Doi Maach
Buying fish in Israel, that too a freshwater fish is not easy. There are only two shops here in our city, named Rehovot. Therefore, standing in a queue of few people I was eyeing the rohu fish which was kept in the showcase of the shop. And then, for a few minutes, while I was almost lost in my world, thinking if the man has some more rohu in his stock or will the man before me buy this last rohu, I hear the shopkeeper calling me what do you want? I point out at the rohu immediately.
Due to a good number of bong researchers here at Weizmann Institute of Science, the fishmongers now are quite aware of the “Indian Cut” of a fish. While the Israelis here always prefer to make a fillet, for us it is mostly Indian cut i.e. Indian slices. But at times you really need to monitor them while cutting the fish. Having doi maach in my mind I stood there steady, carefully monitoring his cut. Well!!! I was happy.
Doi maach is a classic Bengali fish preparation in which freshwater fish mostly rohu is marinated and cooked in a yogurt based gravy. The curry is flavorsome, moderately spicy and delicately sour with a balance of curd and spices. The fish having absorbed the wonderful flavors of the gravy turns soft and hence is delicious.
Having marinated the fish, it really needs very less time to cook the fish. You should always avoid over cooking of the fish since on cooking for a longer time, the fish might break into pieces.
Doi Maach
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Bengali (Indian)
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Servings: 5-6
Ingredients
For marination
- 5-6 pieces of Rui/Rohu fish
- 200g of yogurt/doi
- 1 tablespoon of ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon of garlic paste
- 1 medium onion paste
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon of mustard oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 3-4 green chilies slit
For tempering
- 4 cardamom pods
- 8 cloves
- 2″ cinnamon stick broken
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 /2 tablespoon of garam masala powder
- 2 tablespoons of mustard oil
Directions
- Marinate the fish pieces with all the ingredients listed under marination i.e. yogurt, onion, ginger and garlic paste, salt, turmeric powder, green chilies and mustard oil.
- Let the fish marinate for at least an hour.
- After 1 hour, take a kadai and heat 2 tablespoons of mustard oil.
- As the oil starts smoking, temper the oil with cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaves.
- When the spices release the aroma place the marinated fish in the kadai along with the marinade and about 2 tablespoons of water.
- Cover your kadai with a lid tightly and it leave it on a medium flame for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, add the garam masala powder and reduce the flame. Let it cook for 15-20 minutes.
- Turn off the flame and let it sit for a good 5 minutes.
- Serve with steamed rice.
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