Macher Dhokar Dalna / Fish lentil curry

Wash and soak Chana Dal & Yellow split peas / matar dal in water overnight.Boil fish pieces in salted water.Take the dal along with green chillies, salt grind to a fine paste. Add a little water as required for grinding.

Mix onion paste, ginger paste, garlic paste, boiled fish( without bone ) with the dal mixture.In a non-stick pan, heat oil, temper with Hing, sugar.

Now add the ground dal paste to the pan and cook until the mix comes off the sides clean. The dal should be cooked so that is moist and soft but not runny or hard.

Once it is cooked, transfer to a greased plate.

Apply oil on your hands and immediately pat the paste into a cake, make sure the sides are tucked in. Make a 1 1/2 inch width cake. The paste gets dried up fast, so you got to be quick in patting it down.

Once it cools down, cut into 2-inch squares or diamonds/square.Heat a kadai with oil and deep fry the lentil cakes till golden brown on both sides.

Heat oil in a Kadhai or any other thick bottomed pan.

Temper the oil with bay leaf, cumin seeds and a pinch of Hing.Add onion paste & fry.Then add ginger & garlic paste.

Add tomato puree and sauté till tomato is well cooked and there is no raw smell.In a cup mix the curds with coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and turmeric to make a fine paste.

Add the curd paste to the Kadhai and fry the masala at low heat.Add cashew paste and cook.Add the fried potatoes and about 1&1/2 cups of water. Add salt & sugar to taste and cover and cook till potatoes are done.

Next, add Garam Masala and Ghee and gently mix.Now gently slide in the pieces of a fish dhokla or the fried fish lentil cakes. Simmer for a couple of minutes to let the dhokla soak up the gravy.Serve with rice or pulao.