Meen pollichathu is an authentic Keralan dish. The fish usually used in this recipe is pearl-spot (karimeen) but I have used pomfret fish. In this recipe, the fish is first fried, then wrapped in banana leaf along with a special masala and cooked again on tava/wok.
Ingredients
- Oil for frying fish
- Pomfret fish – 1 (250gms approx, medium size)
- Chilli powder – 1 1/2 tsp
- Lemon juice – 3 tsp
- Salt – as required
- Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
- Ginger and garlic paste – 2 tsp
- Oil – 1 tsp
- Oil – 4 tsp
- Onion (or shallots) chopped – 3/4 cup
- Curry leaves – 12 to 15
- Green chillies – 2 (finely chopped)
- Ginger and garlic paste – 1 tsp or chopped ginger – 1 tsp
- Chilli powder – 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
- Coriander powder – 2 tsp or 2 1/2 tsp
- Salt – as per taste
For marinade
For masala or sauce
Method
- Make slits on the fish so that the marinade can penetrate deep into the fish.
- Marinate the fish for 1 hour or overnight. Mix all the masala (ingredients) in a plate. You can add a few drops of water to make a thick paste. Then apply the masala on the fish.
- Now place a pan over the flame, add 2 tsp oil and when it gets heated up place the fish on the pan or tava. Drizzle a few drops of oil around it and on top so that it won’t stick to the pan. Fry the fish on medium heat for a few minutes on one side and also on the other. See to that the fish is fried well on both sides, but not overcooked. It should not take more than 10 to 12 minutes.
- After cooking the fish, keep it aside.
- Place a kadai over heat, add oil and when it gets warm add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds crackle, add curry leaves and shallots, stir well and cook until it is light brown and soft.
- Now add ginger and garlic paste or ginger pieces and stir for a second. Then add all dry powders and green chillies. Stir well, add 50ml water so that spices are cooked well. Cook on medium heat.
- When the masala is cooked, it starts leaving oil on top and becomes a thick gravy. It should be dry. Add salt as per taste. Take this off the heat and let it cool.
- Take a banana leaf or aluminium foil, grease the area where you are going to put the masala and fish with a little oil (optional).
- Put the sauce on the banana leaf, place the fish on top of the sauce and then put sauce on top of the fish and spread it.
- Close the banana leaf from two sides, then close the other two sides and pierce it with tooth picks or just tie it with a banana leaf(cut it long and thin and just roll it like a thread). This is to make sure that the wrap does not open.
- Place the same tava in which fish was fried over heat, put 1/2 tsp oil and when it gets hot put the fish wrapped in banana leaf on the tava and fry on both sides till the leaf becomes brown.
- Turn carefully as the gravy/sauce can come out. The colour of the banana leaf changes when it is cooked and is an indication of when the fish is done.
- You can close the lid and cook the fish on lower flame. It will take about 10 to 15 minutes. You can even cook without the lid.
- My experience is that when the lid is closed, the fish is more juicy and soft and if the lid is open the fish is a little dry. But it tastes good both ways!
- When the dish is cooked, place it on a plate and open the leaf. You will see that the sauce/masala is nicely infused with the fish.
It involves 3 stages.
1. Frying the fish
2. Masala or sauce
3. Wrapping in banana leaf and cooking
Notes
- Use baby banana leaf if possible. It will not get torn like the big leaves.
- If the masala/sauce is thick and little dry, it will be easy to apply on the fish and to wrap.
- You can use aluminium foil if you cannot get hold of banana leaves.
- If you want you can use chopped ginger and garlic instead of ginger and garlic paste.
- You can reduce chilli if you like. Add salt according to requirement.
- you can add a few tomato pieces if you want while cooking the sauce/masala.
- You can alter the spices a litle bit according to your taste.
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