The first time I had a fish roll was in the mid 90s in Kolkata. I am talking of the paratha roll. Not the crumb fried roulade-like fish rolls popular at street corner snack shops in the city.
This was at Dhaba at Ballygunge Phari. We had gone to attend a Career Fair organised by AISEC at the Ice Skating Rink. An auditorium where no ice skating happened. Just sale of ‘export quality’ clothes. I am pretty sure that food writer/ blogger/ Instagrammer/ Influencer was not one of the careers discussed then. The internet barely existed then.
We stopped at Dhaba for a snack. A multi-floored Punjabi run restaurant, which had long ceased to be a ‘Dhaba.’ The ground floor was non-air conditioned and more affordable
for college students and shopkeepers. If on a date, you’d save up and go to the upper floor.
I spotted fish roll on the menu and tried it. Instead of mutton or chicken kebabs, it had fish tikkas and sliced onion rolled in crunchy maida lachha parathas. Tasted pretty good.
I didn’t find fish rolls in too many other places subsequently. Possibly because most roll shops were humble establishments and keeping the fish fresh would be a struggle. But they did do fish chops, fish cutlets and the ‘other’ fish roll. Perhaps the deep fried format helped there. I wonder if fish paratha roll was more a Punjabi restaurant feature. They were more likely to offer fish tikkas and kebabs compared to the Mughlai restaurants of south Kolkata where kathi rolls had originated.
One can only hypothesise about why the fish roll didn’t really take off in a city which loves both rolls and maachh. Fish.
I tried to recreate those memories 25 years later in our kitchen in Mumbai where I live now. There was rawas in the fridge. What folks in Mumbai prefer for making tikkas, just as the bhetki is the fish of choice for this in Kolkata.
There were lachha parathas in the fridge. Made and cooked by our cook Banu the previous day. Albeit with atta and not maida.
I made a couple of fish rolls using this for me and a keto one for K. Both worked out well. Here’s how:
I sautéed the cubes of rawas in mustard oil with a sprinkling of chaat masala, black and red chilli powder.
Sautéed sliced onions, capsicum and green chillies in vegetable oil. Reheated the parathas in a dry pan.
Made fish rolls with the fish and veggies and squirted lime juice on top before I rolled the paratha. Made K a version without the paratha. Keto, as I wryly said. She loved it!
Lunch was a truly happy one. The joy was authentic, even if the recipe was not entirely so.
