Bombay Duck
Bombil
The Poor Man’s Food
Considered to be so, because what’s cheap can’t be good, right! And Bombay Duck is almost the cheapest of fish. But we can assure you, it is food rich in taste and for the discerning few!
Text & Photographs: Farzana Contractor
It doesn’t go quack, quack, for sure. But I am surprised at the number of people who still don’t know that Bombay Duck is a fish. And very inexpensive at that. One can buy it throughout the year, even during the monsoons since it is not fished in deep sea, but just off shore, in shallow, muddy waters along the coast using just trawl nets.
So what is the story behind the name? It is simple actually. A distortion of sorts; an abbreviation, even a mispronunciation, may be…
As it happens, in the early days, this fish caught off the Bombay coast was simply discarded, chucked back into the water. People here did not have a taste for it. Perhaps it was too low down in the hierarchy in the Kingdom of Fish! Seafood eaters may have preferred the ever sought- after pomfrets and lobsters.
But the people of Bengal to whom fish is manna from heaven, knew better. They considered this translucent grey, brown, thin, long, about 6 to 10 inches, to be a delicacy. So when the railways began operating in India, this fish was transported from Bombay to Calcutta. And since it travelled in mail trains, it became known as Bombay Mail fish. Which got shortened to bombail and even bombil, which is how those living on the western coasts and eating this fish, address in local lingo. Daak means mail in Bengali and that is how the Bengalis addressed it, “Bombay Daak”. Which of course the Britishers of the time pronounced as, Bombay Duck. So there you are!
The Bombay Duck, which is more commonly known in Maharashtra and Goa as bombil, is a delicate fish, in taste and texture. But strangely it smells quite strong. Especially when in the peak of summer, the clever fisher folk string it up on the beaches of North Bombay and around Versova, where the largest fishing colony is situated, and let it dry in the sun. Once it is bone-dry they store it away for the monsoons and the surplus is sold in the market. This happens all over coastal India, not just Maharashtra.
Most people buy the dry bombil and store it in airtight tin jars for two reasons; one that it keeps well and two that its extremely powerful odour does not spread in the kitchen, or worse, the whole apartment!
Cooking dry bombil is a tedious affair. At least the pre-preparation is. But notwithstanding all the labour involved, it is something I love to eat. Perhaps because my mother cooked it so well and I did grow up eating bombils, mainly during the rainy season.
You have to break away its head, remove the fins and then cut them up in small to medium-size pieces. After which, under running water, you wash these pieces carefully, making sure little bits don’t just break away and go down the drain, quite literally! If this job is not executed thoroughly you may find you are biting on gritty sand when you are actually eating it. Remember, the Kolis – fisher folk – dry them on the beaches for days with the sand blowing around. So a lot of it does find its way into the crevices of the fish. Well, after washing, you have to let these cut pieces soak in salted water for about five or 10 minutes. You could even squeeze half a lime into the water to reduce the smell of the fish. Then the water has to be discarded and the fish patted dry. Most people use newspapers for this task. I don’t, because quite simply I do not like to consume printing ink. Even paper napkins is not a good solution. So I use an old but a clean kitchen cloth, which I have no choice but to discard after use. Don’t want to put the smelly napkin back in the drawer!
Once the bombils are as dry as can be, you have to fry them, until golden and crisp. If the oil splatters around you learn the hard way that you did not dry the bombils sufficiently enough. However, the bombils at this stage, nice and crispy, make a perfect snack. Often, bars in Goa serve them with drinks. The prestigious Royal Bombay Yacht Club serves a precious few pieces of this plain fried bombil along with their famous Parsi mutton dhansak in their charming dining hall. Most Parsis love bombils which they call bombla!
Once you have reached this point, where the bombil looks nice and crispy, the cooking gets easy. You have to then just add the other ingredients starting with browning the onions. There may be variations to different recipes but by and large all will require copious amounts of sliced onions. The two family recipes of mine that I made for you, dear reader, we call, Bombil Pyaaz ki Chutney and Hare Pyaaz ki Bombil. One calls for the regular onion and the other fresh green spring onions. We use tomatoes in the former and kokum in the latter. But both will have lots of chopped coriander and kadi patta, for sure.
In addition to bombils, I also cooked up some sukha jhinga which is called kardi. These are tiny dried shrimps. I developed a taste for this dish when I first went to Goa where they call it sukem. It’s delicious. Just sprinkle it generously on steaming hot rice, crush some papadum on it and wallop it with two or three different pickles on the side. Or a rasam. And some solkadi.
This is the ultimate rain food for me. Dal Chawal Bombil Kardi!