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Zarebeian Mahee Batkhae

A fish dish of sliced fish boiled in a cloth, coated with curry paste, fried, and cooked over rice with ghee.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,189 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Zarebeian Mahee Batkhae

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Clean and wash the fish well in water three to four times.

  2. Soak the fish in gingly oil for 30 minutes.

  3. Wash the fish again, rub it with chennah flour, and wash it again. Rub the fish with more flour and wash it again.

  4. Bruise some lemon leaves, mix with water, and rub the fish slices with it.

  5. Tie the fish slices in a cloth and boil in water until nearly done.

  6. Remove the fish from the water and take out the bones if necessary.

Fry the cutlets

  1. Mix half the curry paste with saffron and a couple of beaten eggs. Spread the mixture over the fish.

  2. Fry the fish until golden brown.

Layer and steam

  1. In a saucepan, place bamboo sticks and lay the cutlets on them, adding the remaining curry paste.

  2. Parboil the rice in plain water.

  3. Place the rice on top of the cutlets and pour a little ghee over it.

  4. In the center, place a biscuit and some rice colored with saffron, then cover the saucepan tightly.

  5. Put charcoal fire on the cover and cook on low heat until you hear the ghee bubbling.

  6. Remove the fire from the top and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,299 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Cardamom + coriandertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together872 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cardamom + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Cardamom + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main body of the dish and carries the spices and coating.
Rice
Forms a layer on top of the cutlets that absorbs the ghee and steam as it cooks.
Eggs (in the method)
Bind the spiced coating to the fish so it holds together while frying.
Ghee
Adds richness and fat, and helps the rice cook with a golden, aromatic finish.
Chennah flour
Dries the fish surface and helps the coating adhere before frying.

The step that matters

Fry the fish until golden brown. The fish is already boiled, so frying is mainly for browning and setting the egg coating. Too little heat leaves the coating soft and pale, while too much can scorch the outside before the centre is heated through.

Flavor stand-ins for the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, rice, flour, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger):

  1. Turmericbetter flavor fit
  2. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  3. Allspicebetter flavor fit
  4. Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, rice, flour, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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