‘Bengalis can’t live without fish’. Oh yes! This is so true! Bengalis are real foodies and they simply can’t think of a life without spicy, flavorful fish items. One of the best advantages of being a Bengali is getting the opportunity of trying almost all sorts of fish delicacies. From fried to baked to curry, we Bengalis are proud of having a truly rich stock of fish recipes J. Want to try out one of them? Go for ‘doi katla’ or ‘doi machh’ i.e. fish and yogurt. This is basically a pure Bengali delicacy with an awesome blend of sweet and sour flavors.
Tips:
- I’ve taken large pieces of Katla and cut them into halves in order to make the process of frying easier. You can keep the pieces large too, if you wish.
- If you want to make the gravy a bit thicker, add 1 teaspoon of Bengal gram flour to it.
- In you have sweet tooth, add a few raisins to this dish and enjoy the unique taste.
Your delicious sweet and sour fish in yogurt is absolutely ready. Serve it with smoking hot rice in authentic Bengali style. You can also enjoy this amazing dish with plain roti, naan, pulav or any other similar item.
Sweet and Sour Fish in Yogurt
Ingredients
- • Katla fish – 4 medium-sized pieces
- • Plain yogurt – 100 gm.
- • Onion – 2 medium-sized
- • Ginger – 1 inch
- • Green chili – 2
- • Cinnamon – 5 sticks
- • Cardamom – 5 small
- • Turmeric powder – 1(1/2) teaspoons
- • Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
- • Red chili powder – (3/4) teaspoon
- • Tomato ketchup – 1 tablespoon
- • Bay leaf – 2 small
- • Mustard oil – 3 tablespoons
- • Sugar – (1/2) tablespoon
- • Salt – 1(1/2) tablespoons or according to taste
- • Water – 1 cup
- • Fresh coriander leaves – 1 thin bunch
Instructions
- At first, clean and wash the Katla fish pieces properly under running water. Spread (1/2) teaspoon of salt and (1/2) teaspoon of turmeric powder over them and marinate well. Cover the container and keep the fish aside until you are done with rest of the preparation.
- Add a little water to the plain yogurt and beat it well with the help of a spoon. It should turn slightly thinner and there should be no lump in it.
- Chop up 1 onion finely and keep it in a bowl. Make small pieces of the other onion, put them inside a blender and prepare a smooth paste.
- Make small pieces of the ginger and blend them just like the previous way to come up with a paste.
- Cut the green chilies into two halves vertically. If you wish, you can discard the seeds. The number of green chili may vary depending upon your taste.
- Chop the fresh coriander leaves finely by discarding the stalk and keep them aside. You will need this at the time of garnishing.
- Now, take a wide shallow frying pan and pour the mustard oil into it. Turn on the flame and allow the oil to heat up. Once it becomes smoking hot, add the marinated fish pieces to it and fry both sides lightly. Make sure that the fish pieces are not over-fried. Just cook until they turn light golden brown, remove them from the oil and keep aside.
- Add cinnamon sticks and cardamoms to the remaining oil. Wait 2-3 seconds to let them release the beautiful smell and then, add the bay leaves. Stir fry for a few seconds.
- Add chopped onion to the frying pan and sauté for a couple of minutes. Once the onions become translucent, put the cumin powder, red chili powder and ginger paste to it. Stir fry for next 2 minutes.
- Add the onion paste to the pan. Also, put the remaining salt, turmeric powder and sugar in it. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes so that the entire thing becomes light brown.
- Now, pour the beaten yogurt as well as the tomato ketchup into the pan and stir well. Keep the heat medium and wait until the oil is released. After 4-5 minutes, add water to it and mix everything together.
- The gravy mixture will start to boil within 5-6 minutes. Then, add the fried fish pieces to it, cover the pan with its lid and let the whole thing get cooked for next 5 minutes. Keep the flame low during this time.
- Finally, transfer the fish pieces to a nice serving dish along with the gravy and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.