Telapiyar Kalia / A thick gravy of Tilapia
Bengalis have been known to have an appetite for various kinds of fish. Telapiya is one of the various types of delicious fresh water fish that is readily available in local markets. Here I am sharing with all, a household favourite that features in our meals – Telapiyar Kalia. If you love fish then this recipe is worth trying. It is quite easy to prepare and is made with ingredients that are basic and common. Do not let this fact fool you, the end result is a mouth-watering and thick gravy coating the sweet water fish. Serve this with plain steamed rice and enjoy a quintessentially Bengali meal.
Ingredients –
- Tilapia
- Salt
- Turmeric powder
- Chilli powder
- Onions
- Nigella seeds/ kalo jeere OR Five spices/ Panch Foron
- Tomato
- Sugar
- Onion- ginger-garlic paste
Preparation –
- Mix salt & turmeric powder to the Tilapia fish pieces and fry them. Keep aside
- Chop the onions and fry them. Keep aside
- Temper the oil with Panch Foron/ Kalo jeere
- Now add the Onion- ginger-garlic paste and speinkle a little water so that it doesn’t become too dry
- Add chilli & turmeric powder
- Slowly add salt & sugar to taste and chopped tomatoes
- Add some water and keep stirring. Take care not to add a lot of water
- Once the gravy starts to boil add the fried fishes to this
- Once the fishes are done and the gravy thickens, add the fried onions to this along with a dash of mustard oil and turn off the oven.
This is Amrita Banerjee’s pictorial feedback of this recipe (find comment below). She made it with boneless Tilapiya fillets. Thank you for the feedback.
