If you are familiar with the state of West bengal in India, you might also know that Bengalis and ‘Maacher-jhol-bhaat’ are basically synonyms. ‘Maach’ being fish, ‘bhaat’ being rice, Bengalis are stereotyped into eating fish and rice every-single-day. Which, interestingly,is quite, quite true. Who said stereotyping is not based on facts? 😉 A Bengali is not considered a true Bengali if they don’t eat fish and rice.
Just by that definition, my dear husband is a blight on Bengalis. He does not like fish. He does not like rice. Were you to offer him fish everyday, one would think you were offering him some kind of bitter medicine. Getting him to eat fish can be a chore.
Doi Maach – succulent fish in creamy yogurt sauce
One of the dish he does love to eat is doi maach. As a Bengali female, if you can cook a successful dish of doi maach, you are considered a success in the kitchen. Of course the crown will be snatched away pronto were you to mess up shukto but that’s a different story.
‘Doi Maach’, simply translated is fish in yogurt. One would think you take a piece of fish, dip it in yogurt and eat. Ah! Not so fast! This is an authentic Bengali preparation that is often served during festive occasions like marriage or namakaran/annaprashan (much like Christian baptism).
It’s a simple preparation, based on ginger and yogurt combo.
Fish in yogurt based gravy
- 6 medium pieces of barramundi
- ½ tsp turmeric plus ½ tsp more
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup finely sliced onion
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp minced garlic plus 1 clove
- 1 tsp kashmiri red chili powder
- 3 green cardamoms
- 1 large stick of cinnamon
- 3 cloves
- 1 black cardamom
- 8-10 (peppercorns; skip if you don't like them in your food)
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 thai green chillies
- ¾ cup whipped greek yogurt (or hung yogurt)
- 2 cups of warm water
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp of mustard oil (optional)
- 1 cup olive oil
- Marinade the fish pieces with ½ tsp of turmeric and 1 tsp salt and keep aside for 10 minutes.
- Heat 1 cup of oil in a pan.
- Fry the fish pieces, gently turning them over till they are golden, but do not brown them.
- Drain and keep aside.
- Reduce the oil by ¾th (Very Important), and add the clove of garlic
- As the garlic taken on a brown hue, put in the onions and saute.
- Once translucent, add minced garlic.
- Make a paste of remaining half tsp of turmeric and red chili powder with 2 tbsp of water and add to the onions, stirring continuously. The onions should start softening and take n a pulpy look.
- At this pint put in ginger and 2 slit green chilies.
- Add green cardamom, black cardamoms, peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon and cloves.
- It should emit a nice aroma.
- Whip the yogurt, and add to the onions one spoon at a time. Do not stir. Reduce the flame and let the yogurt heat up on its own. This will prevent curdling.
- When the yogurt starts mixing, give it a gentle stir, and cook for 3-5 minutes.
- Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the flame to medium, cover and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the fish pieces gently, cover and cook for another 3 minutes.
- Turn the fish over, and cover and cook for another two minutes or so.
- Finish with 1 tsp of mustard oil and chopped green chili.
- Serve hot with rice.
Notes:
You can pretty much cook this with any meaty fish, like fresh water trout, catfish, tilapia, mahi mahi or salmon.
Choose the steaks, fillet don’t come out well in this preparation.
You can add a finely chopped roma tomato after step 7. I usually add it, though skipped it in this preparation. It provides more texture to the gravy as well as some sweetness to counter the sourness of the yogurt without making it sweet.
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