Saffron Fish

I have been away from the blog for more than a month and was not very motivated to write anything.  Cooking – I am still doing that, but was not sure what to write about as there have been so many things happening all around.  However, this morning I got some bad news about the passing of my colleague’s dad and this pushed me to write.  I wanted to write about what death means to me and how I perceive it.

“…Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds.” 

This quote is from the Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah.  I try to remind myself about this verse every once in a while as no one can cheat death.  We are all bound to leave this earthly abode one day.  But reminding myself that one day I too shall be asked to give an account of what good I did on this earth helps me be a little better every day.  And the fact that no one, absolutely no one, knows when my time would come to leave forces me to stop delaying “doing good” for later. 

A few months back a young girl of 6 years died in a car accident.  She went to the same school as my daughter.  My daughter was very sad and to console her I told her that God loved that girl so much and took her away early so she does not need to live here in the midst of sadness and suffering.  Some days later while talking, my daughter turned to me and asked, “Mama, how old is your grandmother?”  I answered, “82 years old.” She paused for a couple of minutes and said, “I think God does not like her a lot.  She is here for too long.”  A nice laugh for me, but also I now remember to explain things, no matter how complex, rather than find the “easy and consoling” way out of difficult subject matters.

Preparation Time: 1 Hour 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

3 saffron threads

2 egg yolks

1 garlic clove, crushed

4 salmon trout steaks

Salt and ground black pepper

5 tablespoons corn oil

Method:

1. Soak saffron in 1 tablespoon boiling water and then beat the mixture into the egg yolks.  
2. Season to taste with garlic, salt and pepper.  
3. Place the fish steaks in a shallow dish and coat with the egg mixture.  C
4. over with clear film and marinate for up to 1 hour.  
5. Heat the oil in a deep fryer until it is very hot.  
6. Fry the fish, one steak at a time for about 10 minutes or till golden brown.  Drain on a kitchen paper and serve with salad and rice.