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Sweet and Sour Fish Patia

Sweet and Sour Fish Patia is a traditional Indian recipe for a classic Parsi (Persian) dish of sweet and sour fish with curry-style flavourings. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Indian version of: Sweet and Sour Fish Patia.

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

30 minutes

Total Time:

45 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : CurryChilli RecipesSpice RecipesIndian Recipes

This is a classic Parsi dish from Mumbai. In essence it’s a sweet and sour stir-fry but flavoured with masala. Typically, it’s made with pomfret (actually Indian Ocean black pomfret (Parastromateus niger), but you could use Atlantic pomfret (Brama brama) you can substitute sea bass, red snapper, flounder, small grouper, tilapia, cod, haddock, or any firm white-fleshed fish. I have two versions on this site, this authentic one and a ‘quick’ slightly westernised version, the recipe for which can be found on my Fish Patia recipe page. In this authentic version jaggery provides the sweetness and tamarind juice the sour notes.

Ingredients:

2 large Pomfrets (or any other firm white fish scaled, gutted and cut into pieces)
2 tbsp Gram (chickpea) flour
6 Green chillies
1 tsp ground cumin
1 bunch Fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves only (reserve the stems for the masala)
1 tbsp Tamarind pulp
120ml (1/2 cup) oil (sunflower, vegetable, groundnut, rapeseed etc)
6 Red chillies
1/2 head of Garlic
1 tbsp ground coriander (dhania)
3 1/2 Onions
2 ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp Jaggery
1 tsp sea Salt (or to taste)

Method:

Cut fish into pieces, wash and season with a little salt, then set aside.

For the masala, place the chillies, peeled garlic, coriander stems, cumin, tomatoes and coriander powder with 3 onions, finely chopped. Render to a paste and set aside. For the tamarind water, place the tamarind paste in a cup, pour over 4 tbsp boiling water, mash into the paste and set aside.

Heat the oil in a pan and use to fry 3 tbsp finely chopped onions until browned (about 10 minutes). Now stir in the masala and fry until no longer raw (about 5 minutes). Season with salt and add the jaggery. Drain the water from the tamarind pulp and add to the dish. Continue frying, stirring frequently for 2 minutes before stirring in the gram flour. Fry for 2 minutes more then add 500ml (2 cups) water and bring the mixture to a boil.

Add the fish pieces, bring back to a simmer, and continue cooking gently until the fish are done (about 12 minutes, depending on thickness) and the oil has separated out and floats on top of the dish.

Traditionally this is served with yellow rice or khichdi. If you like more heat then slice a few green chillies into rings and use these as a garnish.