“Poached Mackerel? Are you mad?”

Sigh.

That would be a natural reaction, unless you are a seafood lover who doesn’t mind a strong fishy flavour.

It’s no wonder then that restaurants in Mumbai limit themselves to mostly frying it, coated with a turmeric and red chilly powder marinade. The die-hard seafood restaurants, and I refer to the Gomantak and Malvan variety, offer a mackerel curry too. Unfortunately,  it’s too lowbrow for some of the swishy high-end set and that’s a pity.

The Malvani curry is often enhanced with the fiery tirphal, the cousin of the Sichuan pepper, and hides any fishy-ness completely mostly because your tongue has gone numb.

I was surprised to see mackerel on the shelves in supermarkets in the UK. One such frozen delight from Sainsbury’s was drowned in butter and crushed pepper. On heating, oodles of butter unfroze and everything was soon swimming in it. Not complaining, it worked for me. Yumm.

My mom does a very simple crushed garlic and ginger broth, which she reduces before popping the mackerel in. After simmering for about ten minutes, she pops the pot into a hot oven for fifteen, turning often so that you get an even crust. It’s always a joy to cut through the crust and dig into the softness.

In my pursuit of omega 3 rich oils that helps make one really clever, I consume it often enough to state that I’m a great fan. And I keep trying newer ways to indulge in this fetish. So here’s my latest, fresh-off-the-stove recipe for you to try:

poached mackerel fresh garlic teriyaki

Hmmm mackerel, high on my yumminess factor

Ingredients: 3 mackerels, cleaned; 50g fresh garlic with stems; 2” piece of ginger, crushed then finely chopped; 1 green chilly, finely chopped; teriyaki sauce; 500 ml water.

Method: Marinate the mackerels in the teriyaki sauce for about an hour. In the meanwhile, cut the garlic cloves from the stems and put them through a garlic press. Cut the garlic stems into 1 cm sized pieces. Put the crushed garlic, garlic stems, green chilly and the ginger in a pot with water and simmer till it gets reduced to half. Put the mackerels in, continue simmering for about 10 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice.

Advertisement