All you need a little patience and the love for food to cook Fish with Malabar spinach.
What is Poi-Machha
Fish with Malabar spinach is a satisfying dish. It brings your taste bud a pickled flavor making you crave for more.
I tried Poi-Machha in a wedding function for the first time. It was a live fish counter. The guy was cooking fish slices on a big iron skillet. The sight was enough to tempt a fish lover like me.
Fish with Malabar spinach
The spices used in Poi-Machha are very similar to what you use in making pickle. Kalonji ,mustard and fennel seeds together bring a distinct flavor to Poi-Machha. Malbar Spincah does not taste like spinach. It has a hint of citrus and pepper tastes.
You may like to try this Mangalorean Fish Curry
I will never suggest to replace mustard oil with other oil. The flavor of mustard oil uplifts the pickling taste of the dish. Where as other oil will fail to do so.
Serving Poi-Machha
The marinated fish slices get cooked on top of Malabar spinach leaves .The green adds so much flavour as well as an impressive presentation.
It has to be served directly from tawa to your plate. Serve as starter or just enjoy 2-3 slices as a main-course.
Usually the big fish like Rohu or Catla slices are used to prepare the dish. But you can always experiment with other varieties of Fish .

Prep Time | 30 minutes |
Cook Time | 30 minutes |
Passive Time | 60 minutes |
Servings |
Slices
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- 400 gm Rohu Fish slices
- 10 malabar spinach leaves big size
- 2 tbsp garlic paste Paste
- 2 tbsp kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp Fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp onion seeds
- 1 tbsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 cup curd
- salt per taste
- mustard oil
Ingredients
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- Marinate Fish slices with garlic paste,turmeric,Kashmiri chili powder and salt for 10 min.
- n the mean time dry roast mustard seed,fennel seed,fenugreek and kalonji. Cool it and make a powder of it.
- Heat 2 tbsp Mustard oil to it's smoke point and cool it completely.Add this oil to fish along the prepared spices powder.
- Add curd and mix well.Marinate for 15 min.
- Take a tawa and put 1/2 tsp mustard oil.Put one malabar spinach leaf on tawa and on top put one slice of fish with little marination.
- Cook at medium flame both side of fish along .It won't take more than 5 minutes for each slice to cook.Serve hot.