Mangalorean Fish Masala Fry
Fish Masala Fry is made with fish fillets coated with spicy marinade and fried on a tawa or pan to crispy perfection. This spicy fish fry recipe is from Mangalorean cuisine. Serve it as a side dish with dal and rice.
Servings: 5
Calories: 415kcal
Equipment
- Tawa/Pan/Griddle
Ingredients
To marinate the fish
- 5 fish fillets
- salt to taste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
For masala
- 15 Byadagi red chilies (or use Kashmiri red chilies)
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
- a pinch of mustard seeds
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds methi
- a pinch carom seeds ajwain
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 small onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1- inch ginger
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 spring curry leaves optional
- a small ball of tamarind remove the seeds
For fry
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 spring curry leaves
Instructions
Marinate the Fish
- Marinate the fish with salt, turmeric and lemon juice. Set this aside.
For the Masala
- Soak Byadagi dried red chilies in hot water for 10 minutes.
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Roast coriander seeds, cumin, black peppercorns, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, and carom seeds until aromatic. Set this aside on a plate to cool down.
- In a mixer/grinder jar, add the red chilies, all the roasted ingredients, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric powder, curry leaves and tamarind.
- Add little water and grind it to thick paste. Transfer the masala to a bowl.
- Add salt and combine. Be careful while adding salt. We have already added salt to fish while marinating it.
- Apply the prepared tawa masala to the fish on both sides.
For Fish Fry
- Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan over medium heat.
- Place the fish on the pan and reduce the heat.
- Fry the fish for 3-4 minutes, each side until it is cooked. Remove it to a plate. The time depends on the cut of the fish. If it is thick then it will require some more time to cook.
- In the same pan, add onion and curry leaves. Sauté until onions over medium heat until golden.
- Reduce the heat and add 5-6 tablespoon of the prepared masala. Cook until the masala starts to leave oil from the sides. Stir it continuously to avoid the masala sticking to the base of the pan.
- Add the fish back to the pan. Apply the masala on the fish and cook it for a minute (each side).
- Spicy fish masala fry is ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- The selection of the right type of fish is important. Use any fish that is bigger in size with thick flesh. You cannot use any soft or delicate fish for this recipe.
- Select the right type of red chilies. I have used byadagi red chilies. They are less spicy and give a bright red color to the dish. You can use any red chilies but add it as per your taste (depending upon the spiciness of red chilies you are using).
- Deseed the red chilies to reduce the heat or the spiciness from it.
- The addition of tamarind balances the spiciness of the chilies. You can add lemon juice to substitute it.
- In some recipes, onions are skipped and directly the masala is fried. I suggest adding onions, as the sweetness from the onions balances the spiciness of the masala fried fish.
- The spiciness of the dish depends on the quantity of masala that you add to the dish. If you like less spicy reduce the quantity of masala.
- You can store the prepared masala paste in an airtight container in the freezer. Stays good for 15 days.
- Always pan-fry fish on low heat. Also, cook the masala on low heat. If the heat is high, the masala will burn and the fish will remain uncooked.
Nutrition
Calories: 415kcal