This is a recipe from Ahona who had said in a FaceBook comment two months back that she is in love with Methi and suggested her recipe of Sindhi Methi Machchi.
That "Methi Fish" remained in the subconscious strata of my brain. Now you might question the existence of "my brain" but we will not go there, we will just dwell on the subconscious where the "Methi Machchi" had sunk deep.
More than two months later, one hot, sunny morning in August I went on a quest to find that recipe. From my own FB page. It was a gargantuan task. Yes, "gargantuan". I have wanted to use that word for a while now and have never found the opportunity but this one fits, so we will stick with it. I searched high, low, through the timeline, through other people's vacation pics, through total stranger's family photos but could not find Ahona's recipe. There it was one fine day. Right there as a comment on one of the umpteen status messages I tend to post on my FB blog page. And then Boom, the next thing you know it was lost in the bottomless sink of FB status.
That kind of worried me. I mean here I am striving each day, spending precious time, trying to think up smart "Status Updates" and then couple months later ta-da there is no way to find them. My precious pearls of wisdom gone down the drain and without any copyright notice attached to them.
The very thought that there is some FB bin where my hard-worked on status is being messed around with someone's dumb updates like "Guess???" is totally freaking me out. Gawd, who ever wrote the code to this thing.
Anyway thank my stars that I finally found that recipe of Ahona's. By then it was almost lunch time and I had not moved a finger except on the scroll button. And then I realized that I did not have tomatoes or fresh methi which would have been good, errrm actually required ingredients for the dish. But I am an improvisation master and so I substituted tomatoes with yogurt, fresh green methi gave way to Kasoori methi and then I did a whole lot of other changes.By the time I was done and the house reeked of Kasoori Methi and the fish simmered in the beautiful gravy, I did not dare to call this dish "Sindhi". I have no clue on the "Sindhi"-ness of the dish, the "Methi" part is 100% fulfilled though.
This really is a beautiful dish with newer flavors to the same fish curry and was a hit at my home. Thank you Ahona and I am so glad you shared your recipe with me.
Methi Machchi -- Fish cooked in a Methi flavored Curry
I used Tilapia Fillet for this fish. You can use fillet of any other firm fish. You can also use steak pieces of Rohu or Katla. Pomfret too would be a good choice.
I started off with two fillet which I cut in 3x2 pieces. Rubbed the fish pieces with
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Ginger-garlic paste
Salt
Little Lime juice
Heat 2tsp of Oil in a Fry pan.
Fry 3/4 cup of chopped red onion(half of a large one) and
about 8-10 clove of garlic(6 of the fat ones should be good) till onion is soft and browned.
Cool the onion-garlic. In a blender jar put
fried onion-garlic
1/4th cup thick yogurt
Blend to a thick paste with aid of little water.
Note: Alternately, instead of yogurt use 1/2 Cup of pureed tomato
Next add 2 tbsp oil to the same pan and heat. Shallow fry the fish till they are golden brown on both sides. Remove and keep aside.
Now we will make the gravy so if needed add 1tbsp more oil to the same pan.
Temper the oil with 1/4 tsp Methi(Fenugreek) Seeds.
Once the oil is flavored, lower the heat and add
the onion-garlic-yogurt paste
along with 1/2 tsp sugar
Also add 1 tbsp loosely packed Maida/AP Flour and fry the paste for couple of minutes.
Note: If you are using the tomato, then add the pureed tomato after the above step. Fry till raw smell of tomatoes is gone
Next add the spices
1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder or 1 tsp Kashmiri Mirch(adjust the red chili to your taste)
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1tsp Coriander Powder
2tbsp Kasoori Methi crushed between your palm
Note: Mix the spices with 2-3 tbsp of yogurt and then add
Raise heat to medium and with sprinkle of water fry the masala for 3-4 minutes till there is oil separating from the masala and the masala has no raw smell.
Add a fistful of chopped coriander and about a cup of warm water. Add salt to taste. Add couple of slit green chilies. Mix everything together and let the gravy simmer and come to boil.
Simmer till you feel the gravy has reached right thickness. It should not be too watery or soupy.