Amritsari Macchi

Today was the first time I tried out this popular Amritsari roadside food item.

Before I actually made it, I did some research for the recipe but strangely most of the recipes I did find used fish like surmai and rawas. Now since this is a recipe from Amritsar a place which doesn’t have a sea closeby...I found this really funny ... given then both surmai and rawas are sea fish.

I tried with rohu which no one can debate is a river fish. Here goes my recipe...

Ingredients

About 6-8 slices of rohu,

2 1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste,

2 tbsp red chilli powder or as per taste,

Salt to taste,

1 tsp turmeric powder,

½ cup of gram flour,

2 tbsps yoghurt,

¾ tsp of ajwain,

1 tbsp lemon juice,

Oil for deep frying

Method

Clean the fish and pat dry. You can use any large fish of your choice, either boneless or with bones.

Make a marinade using half the ginger-garlic paste, half the red chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder. Apply this to the fish and let it marinate for at least half an hour. I marinated the fish for about 5-6 hours in the refrigerator.

Mix all the other ingredients except the oil and apply to the fish slices. Let this stand for another 20 minutes.

Heat the oil (I used mustard oil, you can use any refined oil) and add the slices about 2-3 slices at a time depending on the size of your pan. Fry till done.

If you like to have your fried fish crisp, refry it while serving, this will ensure the fish is really crisp.

Serve with onion slices and lemon wedges. You can sprinkle chaat masala on it too while serving (I did not feel the need for it).