Doi Mach Recipe

• 500 gms carp or similar fish, de-scaled and cleaned
• 100 gms of mustard oil or any other cooking oil
• 4 cloves
• 4 small cardamoms
• 2 inch pieces cinnamon
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 small bulb garlic
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 100 grams of sour curds/yogurt
• salt and sugar to taste
• a few green chillies
• 2 tsp. clarified butter (ghee)

• Clean and wash the fish pieces thoroughly, and cut it into squares or rectangles of around 4 inches dimension. Wipe dry.
• Smear 1 tsp. turmeric and a little salt to the pieces. Keep aside.
• Grind the onion, garlic, and ginger till turns into a smooth paste. Keep aside.
• Beat the sour curds/yogurt with half cup of water till smooth and set aside.
• Heat oil to smoking.
• Lightly fry the fish pieces and keep aside. In the heated oil, now, add the cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon. Then add the ground paste of onion, garlic, and ginger. Fry lightly till the spices are browned.
• Now mix the remaining one teaspoon of turmeric powder and the red chili powder with three teaspoons of water and add to the frying paste. Fry again. Stir to prevent the spices from sticking to the pan.
• Now add to this the beaten sour curds. Stir the mixture and add one more cup of water.
• Now add salt to taste and a teaspoon of sugar or less if you want. Add the green chilies and cook a while till the excess water begins to dry up and till the gravy comes to a boil.
• Next gently add the fried fish pieces let it cook on high heat till the oil separates and floats on top. Before taking off from the fire add the clarified butter.