Mother in Law's King Fish Fry

Super simple fish fry , marinated  ( w/ turmeric , red chilli powder & salt) and deep fried.

Meen Chilli / Fish Chilli

What you need

King fish - 2 lbs (cut in medium size pieces)
Onion - 1 big ( sliced thin)
Tomato - 1 medium ( chopped fine)
Green chillies -  6-7 ( slit lengthwise)
Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few

To marinate 
Salt - as needed
Chilly powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

How you make 

Marinate the fish pieces with all the ingredients listed under 'To Marinate' and keep aside for 20-30 minutes.In a pan heat oil in medium high heat and fry curry leaves, sliced onions.Fry until onions are golden brown and add gg paste.Saute this until raw smell of gg paste is gone.Now add chopped tomatoes to this mix ( you can add little salt needed for the masala at this point) and fry until tomatoes are completely mashed up and no where to be seen.Now the  complementing masala is ready for the fish pieces. Add marinated fish pieces to the masala and mix slowly.On medium low heat cover and cook for next five minutes. Remove the cover at this point and on medium low heat slowly cook the fish pieces.Careful not to break the pieces by turning it so many times. When they are half way  through , add slit green chillies and lime juice .Slowly turn the masala around with out breaking the pieces and switch off the heat once it is cooked .We had it with Simple Dal & Rice.

NOTE : Since the fish pieces were not 'fried' before adding to the masala , it took a while for the raw smell of powders (especially red chilli) to go away.

NOTE : I had dominated the flavor with Green Chillies than Red chilli powder.

Recipe adapted from here.

Nethili meen curry

You will need

Nethili meen ( anchovies) - about 20 

Coocnut milk - 1/2 can of

Onion -2 medium sized, chopped 

Tomoato - 3 ( grinded)

Green chillies - 2 (slit lengthwise)

Redchilli powder - 2tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Ginger Garlic paster - 2tsp

Mustard seeds- 1tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1tsp

Fennel seeds - 1tsp

Tamarind - 1 lemon sized

Oil - 3-4 tbsp

Salt - as needed

Curry leaves - few springs

How you will make

In a pan heat oil on medium high heat and splutter mustard seeds.Now add fennel, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and green chillies.Fry for a few seconds and add chopped onions.Fry until onions are 3/4 cooked, Now add turmeric powder,red chilli powder and ginger garlic paste.Saute until raw smell is gone and add grounded tomato to this.Cook until all comes together and then add the tamarind pulp & salt to this mix.Boil the gravy until raw smell is gone and all ingredients starting to come together.

Now reduce the heat to medium,  add diluted coconut milk to this gravy.Boil for another 3-4 minutes.

Now add the fish pieces and cook them without disturbing the gravy.It won't take much time to cook small fish like anchovies.So keep the gravy on medium heat and cook for another 10 minutes and switch off.Serve hot with

Note : Adding coconut milk to this gravy is optional.I added it for traditional taste.Add coconut oil instead of vegetable oil to have that extra kick.

Easy Mathi/Sardine Curry

One of my fav fish dish in my college hostel...





Ingredients

Mathi/Sardine Fish - 10
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4tsp
Small onion /shallot slices - 1/4cup
Ginger slices - 1tsp
Garlic pods/sliced - 6 (small)
Red Chilli powder - 1tbsp
Tamarind water - as needed (or you can use kodam puli)
Curry leaves
Salt - as needed

Method

Soak red chilli powder in little water.Fry mustard and fenugreek seeds in hot oil.Add onion slices to this and saute.Once it is almost sauted well, add ginger slices and fry.When this almost fried add the soaked red chilli powder and saute.Add sufficient water to this sauted masala and cook.Add garlic slices,curry leaves,salt and tamarind to this.Once the gravy is cooked well and raw smell of chilli powder is gone, the gravy thickens , plcae fish fish pieces slowly into the gravy and cook with lid half covered.Whenit starts to boil, remove the lid and cook it slowly until the gravy thickens.





Recipe source - K.M.Mathew

A friendship day to remember and Fish in coconut milk gravy

Yesterday, on Friendship day, S took over the house and gave a day off for me from my usual duties.While i went out shopping, he cooked his special mutton biryani for me.So when i came back tired from shopping (?) delicious hot biryani was waiting for me.Thanks to dear S for being a true friend and Hubby and for making the day special.




I clicked this picture before i left the house, as he was chopping up....




Mutton biryani with onion raita...


Fish in Coconut Milk Gravy



Ingredients

King Fish pieces - 2 lbs
Coconut oil - 2 tbsp
Red Onion - 1( finely chopped)
Tomato - 2 (finely chopped) (or use 1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes from a can)
Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 3 (slit)
Coconut milk - 1 cup (i used store brought)
Jeera - 1/4tsp
Garlic - 2 cloves
Tamarind water - 1/4 cup
Curry leaves - 1 string
Salt - as needed


Method


Heat coconut oil and fry curry leaves,jeera,green chillies, garlic, onion, tomato very well.Then add red chilli and tumeric powder and saute well.Now add fish, tamarind and salt.Cook till fish is fully cooked.Now add coconut milk and switch off the heat soon.Do not let it boil.Enjoy it with rice.

Ulli/Onion pacchadi,Pomfret fish fry

Ulli/onion pacchadi is a common side dish or you can it a pickle type in our home whenever there is sambhar.This dish goes very well with sambhar and rice.Very very easy to make.I served this with pompret fish fry and pudalangai/snake gourd sambhar

Ingredients

Red onion - 1 (chopped)
Green chillies - 3 (chopped)
Tamarind paste - 2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - as needed

Method

In a pan,heat oil and fry mustard seeds, green chillies and curry leaves.Now add chopped onion and saute till they become translucent.Now add tamarind and salt.Add water if needed.Let it boil till it thickens.Serve it with rice and sambhar.




Pomfret fish fry

Another tasty fish fry, i made this similar to this fish fry.Just have to make slits on the fish before applying the masala.

Fish curry

This is MIL's trademark fish curry.The original recipe is from her MIL...:).My husband loves it so much and i try harder everytime to make it just like MIL.After almost 6 years, finally i am able to make it upto that mark...

Ingredients

King fish - 1-2lbs
Small pearl onion - 5
Tamarind - 1 small lime size(soaked in 1 cup of water)
Red chillies - 8
Pepper corns - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Whole Dania - 1tsp
Garlic-1 clove
Jeera-1/2tsp
Coconut Oil - 2tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Coconut - 1 cup (shredded)

Method

Clean the fish pieces with little bit of turmeric.Grind coconut,1 pearl onion,curry leaves,dania,turmeric powder,garlic,jeera into a smooth paste.In a heavy bottomed pan,heat the grouded paste with the tamarind water.Boil this till the raw smell goes and the curry becomes little thicker.Add the fish pieces at this point and don't stir it.Boil it till the fish is cooked full.In a pan, heat coconut oil and fry mustard seeds ,curry leaves and sliced onions.Pour this into the fish curry.Serve hot with rice.

Fish cutlets,balls,fingers...

I made this fish cutlets(in different shapes) last week.Started making the traditional cutlets first, but as i gave first one to my toddler, he was having difficult time holding the whole piece without dropping it on the floor.So decided to make finger shaped,ball shaped cutlets which he liked alot.Then what, the evening snack became dinner..:))

Ingredients

Fish (boneless) - 3 pieces of cod loins (you can use tilapia,king fish etc)
Potato - 2 (boiled)
Green chillies - 2 (chopped)
Onion -1 (finely chopped)
Chilly powder -1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Garam masala - 1/2tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves - a few (chopped)
Egg - 1
(separate egg yolk and white)
Bread crumps - 1/2 cup
Oil - for deep frying


Method

Cook fish with little salt and turmeric powder and mash them well.(i cooked them in microwave for approx : 10 mts).Boil potatoes and mash them well.In a pan heat oil and saute onions well till they are brown.Now add green chillies and gg paste and saute for some more time.Then add chilli,turmeric and garam masala powders and fry till the raw smell goes.Switch off the heat and let it cool down little bit.Now add mashed fish, potatoes ,salt and egg yolk into it and mix well.Mix everything very well.Make cutlets out of it and dip it in egg white first and then roll it into the bread crumps and deep fry them till golden in color.

Fish Theeyal

Before starting "thanks " to my lil' sis for helping me perfecting this family recipe.Theeyal or karuttha kuzhambu...a must have in our homes.My mom and mil makes this theeyal atleast once a week.As we live in the border of kerala n' tamil nadu, our theeyal is kinda a mixed version of both cuisines.The advantage of this theeyal is that you can add a variety of things into it..You can put veggies like drumsticks,brinjal,vazhakkai etc.You can put egg omelette in this or you can put fish in this like it..But don't put all in one theeyal..and then...hmm..don't blame me...

Ingredients
King fish - 2lbs (cut into small cubes)
(you can use halibut, cod also)
Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
Shallots - 5 -6
Garlic - 3-4 pods
Pepper corns - 1tbsp
Chilly powder - 1tsp
Dania powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 3-5 leaves.
Tamarind - lemon sized ball.

For tadka

Mustard seeds, urad dal, vendhayam,curry leaves.

Method

Soak tamarind in water and extract the juice.Keep it aside.
In a pan,on medium low flame ,heat 2tbsp of oil and fry jeera.Now add coconut and fry till they are almost golden.Now add shallots, garlic,curry leaves,pepper,chilly powder,dania powder and tumeric powder one at a time and keep frying till the aroma comes.(frying this well is the key part).After this cools down , grind it into a smooth paste.Now in another pan, heat oil and do the tadka.Add he grinded paste,tamarind extract and salt.Let it boil well(on med-high) till the raw smell goes and the liquid is getting thicker.Now reduce the flame and fish pieces.Cook under med-low heat till the fish is well cooked.Serve it hot with rice and fish fry.










This is Mutta theeyal...

Fish Pickle

Fish pickle , an authentic kerala recipe...I was so happy to see step by step procedure to make this pickle by Annita from My pleasure My Treasure and wanted to do it rightaway.So went to the store and brought king fish and started cooking at 8.00 pm .Got finished cooking by 8.45pm and ate half the bottle by 9.00pm.The taste was excellent.I have eaten meat pickle , fish pickle etc only from stores or at friend's.But it was a pleasure to taste my own.Can't thank annita enough..

Nethili fry

Another super simple fish dish..

Ingredients
Nethili meen -1/2 lb
Ginger garlic paste -1tbsp
Chilly powder-2tsp
Dania powder-1tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2tsp
Salt
Oil
Lemon juice(optional)

Method

Mix Ginger-garlic,chilly,turmeric,dania ,salt with nethili meen and keep it aside for atleast 30 min.s.Then shallow fry them in the oil.Adjust the spices according to your palatte.I personally like this to have with hot rasam and rice.Enjoy.

Nethili-Mango curry

Fish and Mango ---nothing can go wrong with this ...

What do you need :

Nethili meen -2 cup ( Frozen)
Raw Mango-1/2 cup ( Frozen)

Tamarind : small lemon sized ( adjust this depending on Mango)

Salt : as needed

Tempering

Coconut Oil- as needed

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tsp

Urad dal : 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves : few springs

To grind:
Small onion -1
Garlic-2 cloves
Shredded Coconut-1 cup
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Red chillies - 3
Whole Pepper-1 tsp.

How you make this :

I used Frozen nethili this time and they were little on the bigger side compared to the tiny ones I usually get.These are ready to use but I still thawed them and washed them on running water.Keep them aside.Grind the ingredients listed under ' To Grind' into a fine paste. Mix this paste with tamarind extract.In a heavy bottomed pan, on medium flame start boiling the coconut+tamarind mixture. Add water as needed. Once the raw smell of the coconut paste is gone, reduce the flame and add in the raw mango and fish with salt as needed. My frozen mango were like little shavings of mango without the skin. So I had added it with the fish pieces as both will cook faster.But If you were to use raw mango, then you might need to add mango little earlier. Once the mango pieces are 3/4th cooked then you add the fish pieces.Let this mixture cook slowly and in the mean time heat coconut oil in a separate pan, fry mustard, urad dal and curry leaves.Pour this tempering into the cooked fish curry and switch off the heat.

Do not stir the dish too much with the spoon as it might break the fish pieces. And you canal ways adjust the tamarind extract depending on the sourness of the mango.Note: I had added in some green chillies as well for some extra kick but this is completely optional.

We had this dish with some king fish fry and kappa Puzhukku.

Tilapia Fish Fry

Amma "Phish"..my toddler..from morning asking for fish fry.He loves fish fry and would love to have it everyday.soplanning to fry some tilapia today one of the best tasting fish I have tasted here in US.so the recipe goes like this..

Fish Fry

Ingredients :
Tilapia fish fillets : 4.(i usually buy frozen which comes in individual fillet packs)
(i have tried cat fish and halibut with this recipe)
Ginger-garlic paste : 1/4 spoon
Chilly Powder : 1 sp
Dania Powder : 1 sp
Turmeric Powder : 1/4 sp
Pepper Powder : 1 sp
Lime juice : few drops.
Salt : as needed.
Oil : as needed.
(Adjust the spices according to your tastebuds.)

Method :

Clean the fish fillets.Mix all the spices,salt and lime juice and marinate the fillets in this mixture for about 1/2 hour.Shallow fry them .That's it very easy.My husband loves this with little bit of red wine.For my son, i reduce the spices little bit.

Ingredients :
Fish fillets : 4
Small onions : 3-4
Pepper corns : 1 sp
Turmeric powder : 1/4 sp
Chilly Powder : 1 sp
Salt : as needed
Oil : as needed

Method :

Grind together all the ingredients except fillets.Marinate the Fish fillets in the ground mixture and salt for about 30 mts.shallow fry them.