Quick-Fix Meals : Patra Ni Macchi

Patra Ni Macchi (henceforth shortened to PNM) is one of the brand ambassadors of Parsi cuisine, mentioned in the same breath as Dhansak. A popular staple of the lagan nu bhonu (the traditional Parsi wedding menu), I see it going on to achieve even greater fame and popularity than the famed Dhansak - because of its simple, quick recipe which calls for minimal ingredients and its high score on the "healthy eating" quotient.

Traditionally PNM is made using pomfret - delicate fillets sliced from large pomfret. But for that you need large fish ,which can yield sizeable fillets when hacked. An alternative is to use the whole fish rather than fillets - which I was not too keen on, since pomfret has small bones which a fish eating novice like me cant deal with. Also, this being the first time I cooked fish of any kind, I wanted to use my favourite fish, i.e. surmai or kingfish as a good omen. :) So off I went on the non traditional route - and am very happy and proud to say that the improvisation worked - oh it worked damn well!

The recipe is extremely simple and you can get it on at least a dozen websites, and I browsed through a few to confirm the ingredients which I had culled from memories of eating PNM at the several Parsi Navjotes and weddings I attended as a child. Many of these recipes mentioned surmai or raavas (Indian salmon) as alternatives to pomfret, and I was reassured about my choice!

Needless to say, I didnt follow any recipe to the T - a result of my culinary instinct and a lack of some ingredients. :P All the recipes that I checked called for cumin (jeera) to be added to the paste, and a much smaller proportion of mint leaves to coriander leaves. But jeera was not to be found and my inner cook dictated that I use mint generously, so there you are. :)

You MUST eat this dish piping hot - there are fewer pleasures than unwrapping the leaf-parcel of fish and breathing in moist steam, laden with heady aroma of mint and coriander and fish.




The fish is moist, perfectly cooked (flakes at the touch of a fork, yet has a meatiness to it) and is very fresh and flavoursome - so tasty that it converted two non fish eaters in our dinner group to avid fish fans. Need I say more? :)

Here's my take on the recipe:

Ingredients:
7 plump (3/4ths of an inch thick) steaks of surmai
2 tight fistfuls of coriander leaves and tender stalks (yeah, I am an ace at giving accurate measures!)
1.5 tight fistfuls of mint leaves
2 fistfuls (not too tightly packed) of fresh grated coconut
6 green chillies (but the quantity will vary depending on the heat of the chillies)
6 cloves garlic- peeled and chopped
1 inch slender piece of ginger , or 0.75 inches of a fat one - chopped
Salt to taste
Juice of 1.5 lemons
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
2 large banana leaves - if you cant get them from your garden (like I did), try getting them at the flower market. Else use foil, but then the dish should be called Foil Ni Macchi. :)

Method:
Wash the banana leaves and dry them. Cut each large leaf into four square-ish pieces.

Wash the fish and pat dry. Sprinkle some turmeric powder and salt on both sides of the steaks and gently rub it in. Leave aside to marinate for 10-15 minutes.

Blend the mint, coriander, coconut, chillies, lemon, ginger, garlic and salt (remember that the fish has salt on it - so use salt accordingly) to a fine paste in a mixer. Add water sparingly to make a thick paste. (We dont want a runny marinade, the fish gives off its moisture as it cooks anyway, and too much moisture means mushy fish - yuck!)

Pat on the paste to form a thin layer onto both sides of the steaks. Work carefully, precisely - the paste has to just-cover the fish, it is NOT a marinade to be just rubbed into the fish and left as a mess in the bowl.



Wrap each steak in one leaf-square, fold over to completely cover the fish. The leaves need to be cut generously so that you have ample room to fold the leaves over the fish.




Place the leaf-wrapped fish (folds-side-down) onto a steamer (with lid on) and steam for 20 minutes. But the cooking time will vary according to the type of fish used and the thickness of the steak, so start testing the fish for done-ness at 15 minutes or so. (Handy hint - to check for the fish being cooked, pierce a toothpick into the fish through the leaf. If it goes through without any resistance whatsoever, the fish is cooked. Raw fish will offer resistance due to its jelly-like membranous texture)

Remove from steamer, serve the parcels as they are to people - it is awesome to unwrap the fish at the table - like an edible gift. :P

Serve lemon quarters on the side, for people to spritz on, if they so desire.

Enjoy piping hot!