Fish cooked with bamboo shoot

I call this dish my 'Soul food' . Have seen this being prepared in our ancestral village since childhood. Fermenting bamboo shoot and pickling them are something I started taking up of late. When you have nothing special for lunch or dinner just add the fermented shoots to your dal while you temper or make a chutney with some mustard oil, salt  & a hint of bhut jolokia/ghost chilli & your boring meal will turn into an interesting and satisfying meal. So we had this fish curry yesterday as my bamboos seemed to be perfectly fermented. We loved it, though PB said he would have liked it more if it was a bit more sour. Point noted and I instantly added some some thekera water to my bamboos.



Ingredients:

Fish: 4 pieces (I used pabho/pabda/butterfish... You can use any other river fish)
Fermented bamboo shoot: 5-6 tbsp.
Onion: 1 small sized finely chopped
Garlic: 4-5 cloves chopped
Ghost chilli: 1/2 of one (you can replace with any green/red chilli)
Panch Phuron: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Mustard oil: About 2 tsp for the curry and as required for frying the fish
Coriander Leave for garnishing
Water as required

Method:

Heat enough oil in a kadhai and fry the fishes till golden brown on both sides. Keep aside.

Heat 2tsp oil in another pan/kadhai . Add onion , garlic. Fry till light brown. Add salt and turmeric . fry for a second or two and add the bamboo shoot & chilli. Mix everything well. As I was using fermented bamboo so it already had water and I allowed it to cook as it is for 2-3 minutes covering with a lid. If you are using fresh bamboo add little bit of water and cover with the lid and cook till your bamboo is cooked well. Add enough water to make the curry. Bring it to boil. Add the fried fish pieces , cover it again and cook on low to medium flame for another 5 mins or so covering with the lid and keep on checking in between and also flip over the fishes.

Transfer to a serving bowl , garnish with some fresh coriander and serve hot with rice.

Note: Please do note that I have used fermented bamboo shoot where I have added chillies , salt& thekera -a souring agent (Garcinia Mangostana of Garcinia indica Family) while preparing it. We can always use lime juice instead of it.  So if you are using fresh bamboo shoot do not forget to add lime juice into this dish towards the end adjusting according to your taste bud.