Patra Ni Machi
Fish with Green Chutney
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Heat
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Serves
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Dietary Info
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Prep 5 mins
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Marinade 30 mins
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Cook 30 mins
Sea bass cooked with a fragrant green chutney all wrapped up in a banana leaf.
Hari says
This famous dish, created by the Parsi people from the Gujarat region, is usually served at weddings. Cooking and feeding your guests a dish like this is a truly wonderful experience for them as it’s so fresh, rustic and represents everything that’s great about Indian costal food.
The fish, usually something meaty, white, and with a delicate flesh (such as sea bass, never use a strong flavoured fish) is coated with a vibrant green chutney made from fragrant herbs, spices and coconut. This is then all packaged up in a banana leaf, which you can buy online or at most Indian or Thai supermarkets. This locks in the flavours, protects the fish and adds a certain charm to your dish when you cook it and when you serve it. Better than foil, put it like that. These beautiful little packages can be steamed but I prefer to pan fry them or cook them on the BBQ. Oh, and be sure to serve the fish directly in the leaf. It looks really cool!
- Ingredients
- Method
- 4 seabass or pomfret steaks
- 100g fresh coconut, grated
- 3 green chillies
- 50g coriander, washed
- 50g mint leaves, washed
- 4cm piece of ginger
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 lemon
- 1 large banana leaf washed thoroughly, central spine removed
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Method
- Put the fish steaks on a tray and squeeze the lemon over them with a sprinkle of salt and turmeric.
- Rub this over the fish and set to one side for 20 minutes.
- Crush the cumin seeds. Put the coconut, green chillies, coriander and mint leaves, ginger and garlic, a little salt and the crushed cumin into a blender and grind to a smooth paste. And a dash of water if required.
- Coat the pieces of fish all over and keep aside.
- Pat dry the banana leaf pieces and smear lightly with a little oil on the smooth side.
- Place one piece of fish in the center of each piece of leaf and wrap into a neat parcel. Tie with twine from the leaf or with a toothpick.
- This can either be griddled or cooked in a steamer for 15 minutes. Serve it all wrapped up with a some rice.
Nutritional information
| Typical values* | per Serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 138 |
| Fat (g) | 7.3 |
| of which saturates (g) | 4.9 |
| Carbohydrates (g) | 4.5 |
| of which sugars (g) | 0.7 |
| Fibre (g) | 1.1 |
| Protein (g) | 14 |
| Salt (mg) | 0.63 |
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Comments
Comments (2)
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Hari Ghotra
Hi Andrew This is a really fresh dish and the banana leaves make it even more special. Thanks for letting me know you tried it - any pictures? Please do post them in the app! Thanks Hari
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Andrew
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