Karimeen Fry|Pearl Spot Fish Fry || Cooking with Family and Friends - #4||

Another vacation has come and gone by. Every food restrictions you impose on yourself goes for a toss when at home in India. Initially I struggle and some how maintain a balance. After a point in time, all the determination fades and I end up eating without a second thought ( The angel in asks me to eat the food cooked with love by your family and the devil in me reminds me of the weighing scale. After conflict of interests, the devil surrenders to the angel) The first few days after the vacation is again a transition mode. Trying hard to suppress my cravings and get back into routine ( not to forget the yummy stuff you have tugged along all the way from India) One week into our return and I am still fighting off the eating frenzy.

My series of Cooking with family took backseat for a while and now I am back with the 4th in the series. Recipe from my mother-in -law's kitchen. Her fish fry always tastes different from the normal ones I have had and here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients

1. Karimeen/ Pearl Spot - 2 medium size
2. Garlic - 2 to 3 pods
3. Fenugreek powder - 1 pinch
4. Kashmiri Chilly powder - 1 tsp
5. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
6. Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
7. Salt to taste
8. Water 
9. Oil for shallow frying

Method

• Clean the fish, let excess water drain off and create deep gashes.
• In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic pods. 
• To this add chilly powder, pepper powder, fenugreek powder, turmeric powder and salt and combine well. Add just enough water to form a thick paste.
• Apply this marinade on the fish and let it rest for 15 minutes.
• Heat oil in a pan and place the fish in the pan. Let it cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until done on one side uncovered. Flip and cook the other side as well.
• Drain excess oil on kitchen tissue and serve hot with some vegetables

Fish Chilly with crushed peanuts

I am in India on vacation and I did crazily hope to see the rains. As luck would have it, rains were not so benevolent on me and decided to stay clear! The weather is definitely good but to witness rains would have simply been bliss. I still have time left and I hope to see the showers of blessings at some point.

It is hard to be on vacation and stay off food!So I am busy eating, at the same time hoping that I do not add kilos on the scale! (All of us know how hard that is right!!)

Anyways, here is a recipe to try. What makes it special is, as the name states the addition of ground peanuts!Try it to believe it!

Ingredients

1. Fish - 400 gms
2. Onions - 3 finely chopped
3. Garlic - 2 tbsp finely chopped
4. Green chilly - 3 to 4
5. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Peanuts - a handful
7. Soy Sauce -  2 tbsp
8. Vinegar - 1 tbsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Vegetable oil

To marinate

1. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
2. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
3. Ginger- garlic paste - 1 tsp
4. Soy Sauce- 1 tbsp
5. Salt

Method

• Clean and pat dry the fish slices. Prepare a marinade of turmeric powder, pepper powder, ginger garlic paste, soy sauce and salt. Marinate the fish in this for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Roast and coarsely grind the peanuts in a mortar and pestle.
• Shallow fry the fish in oil till crisp on both the sides. Drain excess oil on a kitchen towel.
• In the same pan add the chopped garlic and fry for a minute. Add the onions and saute until it wilts.
• Add slit green chillies and fry for another minute before adding in the pepper powder, vinegar, salt and soy sauce. Let this cook for a minute on low flame.
• Toss in the fried fish along with the ground peanuts. Give it a good mix before turning off the flame.

You may also note

1. Be careful while adjusting the salt level as soy sauce has salt in it already.

Oven baked fish in indo-chinese sauce

It is never too early Christmas!

The best is always saved for the end of the year - there cannot be anything better to end a wonderful year!

I pray this season passes by slow so that I get to savor every moment of it. So while it lasts - let's get into some cooking , carols, decorating and lots of fun filled moments with family and friends.

I did happen to mention last Christmas that our love for Christmas was one thing that brought Shibin and me close. We are leaving no stone un-turned this year as well. We have put up our tree, our Christmas wreath is in making, cbn radio that plays Christmas songs throughout the year is live on my system while I write this, Christmas movies are up and running in the evenings and I am preparing my December menu!

If you are a person who enjoys this season as much as we do then hurry up - put your tree!! Listen to cbnradio - (http://www1.cbn.com/radio/christmas) if you love the carols and checkout the Hallmark Christmas movie collection on youtube. None of these are sure gonna disappoint you.

 I could go on about Christmas but I do have more recipes I hope to put up this Christmas and hence let me save my stories for later. Here is a recipe you could try out for your December menu - Oven baked fish in indo - chinese sauce.

Ingredients

1. Fish - 1 kg
2. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
3. Red chilly powder - 1 tsp 
4. Onion - 3 large chopped
5. Garlic- 2 tsp chopped
6. Green chilly - 2 chopped
7. Soya sauce - 3 tbsp
8. Tomato sauce - 2 tbsp
9. Water - 3 tbsp
10. Coriander leaves - 1 bunch chopped
11. Salt to taste
12. Oil - 2 tbsp

Method

Clean and pat the fish slices dry. Create slit on the fish to help the flavors seep in.  

Marinate the fish in turmeric powder and salt for about half an hour.

In a bowl, stir in the tomato sauce, soya sauce with water and keep aside.

Meanwhile heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes before adding the green chilies and cook until tender. Add the chilly powder and cook the masala. Add the previously made sauce mix and switch off the flame,

The fish can either be baked in a tray or in an aluminium foil.

Pre heat the oven at 200 degree centigrade.

Line a baking tray and pour spoonful of sauce on to the tray and place the fish on top of this. Pour the remaining sauce onto the fish completely covering the fish. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until done.

Alternatively, place your fish on an aluminium foil and bring the edges of the foil together. Add in the sauce and bring together the edges of the foil , press it together and roll it prevent the steam from escaping. Bake for about 20 minutes or until done.

You may also note - 

1. I used 2 big Pomfrets and hence my baking time would be on higher side. You may adjust according to the fish you are using.

Fish Mappas/ Meen Mappas

Fish Mappas or Meen Mappas is a traditional Kerala recipe flavored by the addition of coconut milk. This is served along with appam, idiyappam or bread roll. 

My recipe is an adaptation of the one I had seen on cookery show - Shappile curry naville ruchiyum on television. I have tried this recipe a couple of times with different fishes like Karimeen and Vatta. It turned out the best with Neymeen/ King Fish which I made this time and we finally decided to put it up in the blog.

Unlike fish molly, mappas is a little tangy due to the addition of kudampali/ pot tamarind and blends well along with the creaminess of coconut milk. This recipe is now a favorite with us.

So, here you go - 

Ingredients

1. Fish slices - 9-10 pieces( I used King Fish - you may use karimeen or pomfret also)
2. Onion - 2 medium sliced lengthwise
3. Green Chilly - 4-5 slit
4. Ginger - 2 tsps chopped
5. Tomato -1 medium sliced lengthwise
6. Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
10. Coconut milk - 1 coconut
11. Curry Leaf - 1 sprig
12. Kodam pulli/ pot tamarind - 2 pieces
13. Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

Method

Being a Keralite, I am used to making fish curry in mann chatti/ earthern pot. It somehow gives me a feeling that I am home :) However, it is not mandatory to use one. Any pot would do. 

Heat the oil and add the fenugreek seeds. Add mustard seeds and when it splutters toss in the chopped onions along with the ginger. Saute it, till the raw smell goes away and add the green chilly. 

When the green chilly slowly begins to change color, add turmeric powder and coriander powder. Stir till the masala gets cooked. 

I usually take the milk from freshly grated coconut. You may use store bought coconut milk as well. 

For those using fresh coconut milk, you may take the milk twice - thick milk and thin milk.

Add the thin milk and once it boils, place the fish slices into the pot along with tomato slices and pot tamarind.

Bring this to boil and simmer it on low flame covered till the fish gets cooked. Then add the thick milk. Switch off the flame as soon as the gravy comes to a boil. Avoid stirring the fish curry once cooked as the fish being tender, tend to fall apart.

Garnish with curry leaves.

Does not take a very long time to cook and a perfect recipe for weekend get together with friends and family.

Fish Molly/Molee - Kerala fish stew

Appam has been my all time favorite. It's appam for Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Anniversary and any occasion you think of. Appam, according to me goes best with stew and hence set out to explore the best and easiest way to make stew.

I have come across various recipes for fish molly but I found my mothers recipe the easiest and the best . I tried out this recipe on my husband - the guinea pig of all my experiments. He seemed to pretty much like it and not to lie - I loved it too. So without much delay I decided to put it up here. This post is for my dearest Mamma from whom I learnt the tricks and trades of cooking. Let me not forget to thank my hubby who willingly tastes all that I cook.

Ingredients

For Marination

King Fish - 1 kg sliced ( Any fish of your choice but I personally feel it tastes the best with King Fish)
Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt as per taste

For Curry

Onion - 3 medium sized thickly sliced lengthwise
Ginger - 2 tsp finely chopped
Green Chilly - 4 slit
Potato - 2 Medium chopped
Coconut - 1 cup grated
Cinnamon - a small piece
Cloves - 2

Cardamom - 2
Curry leaves
Whole pepper
Cashew nuts
salt to taste
Oil

Preparation 

1. Wash the fish slices and drain off excess water from the fish. Marinate the slices with pepper powder and salt and keep it aside for an hour.
2. In a Kadai, heat a little oil and fry the fish gently on both the sides( Remember not to deep fry it or fry it for long.) Mop off the excess oil from the fish using a tissue paper.
3. Splutter in ingredients 6-8 into the oil and stir them well. Into this ,add the sliced onion and saute for 3 minutes on low flame. Toss in the ginger and green chillies and saute for another 3 mins or till the raw smell of ginger goes away.
4. Add the chopped potatoes and fry for another 5 minutes.( You could also separately fry the potatoes and add in). Pour in 1 cup of water and let it boil on low flame.
5. Meanwhile let us get the coconut milk ready. Ideally, you need to blend the coconut three times in the mixer to get milk 3 times. The milk that you take first time is the thickest, followed by the medium one and then the thin.
6. Pour in the thin milk into the kadai and let it boil for 2 minutes before pouring in the medium one. Let this boil well. Make sure the potato that you tossed in earlier is cooked well by now. Once you have poured in the milk, refrain from using high flame. Add the fried fish slices and salt as per taste. Have the lid of the kadai on for sometime. Finally pour in the thick coconut milk and switch off the flame just when the gravy just starts to boil. Do not let the gravy boil too long once the thick milk has been poured in.
7. In a mortar and pestle crush 4-5 whole pepper and 2-3 slices of onion. Splutter it into little oil along with curry leaves. Your Fish Molly is now ready withe the final garnish of pepper, Curry leaves and Onion on top which gives it a special aroma.
8. You can also fry the cashew nuts and spread it over the top while serving.

Fish Stew is a perfect side dish for appam and bread. I found this recipe simple and quick!! I hope you like it too!!

If you try it - do not forget to send me the pictures:)

Fish/Meen Thoran

I wanted my first ever recipe on this blog to be really special. I spent almost two weeks wondering what it could possibly be. I came up with a big zero and that is when I made this fish thoran. It was a quick decision. I had few slices of fish left in the refrigerator and definitely did not want to fry it. That is when I remembered a dish my mother used to make. Without a minutes delay I messaged her and the next minute I had my recipe and in the next 45 minutes my dish was ready :)

So I guess no dish can be more perfect than this to start off. A recipe from my mothers kitchen and  a dish my husband devoured.
Thoran is a Keralite dish that is generally eaten with steamed rice and usually made from vegetables. Here is my attempt at creating a seafood version of the traditional thoran which is medium spicy and trust me quite crunchy too.

Ingredients

Fish  - 3 whole medium sized Mackerel( Use the fish of your choice - but I found Mackerel to be really tasty when steamed)
Onion - 2 medium sized finely chopped
Coconut - 5 tbsp heaped (grated)
Ginger - 2 tsp finely chopped ( you would not enjoy biting into big ginger chunks)
Green Chilly - 1 tsp finely chopped
Curry leaf - 1 whole sprig
Chilly powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Oil

Preparation

1. Marinate the mackerel in salt and turmeric powder and steam it till cooked. Alternatively you may also boil the fish in little water and make sure the entire water is dehydrated.
2. Once cooked, separate the fish from the bones. Ignore the very small delicate bones. Just mash the fish with your hands and keep this aside. ( Need not use a mixer for this)
3. In a Kadai, heat 2 tsp oil and throw in the finely chopped ginger and green chilly. Stir it for a minute and toss in the finely chopped onion. Stir till cooked.
4. Add the chilly powder and stir for a minute before you add in the cooked fish. Mix well and sprinkle the grated coconut. Stir well to combine all the ingredients. Keep it on low flame for another five minutes. Adjust salt as per your taste.
5. Garnish - In a pan add little oil, toss in the curry leaves and once it splutters mix it with the dish. Your fish thoran is now ready to be served for lunch.

This is a very simple and quick recipe. Hope you do attempt making this and love the taste of it just like I did.