Yesterday, my Aji (grandmother) made her special fish curry. It was so tasty that I decided to write a blog post on it! Fish curry consists of soft fish in a tangy curry of balanced spices and it goes hand in hand with white rice. Fish curry is generally made along the coasts of India--this curry was Maharashtrian style (coming from the state of Maharashtra) and is common in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Goa as well.
In India, fresh fish comes straight from the ocean and would be sold at local markets or by vendors who sell it door to door. But here in Rochester, we get our fish from Wegman's. The fish we used was cod.
India boasts many varieties of fish curry because of the country's massive coastline. A few varieties include Ilesha fish curry from Bengal, Assam fish curry, Chettinad fish curry from Tamil Nadu, Goan fish curry, and Chepala Pulusu from Andhra. I believe that the variety of fish curries in India symbolize its diverse cultures and languages.
This fish curry is from Maharashtra, where Marathi मराठी (the language my family speaks) is spoken. One fun fact is that Marathi has a lot of Portuguese influence due to Portuguese trading on the coast. India has two official languages (Hindi and English) and the Indian constitution recognizes 22 scheduled languages. In 1961, there were 1652 languages spoken in India. By 1971, that number reduced to 808. Today, that number is about 700 with over 200 considered endangered. Learn more about the endangered languages of India here: https://www.outlookindia.com/national/the-endangered-and-extinct-languages-of-india-news-194995.
-The linguistic foodie :)
Comments