So I do not know if these are consumed in Punjab, where my mothers mother is from. But I know in Orissa, where my grandfather is from from my mother, side and Bangladesh were my grandfathers from, and my grandmother is from. As well as West Bengal India, we called it shutki. Both my grandmothers could cook it and make it delicious. But one of them has passed and another one doesn’t remember how to cook. Over here I do not know if you can buy sardines like you can in Africa. We get them in a little aluminum tins and sometimes they are preserved in water sometimes stay at preserved in olive oil, and other times they are preserved in soybean oil. I usually do not have the ones that are preserved in soybean oil because soy beans and my stomach do not agree with one another. If I remember properly the way we prepare the stew is similar, but we don’t put the turmeric inside the oil. We put the turmeric on the fish while it is still soft. We put our spices on the fish when it is still soft. I would assume it is the center side of spices that go into your standard West Indian fish, curry, coriander, seeds, cumin seeds, a pinch of paprika, or spicy red pepper powder, and the essential turmeric. But then again, I only like to eat white fish and sardines.
