Simple Seafood Stew

Khari machhi, which means “just plain fish,” is a dish so basic, so unadorned that Parsis consider it suitable for convalescents. Like so many simple things in Parsi food, its depth of flavor is astonishing. When my mother and I were making this dish together, I asked why we didn’t use adu lasan, the paste of ginger and garlic with which nearly every Parsi savory dish has to begin. “You don’t use ginger with fish,” said my mother sternly, but she didn’t have an answer to the i