Galtarcha Sarga

These pics are shared by Dhanvant Koli, is a reader of my blog and also from my village Thal. His son, Smit reminds me of my childhood of holding the pomfret in my hand exactly the same way with a scream of joy just like this kid.

As a child I would just wait for almost any holidays to go to Thal be it Summer, Diwali, Christmas holidays or even Ganapati festival. It was a completely different world with the seashore beckoning us to play right from daybreak till night. But the most exciting was going to the "Dhela" kind of a natural jetty formed by rocks. Everyday the Galbat-boats brought the day's catch to the shore at 9.00 am. We kids would wait for special treats our staff got for us. One of the favorites was Sarga (Pomfret) boiled in seawater with a bit of turmeric. We loved to listen to the stories they narated of their time at the sea. The goodies they got for us tasted better after listening to them. I would be wide eyed and aptly listening to stories by Suresh Kaka of how he had set the pot of seawater to boil with turmeric and then as he found the Sarga he put it in the water to cook. The flash cooking of fresh seafood tastes amazing. Then he would advice us not to boil it again it will spoil the taste. He would continue, "Go home and put it on the embers in the chool- woodfired stove. Eat it hot you will grow to be a strong and intelligent girl."

As soon as he finished, we would put the boiled fish in a cane basket and run towards home through the narrow streets of the village showing off the goodies to villagers on they way and shouting yeah~~~~Galtarcha sarga. Sarga cooked on the boat.

The recipe I'm giving here is for a similar version for home cooking. It is impossible to recreate the same magic but this version too tastes good.

Ingredients

1 big Sarga (Pomfret) cleaned on the bone

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Olive oil for basting

salt to taste

Boil the Sarga in water along with the turmeric and salt for just 5 mins. Remove it from water onto a towel. Pat dry and generously apply the olive oil basting and grill it in a preheated oven for 10 mins or till it is slightly burnt on the outside. The Olive oil adds the sizzle to this simple dish. Eat this just as is or with crunchy salad and mayonnaise dressing.