and add the remaining one tbsp if oil on the heated tawa or pan. Fry the remaining two uncooked paturis as mentioned in step 8. When they are cooked, take out from the pan and let it rest with the other paturi pieces in a serving dish for a while.

Dry roasting the banana/plantain leaf

pouring the golden sauce

Salmon with the sauce

Chilies added

Drizzling mustard oil

Folding the sides

Package folded

Paturi before cooking

Good things come in small packages

Time to serve it with rice

While serving keep a pair of scissors nearby to cut the strings. It should be served with steaming white Basmati rice. I would recommend making some extra rice. You never know you may need it as good things come in small packages. Trust me, you will fall in love with this dish as soon as you take the first bite. If you are having some guests for lunch, definitely try this recipe  and your guests will be go oohs and aahs with praising you. Make it, devour the heaven and thank me later.

Thanks,
Moumita