Seafood has been major component in India, which has been often seemed as a land of exotic fish and seafood. It is one of the largest industries in the country, where coastal aquaculture are primarily operated by farmers. The coast line of India, which covers 8129Km, offers huge potential for their development in fisheries.
HIGH DEMAND IN SEAFOOD
With the fishing industry being a success, employment rates hits up to nearly 10 million people and the demand of Indian seafood also gradually increased. In the time span of 30 years, fishing production has grown from 0.4 million to 1.4 million.
As a result of the huge success of the fishing industry in India, the Indians who were brought to Singapore to work as labourers by the British colonist, not only brought their skills but also their idea of seafood along to Singapore. They brought along their idea cooking over to Singapore and continued eating like how their forefathers did.
SINGAPOREAN INDIANS
However as their lives were bound by their religious and cultural observations, the Indians in Singapore were far from changing their type of lifestyle. Although the many aspects of lives have changed over time such as the gathering of fruits and such, the Hindus were still forbidden to consume beef. Not only that but it was that thousands of Indians actually turned away meat and seafood .
It wasn’t until the Indians from Kerala who turned Singapore’s seafood into excellent dishes that stayed on till now. Ever since then, renowned dishes such as fish head curry and crab curry has stayed with us for the longest time.
CONCLUSION
For as long as seafood stays, so does the ethnicity of the Indians. They have brought along wonderful ideas on how to spice up various dishes of the seafood. With seafood being mainly in their meals every day, it’s no doubt the heavy importance seafood is to them.
Syed.Z.Q.(1998).Glimpses of the Indian Ocean.Retrieved from http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=gxnb_VH6KOAC&pg=PA168&dq=Seafood+indian+culture&hl=en&ei=8TbgS6TVIsOxrAe_sb2OBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Seafood%20indian%20culture&f=false
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0202e/i0202e15.pdf
Hutton.W.(1989).Singapore food. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=DgJ--edNl7AC&pg=PA10&dq=the+significance+of+seafood+to+indians+in+singapore&hl=en&ei=EyzqS4pRgbSsB6qesNYJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=indian%20seafood&f=false
FEATURED PROFILE
Digging into the roots of the Indian culture, an interview has been conducted with Madam Rajammal to find out more about the respective values and how seafood has emerged through time.
With the upbringing and exposure to the great culture of Indian, Madam Rajammal has taken her time to share her opinions on why fish has grown to be an important dish to the Indian culture here in Singapore.
The interview was conducted at the east end of Singapore with a lady in her 70s. Madam Rajammal has her strong opinions about the Indian seafood culture as she was originally a citizen from the southern part of India. Knowing that India is split into two different parts, Madam Rajammal mentions that the area where she grew up at was different from the Northern part of India. She went on saying that it was the ideologies and upbringing that makes it easy to different who’s from the Southern and Northern part of India. However, she mentions that even with differences, the values that they hold in themselves are similar.
When asked about how she started cooking, Madam R says that since young, she has exposed to cooking while watching her mother and grandmother prepare the dishes. That’s why she is able to see how the different cooking methods have evolved through the years.
So just exactly how did fish become a significant dish amongst the Indian culture? That’s because back then consumption of fish was bound by religious and cultural observations. Madam Rajammal responded “As more Indians moved over to Singapore, the traditions in them slowly shifted to fit into Singapore context. Needless to say, survival is the priority to them. Therefore, with the huge availability of fishes, the Indians in Singapore took the chance to cook up dishes and from there, Indians slowly see the idea of having fish in their daily meal as it was the root to the survival of Indians back then.”
“One common family dish that my mother used to cook was fish head curry. Even till now, I would cook it for my family and I am able to see the importance and how this dish is able to bring us together,” Madam Rajammal said.
Reminiscing the past has shown how Indians view the importance of cultivating personal ideologies into their culture. Likewise, every dish tells a story to us. In this case, fish head curry was the content to show how the values that the Indian culture upholds have truly been passed on from the people to accepting the consumption of fish in their meals through generations.
Over the years, fish has been accepted and made into dishes that are so significant to Indians in the modern day. Such in the way that not having a fish dish would make the meal seem dull. Therefore, fish has since been a strong element in the Indian culture.
FEATURED DISH
Fish Head Curry
INGREDIENTS
- 1 large fish (600 to 800 g)
- 2 big onions, peeled and chopped
- 2 medium-sized tomatoes cut into halves.
- 1-2 cinnamon sticks
- 4-5 slices of ginger (about 2 cm by 3 cm) some shallots and garlic, washed, peeled and crushed
- 3 tsp cooking oil
- 5 tsp of fish curry powder some tamarind 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp coarse salt
- 2 stalks of lemon grass, smashed
- 3-4 eggplants/Lady Fingers
- Concentrated coconut milk, about 100 cc
A. Preparing the fish
- The fish is washed and its entrails removed. It is thoroughly rinsed with water and then sprinkled with coarse salt. The head is then cut off - at just below the gills - using a good, sharp kitchen knife.
- The body is then placed on a large chopping board and the flesh removed - filleted. Usually the skin is not removed. The leftover bony remains of the fish are put aside, separate from the fillets and the head.
B. Preparing and cooking the fish head curry.
- Into a pot (a large clay pot would be ideal) add 2-3 tsp cooking oil and heat over medium flame.
- Ginger, shallot and garlic are added to the simmering oil and the mixture stirred briskly.
- Curry powder - which has been placed in a small container and water added to form a paste - is now added to the mixture.
- Cleaned tamarind paste and cinnamon sticks may now be added into the pot. Mix well.
- When the mixture is about to boil, add more water (about 300 cc ) and heat the pot over small flame for 5-7 minutes, or until the contents are about to boil. In the interim, place the lid over.
Fishing has been an important part of life in India for centuries, hence the significance of it in their daily meal.
“Fish eating was widely prevalent and highly esteemed in the days of Jataka tales. Even ascetics enjoyed fish dishes [no. 234].... Ajivikas, a religious order of naked ascetics, are also paid to have a fish diet [no. 94]. Women are regarded as having a particular yearning for fish ... [no. 419]. ...(Hora and Sarswati 1955: 20-21, 26-27)”
Although fish is now an important part of the Indian culture but there were certain records stated by Tarak Chandra Das that fish was not always a general part of the Indian diet in earlier times. Fish was only referred to as an activity and not an object of food.
However, the taboo against fish was slowly cast away in India. As fish grew significant in playing a part of the food culture and ritual practices, Fish head curry was created. This dish was first created in the early 1960s by a Malaysian man named Mr. Gomez, who had ancestral root that goes back to Kerala State in South India.
Fish head curry is a dish which is cooked using the head of a “Red Fish”. The fish is then semi-stewed in a thick curry where assorted vegetables such as okra and brinjals are cooked together . However if this dish was cooked in Bengal where fish is a major influence, a different fish would be use; Rui fish.
Over the years, the Indians have constantly been trying to perfect this unique dish of their trait. With the help of the Malays who traded spices with the Indians, they had managed to use this special ingredient to add it into the fish head curry. It’s these spices that the Indians added which makes the dish more unique and rich in its taste.
With that, it has then spread to other South Indian restaurants where fish head curry is consumed by both Indians and non-Indians alike.
