Fish Makhani (Fish in Creamy Gravy)
Ingredients
For the fish
- 2 pounds fish fillets, any fish with firm white flesh, skin removed, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 lime, juiced
- Salt, to taste
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder, to taste
- 6 whole cloves
- 8 to 10 peppercorns
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 to 10 almonds
- 3 to 4 pods cardamom
- 1 cup plain yogurt, not sour
For the gravy
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, canola, or sunflower cooking oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 teaspoons garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 chopped tomatoes, half of them pureed to a smooth paste in a food processor, the other half left in chunks
- 2 cups fish stock
- 2 tablespoons fenugreek leaves
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- Salt, to taste
- Coriander leaves, for garnish
Instructions
- 1
Mix the fish, lime juice, salt and red chilli powder in a large, nonmetallic bowl. Cover and allow to marinate for 1 hour.
60 min - 2
Heat a flat pan or griddle on medium heat and gently roast (stirring frequently) the cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, bay leaves and almonds till they darken slightly. Cool and add the cardamom seeds. Now grind into a coarse powder in a clean, dry coffee grinder.
- 3
Mix the yogurt, above whole spice powder, coriander, cumin, and turmeric powders together and add them to the fish. Allow it to marinate for another hour.
60 min - 4
Heat the oil in a deep pan over medium heat. When hot, add the onions. Fry till a pale golden brown in color and then add the ginger and garlic pastes. Fry for a minute.
- 5
Add only the fish from the fish-spice mix and fry till sealed (fish will turn opaque and the flesh will go from pink to whitish in color). Stir very gently.
- 6
Now add the tomato paste and chopped tomatoes, fish stock, kasuri methi and remaining part of the yogurt-spice mix to the fish.
- 7
Cook till the fish is tender and the gravy is reduced to half its original volume. Stir very gently every now and then to avoid breaking the fish up.
- 8
Melt the butter in another small pan and then pour it over the fish. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Naan, Kaali Daal, and a salad.
