The Kodavas cook meat, chicken and fish, whether reared at home, purchased from the market or hunted in the forest in a range of ways with different combinations of spices.

They may be fried, roasted, grilled or cooked as a curry with gravy. Meat and fish are also preserved by pickling or salting, smoking and drying. A reed basket hung over the fireplace in the traditional Kodava kitchen held the salted meat or fish that was being smoke-dried.

Dried meat and fish are used during the long monsoon season, when it’s nearly impossible to step out of the house. Dried fish and crab meat are also used to make spicy chutneys.

Meat features in many traditions of the Kodavas – in the ‘meedi’ offerings made to ancestors before a feast, the ‘koopadi’ taken by close relatives to an expectant mother, and in all festivals and ceremonies related to birth, marriage and death.

Time to let you in on the big secret!

Ingredients of the Kodava Fish Bartard

Letting the ‘Cat out of the Bag’:

1. Meen 1 kg

2. Chilly Powder 2 tsp

3. Tamarind Pulp 1 tsp

4. Salt ¾ tsp

5. Turmeric Powder ½ tsp

6. Oil 2 tbsp

7. Ginger  45 gm

8. Lemon  2

Crossing the ‘Maze’:

1. Mix all the above ingredients except the oil with the fish till the latter is well-coated. Marinate the fish for an hour.
2. In a flat frying pan, pour the oil. When the oil gets hot, put the fish in. Reduce the heat to medium, and gently fry the
fish till both sides are well-cooked and turn brown.

Serve hot!

The Kodava Meen Bartard

Anuj Kumar Bhagat

Anuj Kumar Bhagat has completed a three year Diploma in Hotel Management from Calcutta in 1999. He possesses 11 years of experience working with Welcom Heritage, Country Inns and Suits by Carlson. He was involved in the Opening and Kitchen Planning of two Country Inns and Suites By Carlson, that is Katra and Paradeep.He specializes in Continental, Indian and Tandoor cuisine.He is with Orange County since April 2008 and works as an executive chef.