Monday, September 27, 2010

‘Doi Maach’-- Fish in Yoghurt Sauce


This is a traditional Bengali fish preparation. ‘Doi’ means  yoghurt and ‘Maach’ is fish. Fish used is the usual fresh water fish either Rahu or Katla.Choose a big fish weighing about 5 kg. Often the fishermen or women who sell these fishes do not expect you to buy the whole fish, therefore you can buy one kilo or 2 kg. For this preparation you need to select portions from the stomach of the fish.


Ingredients:
  • 6 big pieces of fish.
  • 2 tablespoon yoghurt
  • 1 medium size onion ground to paste.
  • 1 teaspoon ginger paste
  • 2 cloves garlic ground to paste
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seed powder
  • 1 tablespoon coriander and cumin seed mix powder
  • Kashmiri chilli powder to taste

    Method:
    • Wash the fish well. Apply salt and about ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder to the fish and marinate the fish in yoghurt for 2 hours.
    • Heat 2 table spoon oil in a vessel. Add 1 bay leaf (chopped into two pieces),1 green cardamom, 2 cloves, 1 small stick of cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon cumin seed to the oil.
    • Soon after adding the above mentioned whole masalas, add the onion paste and the ginger paste. Stir well.
    • Add garlic paste, coriander and cumin mix powder and a bit Kashmiri chilli powder.
    • After stirring well add the pieces of fish. My mum prefers to add only the fish and not the marinade.
    • Add salt to taste – take care while adding salt for the fish has already been marinated in salt--- and a little water. Cover and cook till done.
    • At this stage add half cup beaten yogurt and half teaspoon of sugar. Stir well and serve hot.
    If you prefer green chillies to red chilli powder, do not add chilli powder instead garnish with chopped green chillies.

    I have sent this to My Sweet and Savory --- Let's Do Brunch.

    Update

    This dish was cooked by my mother who always used pieces from a big fish, that is how Doi Maach is traditionally cooked.
    I, however, cooked it by using pieces from a one and a half kg fish and I found it tasted quite good. Here is a link to my video
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=GBuEk-OtSTs



      15 comments:

      1. Will try this one for sure. It is a bit different from how I make it though. I don't put the Garlic paste :)

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      2. Oh, this sounds so good. I used to avoid making dishes that needed onion paste because I'm just too lazy to grind the onions in my mortar and pestle... until I read a shortcut to that somewhere: chop the onions, then blend them with a handheld blender. Easy!

        Am going to make this the next time I buy fish. Tonight I'm going to be making fish Oriental style, braised in tea. :-)

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      3. Glad to know both of you plan to try it, please let me know how it turns out and whether you added your own personal touch.

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      4. @Sharmi you do not need to add the garlic paste if your fish is absolutely fresh and comes to your table directly from the river. Here in Mumbai it is not that fresh it is brought in from other places and is stored in ice boxes so you need to add this wee bit of garlic paste.The garlic imparts a nice flavour.

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      5. Hi,

        Thanks for commenting on my blog. You have interesting recipes here. Am glad I found your blog. Shall visit again.

        Arundhuti

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      6. So happy to find your comment here. Please do visit again. If you have any interesting foodie experiences please share it here. I love this interaction with visitors to my blog.

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      7. Shilpi, I made this for dinner last night, and it was a big hit! Thank you for a great recipe - this goes into my 'must repeat' list. :-)

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      8. Thank you very much, mum is going to be very happy.May I know which fish you used?

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      9. Oh, I have to admit my choice of fish was dictated by my Punjabi husband, who can't manage fish bones! Left to myself, I'd probably have bought rohu; because of him, I bought sole, filleted. Still, it turned out well, and he liked it a lot.

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      10. Well I have never eaten sole fish but if it turned out fine then why not? My Mum was very happy to know it turned out to be such a success.

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      11. Good - do say thank you to your mum from me! Her recipe was superb.

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      12. I have conveyed your message and needless to add mum is pleased. Hope you enjoy the future recipes too.

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      13. This is a fabulous dish. I love what you add to the fish for what must be great taste.

        Thanks for linking this to Let's Do Brunch.

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      14. well..my bf cooked it for me..and it was really really delicious.. :)

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