Crunchy coriander fish with peanut yogurt dip

Preparation Time : 30 minutes | Cooking Time : 45 minutes

Ingredients
Fish fillets - medium sized (2)
White pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
Pepper corns - 8 to 10
Red chilies (whole) - 3 to 4
Thyme - 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Maida (refined flower) - 4 tbsp
Corn starch - 1 tbsp
Oil for frying
Salt as per taste.

Method
Cut the fillet into 8 pieces, marinate it with salt, pepper powder, lemon juice for half an hour. Dry roast the coriander seeds, pepper corns & red chilies. Grind to a coarse powder. Add thyme to this.
In a bowl mix the spice powder, finely chopped coriander leaves, corn starch & the refined flour.
Now coat the marinated fillets in this mixture and shallow fry until crisp.

You can chose an appropriate dip to go along with the fish. I chose the peanut yogurt dip which went well with the fish and the salad.

Peanut yogurt dip
Ingredients
Yogurt- 2 cups
Peanuts(roasted) -1/4 cup
Coriander leaves (finely chopped) -2 tbsp
Red chilies - 2
Cream - 1/4 cup
Salt as per taste

Method
Hang yogurt overnight in a muslin cloth, keep in the refrigerator (it should not be sour). Crush peanuts coarsely, remove the stem and crush the red chilies.  Take yogurt in a bowl, whisk well, season with salt. Add crushed red chilies, peanuts, chopped coriander leaves. Whisk in the cream and mix well.

Kappa puzhukku & meen curry (Tapioca with fish curry)

Preperation time: 45 mins | Cooking time: 45 mins

A mouth watering combo of the century. :-) Well not for a non-keralite. This is also available in the most smallest of food stalls in Kerala, it is that famous. Tapiocas are relished in various forms. This is only one of its form that best goes with a fish curry.

Ingredients
For Puzhukku
Kappa(Tapioca)–500gms
(cut into small pieces)
Grated coconut–½cup
Cunin seeds–1/2tsp
Green chillies–2nos
Turmeric powder–½ tsp
Garlic–3cloves
Curry leaves–a few
Coconut oil-2tsp
Salt to taste

For Meen curry
Fish-500gms
Grated coconut-1cup
Red chilly powder-2tsp
Coriander powder-1tsp
Turmeric powder-1/4tsp
Green chilli-1
Kodam puli (Kukum star)-2nos
Shallots-3 to 4 nos
Ginger-1/2" piece
Curry leaves-a few
Coconut oil-1tbsp
Salt to taste

Method
Puzhukku
Cook the tapioca with sufficient water until done and drain off the excess water. Add salt and turmeric, cook until they are bit mushy. Now grind coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies & garlic to a coarse paste without adding water and add this to the tapioca. Mix them well, add the curry leaves and cook for 2 minutes. Garnish with coconut oil. This as a dish alone is also very tasty but fish curry is the best combination.

Meen curry
Clean the fish and cut into medium pieces. Grind the coconut, shallots, ginger, red chilli powder & coriander powder to a smooth paste.



Traditionally meen curry is prepared in a meen chatti (clay pot) but it can be cooked in any vessel. Boil the kodam puli (kukum star) in a little water. Add the slit green chilli, a few curry leaves, turmeric powder and the ground coconut paste to this and bring it to boil. Add the fish pieces and salt, cook on a low flame until the fish is done. Garnish it with a few curry leaves and coconut oil.

Note: This curry also goes well with rice.

Fish fry

Preperation time: 25 mins | Cooking time: 25 mins

It is very rare to find a Keralite who does not like fish in any form of food. I think we can just hand pick them. My hustand is no exception. He could have fish 3 times a day if served to him :-). My sons are his followers but I still do not fancy it too much even though I have a few morsels.

Initially we used to buy a lot of frozen fishes and tried out our authentic Kerala recipes but none tasted even close to the original. After a lot of hunting around, my husband found out a stall over here that sold fresh fishes. He bought it once just to test it out and eureka...............it was just like home if not better :-)

Ingredients
Fish-1/2kg
Shallots-5 or 1 medium onion
Ginger-1 small piece
Garlic-3cloves
Chilli powder-1tsp
Coriander powder-1tsp
Pepper corns-10
Turmeric powder-1/4tsp
Curry leaves-a few
Oil to fry
Salt to taste

Method
Clean the fish well and cut them into medium slices and keep it aside. Grind all the ingredients except curry leaves to a fine paste. Marinate the fish with this mixture adding a few curry leaves and leave it for an hour.

For shallow fry
Heat oil in a pan add few curry leaves and the fish pieces along with all the marinade. Fry them on medium flame until it is brown on both sides.



Note: There is always a fight over the meen chor (fish rice). Add rice and a little salt to the left over masala on the pan and mix them well. The result 'a nice spicy rice' to go with your fish fry. :-)
The marinated fish can be stored in the freezer for later use.