All Fish Lovers

[Leena_k]

Hi,

i was wondering if i could cook fish curry (bengali style) with fishe kinds besides tilapia and catfish ... I live in a city where the local indian grocery store does not sell any fish .. thanks Leena

[Grub]

As a disclaimer let me say that I hope some members who are more knowledgeable than I will contribute to this thread, but basically, yes. Tilapia and catfish are mild in flavor, and it should be easy to find a reasonable substitute for them.

[wesza]

Hi,

i was wondering if i could cook fish curry (bengali style) with fishe kinds besides tilapia and catfish ... I live in a city where the local indian grocery store does not sell any fish .. thanks Leena 

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There are many regularly available fish that work even better then catfish or talipia for preparing curries.

Mahi-Mahi, Snapper, Rock Cod, Pomfret or Pompano, Halibut, Orange Roughy, Striped Bass, Sea Bass, Walleye, Gar, Grouper are only a few available depending where you live even most shellfish are delicious in curry.

Most fish are cooked after becoming opaque and firming up after being put into the cooking curry so try not to overcook.

Irwin

[Leena_k]

Thanks Irwin .. I was just wondering if the smell/flavor is too strong .. that it curry or mustard sauce doesnot taste the way it would when cooking with tilapia or catfish... Leena

[SwatiC]

Hello from one Bong girl to another . I've found cod a pretty good substitute for making Bengali fish dishes, as well as fresh catfish of course. I don't much care for the flavour of tilapia, so I don't cook with it.

Also, there is a fish that is sold as "white fish" at many Iranian markets. Don't know what it is, but they would usually sell the entire fish to you, cut into pieces with the bone intact, which makes it ideal for putting in jhaal, jhol, shorshey etc. Korean markets usually sell cod pieces with the bone as well, so try and locate Iranian and Korean groceries with fish counters.

Many Chinese grocery stores sell shad, which is the closest approximation to ilish that you can get here, apart from frozen ilish from Indian and Bangladesh. So try the Chinese stores for shad and also fresh pompfret, which is quite excellent with shorshey or jhaal or rosha.

Hope this helps

[Leena_k]

Hello from one Bong girl to another . I've found cod a pretty good substitute for making Bengali fish dishes, as well as fresh catfish of course. I don't much care for the flavour of tilapia, so I don't cook with it.

Also, there is a fish that is sold as "white fish" at many Iranian markets. Don't know what it is, but they would usually sell the entire fish to you, cut into pieces with the bone intact, which makes it ideal for putting in jhaal, jhol, shorshey etc. Korean markets usually sell cod pieces with the bone as well, so try and locate Iranian and Korean groceries with fish counters.

Many Chinese grocery stores sell shad, which is the closest approximation to ilish that you can get here, apart from frozen ilish from Indian and Bangladesh. So try the Chinese stores for shad and also fresh pompfret, which is quite excellent with shorshey or jhaal or rosha.

Hope this helps

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Thank you Swati .. I am so sick of cooking only tilapia ....i shall surely try cod and shad ... Leena

[wesza]

Thanks Irwin .. I was just wondering if the smell/flavor is too strong .. that it curry or mustard sauce doesnot taste the way it would when cooking with tilapia or catfish... Leena

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Leena:

I personally prefer any of the fish I mentioned over farm raised Tilapia or Catfish for use in Curries as they all recommended have flavors that will compliment most Bengali types of Curry.

Superior types of fish similar to "Ilish" that's available in many Asian Markets in Seattle are called Ladyfish (awa) or Bonefish (oio) both indigenous to the Pacific and Indian Oceans sorry don't know the Indian names only English and Hawaiian.

Irwin

[Bond Girl]

I've made Indian food with all kinds of fish from Skate to snapper. I think it's the substitution that makes it interesting. I don't like catfish or Tilapia to begin with, so when I make curry, I use scrod, halibut, blue fish (which gives it a nice rich flavor) or Monk fish. Sometimes, I even use strip bass.