Gratin Fish With Yogurth Sauce

Preparation:

Preparation: Clean the fish, scrape the surface with the blade of a knife to remove the scales, then wash it inside and out and dry it with absorbent kitchen paper. Make parallel cuts on both sides of the fish, 2 cm apart from each other, which affect the skin and partially also the underlying pulp. Place the fish in a deep dish, sprinkle it with the lime juice and salt, making sure that the two ingredients penetrate the cuts, finally cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil and leave it to marinate for about half an hour. In the meantime prepare the yoghurt sauce: heat the oil in a pan and brown the grated ginger, the peeled and crushed garlic, the lemon grass and the chopped shallot over moderate heat for 4-5 minutes. Cut the red peppers in half, remove the seeds and finely chop the pulp. Add the chillies to the sautéed spices and let it cool, then mix in the cumin, cinnamon, a generous grind of pepper and nutmeg and tie everything together with the yoghurt. Grease a large baking dish with two tablespoons of olive oil, put the fish in it and cover it with the prepared sauce. Pass the preparation in the hot oven (220 degrees) for 25-30 minutes: the fish is cooked when the spine can be easily removed. Heat the rest of the olive oil in a saucepan and gently brown the red and green chillies, cut in half and deseeded, for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Distribute the chillies and their oil over the fish, sprinkle it with the coriander leaves and serve with boiled potatoes or boiled rice. --- ADVICE. It is a typical dish of southern India, where it is called ''Masala Dum Machchi''. It is a very spicy preparation, given the abundant use of chilli pepper, whose ''burning'' flavor is only partially attenuated by the yoghurt. The result is very tasty, even if a little strong for our palate.