Dhonepata Mach (Fish in Fresh Coriander Sauce)

Have you ever tried going silent for sometime? I mean a deliberate choice to go soundless...to hear nothing, to do nothing that creates any sound or at least to try to minimize all voices as much as possible.  We do it quite often.Intentionally. Dropping sounds one by one to make everything go silent. 

At least for some time to make the little girl in the house sleep in peace.

She is very active yet sleeps very less, say for 20 minutes at a stretch and if that need is not met. She turns into a babyzilla. fussing about everything, shaking her head vigorously, saying na nna nna. So we understand and try to buy us some peace by keeping the world go mute around her. We try to do things, everything in silence and 

when we must need, we talk in whispers.  

If we must need to reach for things... we tiptoe around. 

The phone goes on vibration.

The gas goes off, so is all other kitchen appliances.

God bless the man who said 'silence is golden".

Now even the 5 and half years son enjoys this. for him its a play, a silent world to share with his parents in between some muted laughter and giggle. He has learnt a lot of sign language, various tones of whisper and he uses this quite so often to amuse us. 

Even the doorbell is working on mute mode. And at times we get so carried away that we reply to postman or courier guy in a hushed voice...But these guys dont mind as with time they also have come to know about our situation. Or at least we hope so.

This we guess will go on for some more time till she grows up little more and then I will write another post on how they grow so fast and how I miss those days. Huh! Life of a mother!

Till then enjoy this recipe that I happen to create just the other day. The maid was missing like every other day and I had plenty of coriander leaves in the fridge. By plenty I mean some 250 gms, all that our favourite vegetable vendor lovingly gives the husband for free. So had to create this dish which tasted so good and smelled like the winter from my childhood.

Dhonepata Mach

Ingredients:

Fish: 4 pieces (I used Rohu, use any white fish)

Onion: 1 big purple onion

Garlic paste: 1 tbsp

Yogurt: 1/2 cup (used homemade, try using thick yogurt like Nestle)

Coriander leaves: 1 cup tightly packed

Green chillies: 4-5 (or as per your heat tolerance)

Peppercorns: 1/3 tsp

Salt

Turmeric

Oil: 3 Tbsp (Use any oil, I used refined+mustard oil)

Mustard oil: 1 tsp

Method:

Smear salt and turmeric to the fish and keep aside for at least 15 minutes.

Pick, wash and make a coarse paste of the coriander leaves.

Whip the yogurt to make it smooth. Keep aside.

Very finely chop the onion.

Heat oil and shallow fry the fish pieces till golden on both sides (6-8 minutes). Keep the flame medium. Take out and keep aside.

In the same oil add the lightly crushed peppercorns and 2 slited green chillies. Once the aroma hits you tip in all those chopped onions. Sprinkle a pinch of salt to bring out the juice from the onion and fry on low till there are tinges of brown on the sides. Now add the garlic paste and turmeric. Fry til the raw smell of the garlic is gone.

Take the pan off heat and mix in the smooth yogurt and little water, say 2 tbsp. Mix properly and put it back on low heat. Taste and season. Once it comes to simmer add 1/4 cup water, put the fried fish pieces in. Mix and cover. Let it cook for 5-6 minutes then add the coriander paste. Mix and cook uncovered for a couple of minutes. If there is still water crank the heat up. 

Drizzle the 1 tsp Mustard oil reserved and dry up the water to get a thick coating gravy.

Serve hot with Rice.

A Homemaker's Notes:

I used yogurt that i set at home everyday and it was not tart. If you use store bought then you might have to balance the taste with little bit of sugar. Go easy and add little by little after tasting every time.