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- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Difficulty:
easy
- Serves:
2
Shallow-Fried Masala Fish
Description
This South Indian style fried fish is very aromatic and flavourful, slightly tangy, with a nice kick from chillies and garnished with sweet caramelized onions. It goes well together in a meal with curries with gravy or can be served by itself with plain rice or green salad. I used pomfret, but any other flat fish as well as sardines will do. Do I really need to mention how excellent it is with cold beer...? :)
add to shopping list Ingredients
4 small pomfrets or sardines or any flat fish, cleaned
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into wedges
Oil for frying
a handful of fresh corriander for garnishing, chopped (optional)
For Fresh Masala:
1 medium onion
2 green chillies, chopped (cut lengthwise and remove seeds for a milder version)
1 cm ginger root, peeled and chopped
10 curry leaves (optional)
10 black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
2 tablespoons wine or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Lime Juice
Salt to taste
Preparation
1. Put all fresh masala ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend it well until you get a very smooth paste.
2. Using a very sharp knife, make a few shallow slashed along the whole length of the fish on both sides. Cut just enough to break the skin and cutting only slightly into the flesh.
3. Spread the fresh masala evenly over the fish on both sides and putting some of it inside as well. Let it marinate for 15 minutes.
4. Heat some oil in a frying pan and first fry the sliced onion on a very high flame until it browns, caramelizes and becomes crisp. Transfer the fried onion on a plate with paper towel and keep it aside.
5. Heat some more oil in a frying pan that has a lid. Very carefully place the fish into a pan, cover it and let it fry for about 5 minutes of a low flame. Turn it over once being careful to not break the fish and cook the other side till the skin is brown and the fish is cooked thoroughly (another ~3 minutes).
6. Place the fried fish on a serving dish, sprinkle the caramelized onions on the top and garnish with lemon wedges. You can also sprinkle some fresh chopped corriander.
Post a Question or Comment
blog comments powered by DisqusReviews
6/08/10
Theresa111 says:
Wow. This looks a little harder. I sometimes have a hard time flipping my fish over without the skin sticking to the pan. Nice blend of flavors.
6/29/10
It does happen when frying fish sometimes. I try to be extra careful when turning it so that even if the skin tears a little bit, I can manage to put it back. No one is in the kitchen to see it anyways, right? :)
