Puthi Shidol Shutki
Traditional Bangladeshi Fish Pickle
Puthi Shidol is an old fermented fish preparation. The traditional method was something I first came to know through my family, from the stories of my father and from what my grandmother actually made at home.
Traditional Method of Making Puthi Shidol
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To make Puthi Shidol, collect good-quality Puthi fish. Do not scale or wash the fish at this stage. Dry them well under the sun for 4 to 5 days.
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Now wash the sun-dried Puthi fish (Puntius sophore) and soak them in water for 5 to 10 minutes, allowing the excess water to drain.
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Soaking the dried fish is very important in the preparation of Shidol. The fish are then put into an earthen pot (koloh/motka).
The earthen pot (koloh/motka) should be prepared by repeatedly smearing oil on the inside and drying it under the sun. The earthen pot becomes saturated with oil, which reduces the permeability of air through its porous wall. Generally, oil polishing is continued until the wall absorbs no more of it. The quality of Shidol largely depends on the preparation of the pot.
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The mouth of the pot is sealed airtight. Traditionally, the pot may be buried underground during the winter season or stored at room temperature for 3 to 4 months for fermentation. Salt is never added during the traditional preparation of Shidol. After the prescribed fermentation period, it develops into a strong, oily fermented fish preparation.
Regional variations of Shidol preparation also existed. Salty Shidol was produced in areas including greater Mymensingh and Sylhet, while salt-free Shidol was also produced in areas such as Faridpur and Jessore.
Puthi Shidol Fish Pickle Recipe
Fermentation time: about 2 to 3 months for the family method
Ingredients
- Good-quality Puthi fish
- Fish oil
- Salt, optional in some preparations
- Red chilli powder: 1% during drying or storage, if used
Equipment
- Earthen pot (koloh/motka)
- Bamboo basket
- Bamboo-split mat (madur)
- Earthen pot cover (matir sora)
My grandmother always made Shidol with fresh fish, never with stale fish, and she missed the Ghainna fish (ছোট চাবা – ঘাইন্না) too because, after migration from East Bengal, they could not find the same fish here in West Bengal.
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Puthi fish are dried for 4 to 5 days. The scales, fins, gills and gut are removed during the preparation.
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The fish are kept in a bamboo-made basket under the sun until the moisture content comes down to approximately 20–25%. They are then soaked and washed thoroughly in water for 30–60 minutes and dried again in the shade for another 2 to 3 days, allowing the excess water to drain out.
The fish should be dried well before fermentation. Soaking is very important in the preparation of Shidol. It helps eliminate waste, allows the dried fish to reabsorb water and soften, and prepares them for fermentation.
Thorough washing removes the remaining scales and dirt from the fish. A 25 to 30% weight gain occurs due to soaking. Soaking time depends on the size and quality of the dried fish. Moderate sized good quality dried fish if soaked for 30-40 min. can yield uniform and adequate fermentation. Inadequate soaking may affect the fermentation process.
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The fish are then mixed with oil and kept under the sun in a pot.
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The fish and oil are kept for another 2 to 3 days.
The pot is prepared beforehand by polishing the inside and outside walls several times with fish oil and then drying it under the sun for 3 to 4 days. The pot, thus dried and matured, allows very little air or moisture to pass through the pores of the earthen wall.
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The pot is heated for several hours. As the oil rises, the fish braise well and the heavier contents settle at the bottom. The clear oil is then separated into another pot.
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The remaining oil and fish are allowed to cool and solidify. The solidified oil and fish can then be taken out easily, while the deposits at the bottom are discarded.
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After collecting the fish, mix it again with the clear oil that was previously separated.
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The fish are then spread on a bamboo-split mat (madur) and dried again under the sun until the surface oil has dried off sufficiently.
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The fish are then ground and mixed with the remaining oil.
For most preparations, salt is not used, although sometimes a small amount of salt is sprinkled over the fish while grinding. To prevent dried Punthis from insect attack 1% red chilli powder can be spread over the fish while drying or during storage.
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Finally, the pot is sealed with an earthen pot cover (matir sora) and kept in an earthen hole under a shed or in a dark, cool room, undisturbed for ageing and fermentation for about 2 to 3 months.
What Published Research Says About Traditional Shidol
Years after hearing about this process from my family, I found published research describing traditional Shidol preparation. It was interesting to find many familiar details documented there — sun-drying the fish, soaking the dried fish, preparing the earthen pot with oil, sealing the pot and allowing the fish to ferment for several months.
Kakati and Goswami documented traditional Shidol prepared from Puntius sophore and Setipinna phasa. In the traditional method described in their study, the fresh fish were sun-dried for 4 to 5 days. The dried fish were soaked for 5 to 10 minutes and packed into an earthen pot locally called a koloh.
The koloh was repeatedly smeared with fish oil or vegetable oil and dried under the sun. After filling, the pot was sealed airtight and stored at room temperature for 3 to 4 months for fermentation. The study also records an important feature of the traditional method: salt was not added during the preparation of Shidol.
Another published study on traditional Shidal preparation in Northeast India documented knowledge collected from local communities and found variations in preparation between places and communities. This is also important when we look at old family recipes: there was not necessarily one identical method followed in every kitchen.
Keeping an Old Family Food Knowledge Alive
Today, preparations like Shidol are slowly disappearing from many home kitchens. But this is also a time when people are becoming interested again in fermentation, pickling, drying and preserving foods in small batches. That makes me feel that these old methods should not simply disappear.
For me, this recipe is also a family memory. My father could describe the process, my grandmother actually made Shidol, and she still remembered the Ghainna fish she could no longer find after migration from East Bengal. These small details are also part of a food tradition. If we do not record them, they can easily disappear with a generation.
Today we also want to understand the science behind fermentation and ask questions about hygiene and food safety before trying a long fermentation at home. Published research helps us understand these traditional processes better. It does not need to replace the knowledge that came through our families.
Perhaps both can stay together — the family knowledge that keeps the story and method alive, and modern food science that helps us understand traditional fermentation more clearly and practise food preservation more safely today.
To see how this fermented fish pickle is used in a traditional dish, read my Geri Gugli clam and snail recipe , where 2 to 3 teaspoons of Puthi Shidol are cooked with the mixture before banana-leaf roasting.
References
Kakati, B. K. and Goswami, U. C.
Characterization of the traditional fermented fish product Shidol of
Northeast India prepared from Puntius sophore and Setipinna phasa.
Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 12(1), 85–90, 2013.
Read the research paper
Muzaddadi, A. U. and Basu, S.
Shidal – A traditional fermented fishery product of North East India.
Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 11(2), 323–328, 2012.
Frequently Asked Questions About Puthi Shidol
What is Puthi Shidol?
Puthi Shidol is a traditional fermented fish preparation made from small Puthi fish. The fish are dried, soaked and fermented in a specially prepared earthen pot.
Why is the earthen pot important in Shidol preparation?
The earthen pot, or koloh/motka, is repeatedly polished with oil and dried under the sun. This reduces the permeability of the porous earthen wall and prepares the pot for fermentation.
Why are the dried fish soaked before fermentation?
Soaking helps clean the dried fish, allows them to reabsorb water and soften, and prepares them for fermentation. The soaking time depends on the size and quality of the dried fish.
Is salt used in Puthi Shidol?
In most traditional preparations, salt is not used, although a small amount may sometimes be added while grinding the fish.
How is Puthi Shidol used in traditional Bengali cooking?
Puthi Shidol can be used as a strong fermented fish ingredient in traditional recipes. In my Geri Gugli recipe, 2 to 3 teaspoons of fish pickle are fried with the clam or snail mixture before the dish is wrapped in banana leaf and roasted. See how Puthi Shidol is used in my traditional Geri Gugli recipe.
