With Mumbai’s monsoon here, the availability of fresh fish is limited but that doesn’t stop Mumbaikars from enjoying the dried variety. While the Koli fisherfolk community is known for their preparations, mid-day.com discovers how other communities also make use of dried fish but in ways that are lesser-known and extremely delicious
One of the most popular dried fish in Mumbai is the Bombay duck, which is dried during summer, and used to make different dishes during monsoon. Photo Courtesy/Nascimento Pinto
Thane-based Karen Fernandes has some of the fondest memories of consuming dried fish while growing up in Mumbai during the monsoon. Since it is difficult to get fresh fish during the monsoon, her family would spend all summer drying fish for the rainy season. She shares, “When I was staying with my grandmother and would feel picky about eating simple foods like dal and rice, she would roast dried fish such as mackerel, bombil, prawns, dinas.” Experimenting with dried fish, she would roast the fish on one day and make a salad out of it on another day a salad, or make ‘paara’, a popular delicacy eaten in most Goan homes during the monsoon. “It would instantly be the most exciting meal of our lives. I remember all of us kids going from uninterested in eating to being excited about lunch, the moment the scent of dried fish being roasted fills the air,” Karen adds.
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