SURESH: Oh, I'm making our signature dish, Striped Bass Paturi.

SETH: And what exactly is Paturi?

SETH: So the steam inside the banana leaf is going to trap all these great flavors.

SURESH: Yep.

SETH: And how are these ingredients going to go in the dish?

SURESH: Right now, I'm going to make the first marination so there's going to be lots of acidic flavor.

SETH: Staple ingredient.

SURESH: Yeah.

SETH: All right, the turmeric.

Now this is going to give you some color, but not as much flavor, right?

SURESH: Yeah, we believe this is an antiseptic.

In India and Nepal, if we cut our finger or something, we use as a medicine.

SETH: A little turmeric will do the trick.

SURESH: Yeah, yeah.

A little turmeric, yeah.

And salt is always important though.

SETH: Of course.

SURESH: Yeah.

Usually in our Indian cooking, we always do two marinations.

SETH: And why two marinades chef?

SURESH: One is for acidic, salt and lemon kind of thing, and the second marination will be for more flavor.

So this has to sit for the 10 minutes.

All right, Seth... SETH: Oh, great.

SETH: And that's going to help the marinade stick to the outer part of the fish?

SURESH: Yes.

SETH: Lime zest.

All right.

SURESH: Yes.

SETH: Is this also a non-traditional Paturi ingredient?

SURESH: Yeah, this is non-traditional.

The second marination, everything in there, I'm going to mix them very well.

And it looks beautiful though.

SETH: It looks beautiful.

And actually, even that lime zest, there's a nice, bright aroma coming out of that bowl.

And so why do you choose to use striped bass in the dish?

SETH: And then besides helping it steam, is the banana leaf going to also add its own flavor as well?

SURESH: Yeah, absolutely.

SETH: Making just a delicious little package of flavor here.

SURESH: Yeah... ♪ ♪ SETH: All right, that sounds great.

I cannot wait to try that, chef.

Dante.

DANTE: Hey, Seth.

How are you?

SETH: Doing great, man.

Really, really excited about the Paturi, but looking forward to, what is this, Mixology 101?

DANTE: Yes.

Now that we got you behind the stick, we're going to teach you how to make a cocktail.

SETH: All right, but I'm ready to learn from a master.

What are you making today?

DANTE: Today, we're going to be making the Bandit Queen.

Bandit Queen is our take on a Manhattan.

We're going to start with Two Indies Rum.

It comes from Bangalore.

It's been infused with garam masala.

It's going to be an ounce and a quarter.

SETH: So India has a big spirits community?

DANTE: It is a growing spirits community.

This distillery itself actually was a British Navy rum distillery.

When the British left India, a family took over the distillery and started making their own rum.

SETH: An ounce and a quarter, you said?

DANTE: Yes, sir.

SETH: All right.

Close enough.

DANTE: Okay, this is our Bonal.

This is the Gentian Aperitif.

So this will bring a little bitterness and herbaceousness to the drink, and we'll just do an ounce.

SETH: My jigger-holding techniques need a little work.

DANTE: You're doing great.

This is Szechuan peppercorn Amaro from Baltimore Spirits Company.

So this will be three-quarters of an ounce.

And one of the reasons why we love Szechuan peppercorn Amaro is because Chef is using it so much in his cooking.

So this is our tamarind syrup.

It is tamarind puree that's steeped in water like tea, and then we add a little bit of sugar to it.

SETH: And then this is going to help counter some of the bitterness from the Amaro?

DANTE: Absolutely.

SETH: How much are we talking here, Chef?

DANTE: Quarter-ounce, sir.

SETH: Quarter ounce.

I might've put a little too much in there.

DANTE: Beautiful.

Then we have mole bitters, gives it a nice spicy, chocolatey note to it.

SETH: And bitters is not really something that you taste a lot, right?

DANTE: Bitters, you can consider them like salt or pepper in cocktails so they are used to sort of bring up a lot of the other flavors.

All right, Seth, so here are the glasses we're going to use.

These are chilled cocktail glasses.

One of the things that's very traditional in a Manhattan are cherries.

I'm just adding some ice to this.

The most important part is the art of the stir, which you are about to learn.

So you take your bar spoon, you are letting the bar spoon go around the edge of the glass, and move all the ice in one unit.

SETH: And it feels really good when you get... DANTE: It feels good, right?

SETH: Into that rhythm, yeah.

DANTE: You're doing great.

We'll see you at happy hour.

After stirring, we just strain it right into our strainer.

You want to make sure no ice falls in.

So we finish it off with a little lemon oil.

It's like a kiss goodbye at the train station.

SETH: All right, I cannot wait to try this.

Thanks for the tutorial.

Cheers.

DANTE: Cheers.

Thank you, Seth.

SETH: Oh, nice and balanced and refreshing.

That garam masala really does give it that nice little layer of smokiness as well.

I cannot wait to see how the spices in this drink pair with the ones that are already in the Paturi.

DANTE: Absolutely.

I think chef's just about ready with the Paturi so let's go eat.

SETH: Let's check it out.

While I tried my hand at bartending, Chef Suresh finished preparing the Paturi.

After cooking the wrapped fish on the flat top, he prepared the two sides: kale khichdi and tomato chutney.

After plating, he topped the fish with microgreens, herbs, and edible flowers.

All right, gentlemen.

I am excited to try this.

That is just a beautiful, beautiful, yellow color.

SURESH: I hope you are tasting like the sourness of lime juice, lime zest, like right amount of spice, buttery and meaty texture of fish.

SETH: Just the right amount of everything.

That is really something special.

There is a little bit of a kick, I guess, between the chili powder and pepper flakes.

SURESH: Absolutely, yeah.

SETH: But nothing overwhelming and that lime zest comes through so loud and clear.

And should I be dipping it in anything here?

SURESH: Yeah, you can dip the fish with tomato chutney.

SETH: A little extra spice, too, from that chutney.

DANTE: You really got to try the khichdi.

I mean, for us, it's real like Nepalese and Indian comfort food.

Suresh's spin on it is taking the kale leaves and spinning it with the rest of the khichdi and it is just to die for.

SETH: I just like how you have this classic Bengal dish, a little bit of Nepalese flavor here, some Szechuan peppercorn in the cocktail.

It seems like you guys are just trying to have a little bit of fun with this food.

DANTE: Absolutely.

And I just love the way Suresh is so passionate about blending different flavors and ingredients that you may not think of together.

The aromatics that come out of the makrut lime leaves, the earthiness that comes from the kale khichdi, and then the Szechuan peppercorn, of course, sort of is the backbone of the whole dish itself and the drink.

SETH: When your Bengali relatives are here, do they approve of this take on the Paturi?

DANTE: Oh, yeah.

We have to order more fish for them.

SURESH: Yeah, they die for it.