What comes to your mind when we say Bengali cuisine? Probably the promptest reply will be 'macher jhol and bhaat'. Fish curry is an intrinsic part of the cuisine of Bengal and we can't agree to it more. Due to it geography, fish is affordable and widely accessible across the state, making it staple food for every Bengali. Which is why, you would find different variety of fish with countless number of recipes in here. From adding it to dal, saag, sabzi to making a stand-alone curry - Bengalis add fish in almost every dish possible. Speaking about fish curry, one of most popular recipes is doi mach. Doi mach is a quintessential Bengali dish that makes a complete meal when served with rice. For the unversed, doi in Bengali stands for dahi/curd and mach is fish. It is basically fried fish chunks dunked in rich yogurt gravy. We have also found the authentic doi mach recipe for you.
But before jumping into the recipe, let's find out about the fish used in this recipe. It is to be mentioned here, Bengali cuisine is quite particular about the fish and the types of curries made with it. While the dry gravy-based dishes are made with 'choto mach' (small-sized fishes), proper curries are made with big sized fishes like hilsa, rohu et al. Doi mach tastes the best with rohu fish or katla fish (also called catla or South Asian carp). So, try to get hold of a few chunks of rohu or katla to get the best taste out of this dish.
Also Read: 9 Best Non-Vegetarian Bengali Recipes To Try At Home
How To Make Bengali-Style Doi Mach | Bengali Doi Mach Recipe:
Besides the fish, we need curd, onion paste, ginger-garlic paste, whole garam masala and some basic spices. We suggest, use mustard oil in this recipe to get the authentic flavour.
Fry the fish keep aside. Mix together the curd, onion, ginger, garlic, chilli powder, turmeric and keep aside. Now heat oil in a pan and temper bay leaves, jeera, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Add the curd mix and cook till the oil separates. Finally, add the fried fish to the gravy and cook for a while with sugar and salt as per your taste. And a delicious doi mach is ready in less than an hour.
Click here for the step-by-step recipe.
For more such Bengali-style fish recipes, click here.
About Somdatta SahaExplorer- this is what Somdatta likes to call herself. Be it in terms of food, people or places, all she craves for is to know the unknown. A simple aglio olio pasta or daal-chawal and a good movie can make her day.