Barbecued Grilled Fish- Kerala Style

The thought of eating a grilled fish was lingering in our minds from the time we saw many youtube videos, in which they grill the whole fish, or wrapped in banana leaf and baked or in foil. This time we decided to cook as soon as we bought without keeping it in the freezer. Believe me it tasted heavenly!!!

The place where i came from (Kerala) is a place where fish is staple food and Kerala cuisine has a lot to offer to fish lovers. In this coastal state you will discover a variety of seafood delicacies. 

This grilled fish has all the flavors seeping through and once it gets cooked well, it's so juicy and bursting with flavors. Fish cooks very fast and it's preparation is less time consuming. We can do this using pieces of fish but I wanted to try the whole fish and here it is, in my blog. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

Marination:

1. Red Snapper Fish- 1 Medium size
2. Red Chilli powder- 3 tbsp
3. Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tbsp
4. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 2 tbsp
5. Pepper Powder- 1/2 tbsp
6. Curry leaves- a bunch 
7. salt- as required
8. Lemon Juice- 1

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients except curry leaves in a large mixing bowl and keep this aside.
2. Clean and wash the fish and make slight gashes on both sides of the fish.
3. Rub this marinade well onto the fish and make sure to coat inside of the fish properly. Keep this for about 15- 20 minutes.
4. Place an aluminum foil, spray oil and spread the curry leaves and place the marinated fish on top. Place lemon pieces on top and more curry leaves (optional) and seal the fish in the foil tight. We can seal with another foil paper on top, so that the fish doesn't get burned.
5. Pre heat the barbecue grill, place the fish and close it. Grill for 10-12 minutes using tongs until beautifully charred.
6. Enjoy with a splash of lemon, and vinaigrette onions.

PS: Fish cooks very fast, so always keep an eye on it while grilling.

You can use any fish and also the grilling time can vary accordingly.

Homemade Sushi Rolls

I never thought that I would be making sushi at home. Sushi which I thought was very very difficult is actually very easy and can be made with less ingredients.

For this recipe we bought the sticky rice and cooked according to instructions and while it was getting cooked I made the sushi vinegar by adding normal vinegar with sugar and salt and mixed the peppers and carrots in the vinegar and also sprinkled the vinegar on top of the rice and mixed well. I layered the mat and on top put a sheet of seaweed and spread the rice evenly by using wet hands and arranged everything on top. The first and foremost thing I did was to bake the fish and cook the rice. All the other remaining items were easy to make. Then roll everything, cut and ta da!!!! yummy sushi will be ready within no time.

My daughter is a big sushi fan. I don't know from where she got the craving but she used to always ask us about sushi and when we took her to a Japanese restaurant surprisingly my daughter enjoyed eating the sushi rolls. So tried making them at home and here I am today with a homemade recipe of sushi rolls. Try this easy and simple Sushi rolls and let me know...

Ingredients:

1. Seaweed- 2 sheets
2. Sticky Rice- 1 Cup
3. Vinegar- 1/4 Cup
4. Salt- as required
5. Sugar- 1 tbsp
6. Bell Peppers- 1 no (sliced)
7. Carrot- 1 no (sliced, length wise)

Marinate:

1. Fish- 2 slices
2. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp
3. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
4. Salt- 1 tbsp

Method:
Marinating and baking fish:

1. Marinate the fish using the ingredients and bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes in 350 degrees F.
2. When the fish gets baked, cut into length wise and keep this aside.
3. Mix the vinegar along with salt and sugar and keep this aside.
4. Cook rice till done and mix the vinegar into the rice and keep this aside.
5. Place the sushi mat on a clean surface, and place the seaweed shiny side down on the mat, dampen hands and gently press 3/4 cup of cooked rice and spread it evenly on the mat leaving the edges, place a layer of vegetables and a layer of fish stripes across the middle of rice.
6. Starting with the edge closest to you, use the mat to roll the to compress the filling. Press firmly. Remove mat and wet the knife and cut into pieces and enjoy with a dip of soy sauce and wasabi.

Kerala Easy Fish Fry- For my dad's birthday!!!!

Kerala fish fry is my dad's favorite and ours too. Today for my dad's birthday, I thought of celebrating by posting his favorite dish. As kids we used to get fish very rarely and whenever my dad bought, it was always a special meal.

This is my mom's version of the marination and my dad used to make it, which makes it more special and yumm. Every house will be having their own versions of the marinade. This is a simple and an easy one. Within minutes we can have a delicious side dish.

Fish slices marinated with the spices and shallow fried till done is an amazing appetizer which is every fish lovers dream. This is a staple dish in Kerala non vegetarian house hold. Not only in houses, but also in hotels and restaurants, while walking through the streets of Kerala, the aroma of the frying fish will be lingering.

Ingredients:

1. Fish Slices- 7- 8 nos
2. Red Chili Powder- 2 tbsp
3. Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tbsp
4. Pepper powder- 1 tbsp
5. Ginger- garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
6. Lemon Juice- 1 tbsp
7. Curry leaves- few
8. Salt- as required
9. Coconut Oil- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Mix all the powders, lemon juice, salt along with the ginger- garlic paste in a bowl.
2. Add the clean and washed fish slices and mix the marinade well with hands into the fish.
3. Let it sit for about half an hour and shallow fry them on a pan. Enjoy them along with rice or with just a salad to the side.

Simple and Easy South Indian Fish Curry/ Meen Kulamb

I first tasted this fish curry, when my dear friend made it for a potluck and instantly we all liked it. From then on,  I started making this fish curry by asking her for the recipe. When I made the first time, I forgot to note down, so the next time again I asked her for the recipe and this time I noted it and here I am sharing the recipe in my blog. I never made a fish curry other than the Kerala style. My daughter likes this fish curry a lot, as this is not at all spicy. A perfect kid- friendly dish. Of course in any dish we can adjust the spices accordingly.

This is a delicately flavored, finger- licking, delicious dish in a bowl which can be served in a party along with appam/ idiayppam. I am sure that this will be an instant hit. This is a simple and an easy dish with a combination of freshly roasted and ground spices and tangy gravy in which the cleaned fish pieces gets cooked till done. Here in my house, fish curry is everyone's favorite and this is a perfect one, which we all like to have anytime. Please try this recipe and let me know how it turned out.

Ingredients:

1. Fish Slices - 15- 20 nos
2. Oil- 2 tbsp
3. Onions(roughly chopped)- 2 nos
4. Tomatoes (chopped)- 1 no
5. Garlic Cloves- 6-7 pieces
6. Coriander Seeds- 1 tbsp
7. Pepper Corns- 1/2 tbsp
8. Cumin Seeds- 2 tsp
9. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
10. Red Chili Powder- 1 tbsp
11. Mustard Seeds- 1/2 tbsp
12. Fenugreek Seeds- 1 tsp
13. Asafoetida Powder- 1/2 tsp
14. Tamarind Extract- 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, pepper corns along with roughly chopped onions. Stir in between till it becomes translucent.
2. Add the tomatoes and garlic. Stir till they get well blended with each other. After for about 5- 10 minutes, switch off the flame and let it cool.
3. After the mixture cools down, grind to a paste. Meanwhile heat the remaining oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaf and asafoetida.
4. Add the ground paste, salt, red chili powder and turmeric powder. Mix well. When the raw smell disappears add little amount of water, stir and allow the gravy to boil. Add the cleaned and washed fish pieces and cook on a low flame till done. Turn off heat and serve along with steaming hot rice.

Baked Fish Sticks

A healthy and nutritious fish sticks would be a perfect tea time snacks or after-school snacks. As kids would be hungry by evening, these fish sticks would be a great option to make as it would take very less time. A crispy outside with a moist inside fish stick is what everybody will love to dig in. These would make a perfect party appetizer.

My daughter will be very hungry after her swimming classes and every day I make sure she eats a healthy snack after an hour-long swimming.

I find it very easy to make these fish sticks as this requires fish fillet which can be thawed very quickly. Once you try making them at home, you won't buy the prepackaged frozen sticks again.
Strips of fish are covered in spiced bread crumbs and baked to perfection. You can have oven roasted veggies along with these fish sticks, which will make a perfect dinner. Hope you all will try this and let me know

Ingredients:

1. Cod Fish Fillet- 1/2 pound (cut into strips)
2. All Purpose Flour- 1/4 cup
3. Bread Crumbs- 1/2 Cup
4. Dried Herb Mix- 2 tbsp
5. Smoked Paprika Powder- 1/2 Tsp
6. Salt- as required
7. Pepper Powder- 1 Tsp
8. Garlic Powder- 1/2 tbsp
9. Egg- 1 no

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the bread crumbs with dried herbs, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Place the flour and egg in separate shallow bowls.
2. Take the fish strips, dip it in the all-purpose flour, shake off the excess. Dip that in the egg and then in the bread crumb mixture. Place them on a lined baking tray. When all the fish strips are done coating, arrange them on a baking tray and bake for about 10-12 minutes. When done, enjoy the fish sticks with ranch or tartar sauce.

Fish Biryani- An exquisite dish to celebrate the 8th blogiversary...

Happy to announce my blog's 8th anniversary
A classic fish biryani which can be devoured at all times. Fish biryani is a perfect combination of the spices, rice along with marinated fried fish. Rather than weekdays, I prefer weekends for preparing elaborate meals like the biryani, which everyone in the house can enjoy comfortably. Usually, I will be making chicken or mutton biryani, this is the first time I tried preparing fish biryani. I tasted the fish biriyani first when I visited my brother’s place. My SIL who is a great cook prepared this within no time and instantly I fell in love with this biryani but I never dared to make biryani at home. I have had a few disasters at first like the rice was undercooked or overcooked! But now I have perfected the art of making biryani and there is nothing like a good home cooked version.

Once I started making biryanis, I prepared this fish biryani and everyone in my house liked it.

We can use sear fish, or any fish fillet to prepare this biryani. This is easy to make and an extremely flavorful dish and will be loved by all seafood lovers.

This time for the MFB Challenge, we can prepare a dish which we repeated before as this month is the anniversary month of MFB Challenge. We started this MFB Challenge exactly a year ago. I choose this fish biryani for the anniversary special and also to celebrate my blog's 8th birthday. It's been 8 years since I started my little space and today I have more than 500 recipes and a lot of friends all over the world. Thank you, one and all for the wonderful encouragement.

Ingredients:

For Biryani Masala:

1. Cardamom pods- 3 nos
2. Cinnamon - 1 Stick
3. Cloves- 3 nos
4. Nutmeg Powder- ¼ tsp
5. Fennel Seeds- 1 tsp

Method:

• Roast the ingredients for the masala. When a nice aroma comes switch off the flame and when cooled grind to a fine powder.

For the Marinade:

1. King Fish Slices- 6-8 nos
2. Turmeric Powder- 2 Tsp
3. Red Chilli Powder- 2 tbsp
4. Pepper powder- 1 tbsp
5. Ginger- Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
6. Lemon juice- 2 tbsp
7. Salt- as required
8. Oil- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat oil. Meanwhile mix together all the ingredients in marinade except fish. Marinate the fish and set aside.
2. When the oil becomes hot, fry the marinated fish till it gets cooked and drain on a kitchen towel.

For the Masala:

1. Onions( Sliced)- 3 nos
2. Slited Green chilies- 4 nos
3. Tomatoes(sliced)- 2 nos
4. Ginger- garlic paste- 1 tbsp
5. Curd- 1 Cup
6. Coriander and Mint Leaves- a handful
7. Red Chilli powder- 1tsp
8. Turmeric Powder- ½ tsp
9. Biryani Masala- 2 tbsp
10. Lemon Juice- 2 tbsp
11. Oil- 1 tbsp
12. Ghee- 1 tbsp

Method for biryani masala:

1. Heat the fried fish oil and ghee in a pan. Add the sliced onions, fry till it turns golden brown in color. Add the slitted green chilies and ginger- garlic paste.
2. When the raw smell disappears, add the sliced tomatoes, lemon juice and stir till it turns mushy.
3. Add the red chili powder, turmeric powder, and the above-made biryani masala powder.
4. Throw the chopped mint and coriander leaves in the above masala. Add the curd and mix till everything gets well blended with the ingredients. Cook till the mixture thickens. Keep this aside.

For the Rice:

1. Small Jeera Rice- 3 Cups
2. Bay leaves- 1 no
3. Cloves- 2 nos
4. Cinnamon- a small stick
5. Cardamom- 2 nos
6. Clarified Butter- 1 tbsp
7. Oil- 1 tbsp
8. Water- 6 Cups
9. Salt- as required

Method for rice:

1. Wash and soak the jeera rice for about half an hour. Drain and keep this aside.
2. Heat oil and ghee in a deep bottomed vessel. Add the cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and cardamom.
3. Add water and enough amount of salt, on a low flame close with a lid. When the water starts boiling add the drained rice and stir well.
4. Close with a lid and let it cook on a low flame for exactly about 20 minutes. Switch off the flame and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
5. Open the lid and fluff it up using a fork. Keep this aside.

For layering:

1. Spread half of the cooked rice and sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and spread a half tbsp of ghee on top.
2. Spread the biryani masala gravy and layer the fried fish. Repeat with the cooked rice, chopped coriander leaves, ghee, biryani masala gravy and at last with the fried fish and the last layer it with rice.
3. Seal the top with a wet cloth and a lid. Place this on a tawa over a low flame for about 10- 15 minutes so that all the masala flavors will be incorporated well into the rice.
4. Switch off the flame and serve this delicious biryani along with raita.

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Baked Pearl Spot Fish in Kerala Spices/ Baked Karimeen pollichathu/ Meen pollichathu

Baked fish or karimeen pollichathu is a traditional Kerala delicacy which I would love to eat in restaurants in Kerala. This is my all time favorite, which is available in different shapes, varieties, and sizes in different restaurants. We can make these at home, but whenever we get this pearl spot fish, we will end up making a Kerala curry or fry. Rarely we will do this pollichathu on special occasions.

Keralites love for fish is well known. Meen pollichathu is one classic dish which will be loved by all and this one is made using a fish which is called as “karimeen” or “pearl spot fish”. We can make this pollichathu with other varieties of fish but this pearl spot tastes delicious for this type of preparation.

“Karimeen” is the name of the fish and “pollichathu” means burnt or fried. It’s been 2 years since we ate this pearl spot fish. Here in the US, very rarely we can see any pearl spot fish in frozen section.We will get all other varieties of fishes in the Indian store, but this time luckily we got it and the first thing that came to my mind is to make this dish, which we didn’t have for 2 long years.

In this “ meen pollichathu” fish is first fried and then wrapped in foil along with the onion masala and baked till done. Instead of baking, we can roast on a pan. We can directly roast the fish without frying as I did in my earlier post of karimeen pollichathu.

Traditionally the fish is wrapped in banana leaf and then fried. The banana leaf gives a unique flavor to the fish which penetrates into the fish and the aroma of the banana leaf is divine which makes the dish more appetizing and mouth watering. Here as it is difficult to find a banana leaf, I used aluminum foil. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

1. Pearl Spot Fish- 4 nos

To Fry:

1. Red Chilli Powder- 4 tbsp
2. Turmeric Powder- 2 tsp
3. Salt- as required
4. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
5. Oil- 2 tbsp

For Gravy:

1. Onions (chopped)- 2 nos
2. Tomatoes (chopped)- 3 nos
3. Lemon Juice- 1 tbsp
4. Curry Leaves- few
5. Pepper powder- 1 tbsp
6. Oil- 1 tsp

Method:

1. Clean, wash and pat dry the pearl spot fish well. Make slits on both the sides of the fish. Keep this aside.
2. Mix the red chili powder, turmeric powder, ginger- garlic paste, and salt, by adding a little water. Smear this masala paste on the pat dried fish and keep this aside for 30 minutes.
3. Shallow fry the fish in 2 tbsp of oil just for about 5- 7 minutes on flipping both the sides and drain them on a kitchen towel.
4. Meanwhile, for the gravy, heat oil in a pan, add the chopped onions and stir fry till it becomes translucent.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, when they turn mushy, add the lemon juice and the above made remaining masala paste. Stir well till everything gets combined well.
6. Add the curry leaves along with pepper powder and salt. Mix and switch off the flame.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
8. Take an aluminum foil to wrap the fish. Place 2 tbsp of the above-made gravy in the middle of the foil, place the fried fish on the gravy and place another 2 tbsp of the gravy on top of the fish, Place a lemon wedge on top and wrap the fish using foil.
9. Repeat with the remaining fried fish and bake for about 20- 25 minutes on a baking tray. Enjoy with hot steaming rice.