Bengali Whitebait Bites
15m prep 20m cook 1h ready
Crispy, spiced whitebait bites inspired by Bengali street food. Marinated in lime and spices, coated in a blend of flours, and fried until golden.
Ingredients
- 400 g whitebait
- 1 lime juice of
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 fresh root ginger peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 clove garlic roughly chopped
- 50 g plain/all-purpose flour
- 50 g gram/chickpea flour
- 1 tbsp rice flour
- salt
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
Nutrition (per serving, estimated)
Estimated based off 7 of 12 identified ingredients (per 100 g food data, scaled by amount).
Vitamins & minerals
- Calcium: 193 mg
- Iron: 2.53 mg
- Magnesium: 29.9 mg
- Phosphorus: 165 mg
- Potassium: 454 mg
- Zinc: 1.28 mg
Let's Cook
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Step 1.
Wash and drain the whitebait well, then place in a dish. Rub with lime juice, then sprinkle with turmeric, chilli powder, and cumin, turning to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to marinate.
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Step 2.
While the fish marinates, grind the ginger and garlic to a paste using a mortar and pestle. In a bowl, mix the plain flour, gram flour, and rice flour with the ginger-garlic paste and salt to taste, stirring until combined into a dry coating mixture.
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Step 3.
After marinating, toss the whitebait in the flour mixture until each piece is evenly coated. Shake off excess coating.
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Step 4.
Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy wok-style pan over medium heat. Fry the whitebait in batches, without overcrowding, for 8–10 minutes per batch, turning occasionally, until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.
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