Food talk
A fish tale

The delicious dahi-maachh is a real labour saver, writes Pushpesh Pant

WE owe this one to good friend Aslam, Professor of Political Science, a talented actor and a lover of good life who is married to talented short story writer and top-notch translator of fiction Sara Rai. We have long drooled recalling memorable meals served at their table. Sara and her brother Atul, our childhood chum, have inherited a treasure trove of recipes from their mother and aunt but that repertoire is exclusively Awadhi-Banarasi-Moghaliya. So, what was this Bengali classic doing there in Allahabad?

Aslam was certainly showing off a recipe that he had only recently mastered.

Our friend makes no claims that it is the traditional recipe. He doesn’t even pronounce the prefix as doi but stays with the Hindi dahi. Why then the maach? Well, we were told, not to confuse this dish with dahi wali macchali — a brilliant steamed delicacy mentioned in the cookbook written by the redoubtable Raja Saheb of Sailana. What about kasundhi? The retort was swift, "Bengal isn’t the only place where mustard is used either as a seed-spice or cooking medium."

However, it was not long before the fishy tale unravelled. Ashvinida, a professor of political science and manic foodie visiting the University for a Ph. D. viva had recently parted with his short-cut version of the traditional doi maachh.

It certainly has a different texture and taste than what mother cooked and she had spent dozens of years at Santiniketan (now Vishwabharati) and took justifiable pride in her Bangla Ranna.

The purists may quibble but we can vouch for the tasty temptation Aslam served. We paired it with roti and didn’t miss the regulation subzee or daal. Need we repeat that this recipe is a real labour saver. The chore of grinding mustard needn’t be endured. Kasundhi of fairly good quality is available at most food mart these days and can be used without any inhibition.

HOME