Salutations to all the foodies and to Vikram for starting this thread. Like Sopan, I also belong to the coastal community of Saraswats who are ardent worshippers of the Fish incarnation of Vishnu. After Ashok's pomfret, I thought it prudent to let folks know of another of Bombay's own fish - the `Bombay Duck' (yes, as I have said to many of my English colleagues, it is a fish and not a duck!) - and of methods to worship him! 

As some of you may know, the Bombay duck in local parlance is `Bombil'. It is gray-white and could easily pass as one of nature's wonders - its flesh is unique in texture, soft and translucent, and looks almost devoid of any muscles. After cooking it turns superb white and flaky. The fish has a central bone that too is very soft and most of its bones are wiry and gelatinous. It has very sharp teeth and makes me wonder whether it is a fierce predator in the seas, before of course it is caught and brought to worship. As for freshness, Bombils tend to be very smelly if stale, the limpness goes down very much, the skin texture changes to a pallid buff colour. Another test would be to left the gill flap and find the gills to have their pink-red colour intact - discoloured gills would spell doom for most of the fishes and also for their worshippers!

Now for the cooking bit - buy four Bombils, right size in my opinion would be about 8 to 10 inches. They are usually exceptionally cheap - four of that size should cost no more than 25 rupees! Ask the fisherwomen to dress them for you and cut each fish into two, usually this is a very easy job and you'll be amazed that she almost does it without any implement. Wash thoroughly when brought home and salt with a couple of teaspoons of free flowing salt. Rub thoroughly and allow half an hour for the salt to permeate through the fish. Then douse with a teaspoon of red chilly powder and half a teaspoon of turmeric powder, and using your hand rub thoroughly until the fish is well coated. This prepares the fish for next stages of worship. Depending on which school of philosophy you follow each of these has a different pathway to Moksha.

Bombil Bhujne: 

My grandma's recipe, the coastal Indian equivalent to a Chowder - very simple, delicious and surprisingly efficient on the calorie count!

Ingredients: 8 pieces of Bombil, prepared as above
One and a half onion, sliced long
A couple of green chillies, chopped into half inch pieces and slit
8-10 flakes of garlic, sliced
2-3 Cocum bits
Cup of water
1 tablespoon of oil
Grated coconut and chopped coriander for garnish
Steps:
Heat the oil and add to it the garlic slices and the chillies. In a couple of minutes add the onion and sauté till it turns translucent. Gently lay the Bombil pieces on the onion bed and carefully toss over. Use of a blunt wooden spoon or ladle is advisable. Allow to cook for five minutes under lid. Add a cup of water and the Cocum bits, bring to boil and allow simmering for a further five minutes, without stirring. Season with salt to taste, stir gently not harming the fish. Garnish with generous amount of Coconut and chopped coriander. Goes well with rice or chapattis, depends again on the school of philosophy you follow. As for me, the first few bites are often steps to salvation. One can make equally tasty chowder with Surmai or Pomfrets, but the key to the success is the fish has to be small and young, subtle in its flavours and white - like Rawas, Surmai, Manyali etc. Mature and / or oily fishes don't make a nice `bhujane'.For the vegetarians, I may add that substituting potato chunks for the fish works very well, too.

I'll end with an anecdote about the Bombil - it came straight from the horse's mouth, ie a fisherwoman told this to me.(Fisherwomen are very chatty if you know them well!) Explaining why the Bombil has such a unique body structure - the story takes the humble fish to mythical levels. Rama was building his famous bridge to reach Lanka and teach the demon king Ravana a lesson or two in biblical commandments (thou shall not covet thy neighbour's wife), helped in his efforts by the monkey army. He requested the fish in the sea to give way, lest the stones that were being hurled into the sea by the monkeys would hurt them. All obeyed the Lord's command, except the Bombil. Enraged by this confutation, Rama took him by the tail, twisted him in anger and threw him to the west. That's how the battered fish landed in the Arabian sea, with his bones broken by Rama's rather unkind act - and that's how he flourishes even now! A very fishy story indeed...

Enjoy cooking, as said in a pre-prandial prayer - `The food is Brahma manifest and therefore eating is a sacrifice offered to the Eternal one.'

cheers,

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