Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Fish fry (Tirunelveli style)

Fish market is one of the center of attraction for me always. While hubby gets satisfied with some chicken or the much hyped King fish (rarely), I fill my shopping bag with fresh and different fishes. Analyzing those heaps of fish and choosing gives me a kind of satisfaction. The strange thing is hubby gives priority to the beauty of the fish than anything else. So he loves just the dinner plate size slices of king fish or the cute Red snapper (sankara / romeo), butter fish (karapudi), silver pomfret (vaaval)etc. I just blindly allow him to choose 'cos I know that is the only way to make someone eat fish:)
This is the story behind my pomfret fish recipes and no wonder they taste amazing always.

Even though we all fry the fish in a more similar way, the masala added here makes a difference. While talking with my friend Gita , I found that she also follows the same recipe , which she got from her grandma who lived there years ago and that made us realize that this masal belongs to Tirunelveli. See how the simple masal makes us analyze the generations.I too wanted to post my home town version and so here is it for you to enjoy.



You are seeing the pomfret fish fry served with lemon wedges along with fish kulambu and crab masala, in out of focus:)

Ingredients:
Pomfret fish - 6 slices (1 lb)
salt - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
tumeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp

lemon - 1

To grind:
Shallot onion (sambar vengayam)- 4
Shredded coconut - 1/4 cup
cumin - 1/2 tsp

Oil (to deep fry) - 200 ml (1 cup)
(I used corn oil here).

Method:
Wash the fish and remove all the fins and scales by a knife.
Then slice it into thin slices (as shown in photo).

Apply little turmeric powder over the fish and keep aside.

Grind the onion, coconut and cumin to a fine paste.

Mix the ground masala with the powders and salt given above.
Squeeze 1/4 lemon to the masala if you need a crispier fish fry.
Otherwise don't add lemon juice now.Lemon makes the fish stiff , removes bad odor and discourages breaking of fish while frying.

Gently rub the masala over the fish slices(dab some masala inside the fish too)and marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a broad based wok .Put the pieces one or two at a time and fry both sides crispy.

Fish fry is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with any rice. The suitable combinations are sambar rice , rasam rice or meen kulambu rice.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Vada curry

Vada curry is a very simple side dish available in the street side shops of TamilNadu , served along with 'set dosa' or any breakfast item.Mostly the day after diwali, we can see people preparing this vada curry with the left over paruppu vadai and vegetable kuruma. It is my younger brother's favorite too. Oh, yeah! if I didn't mention him here, I will get enough from him:) After having it in his teacher's house he started pestering us for this curry and we too tried our best after festive days without wasting the vadais:)

But Vada curry entered my life in full swing after marriage only. Hope some of my friends know our adventures while dating :) We treasure those memories a lot. After marriage Xav took me to all the restaurants and places he enjoyed during his bachelor days. I simply love the way he describe his entertainments like the frequent movies, late night dinners,the way he waited for my phone call or letter, funny stuff with friends etc. Slowly it became the habit for us to enjoy his favorite road-side food shops. Most of the Sundays we used to buy the breakfast (carry home pack) from a nearby shop (KK Nagar) along with his favorite News papers , magazines etc after attending the 7 Am mass. Nowadays I started making my own vada-curry, from scratch.

Enjoy with your loved ones:)



The short cut is to make use of the left over vadais and kuruma. But we can prepare it from scratch too. Click the links to get the complete method.

Ingredients:
Masal vadai - 6 (big size)
Vegetable kuruma (with lesser vegetables) - 2.5 cup
Fennel - 1/2 tsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
cilantro - a handful
mint leaf - a handful
curry leaf - 1 sprig
oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Take the vadais and crush gently with hand to get small pieces.
Heat oil in a wok and add fennel, cinnamon , curry leaf.
Then add the crushed vadai pieces and fry a little.
Now add the kuruma and bring it to a boil.
Switch off and garnish with mint , cilantro etc.

Vada curry is ready!

Variations:
We can make the vada or dumplings by steaming also. Some time I do them over dosa tawa and its also worth the try. If you make the vada curry from scratch, then make small pakodas (fritters) instead of vada.

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with sponge dosa, poori or chapati.

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