God's own Fish

    

  This is a signature dish of chef Suresh Pillai. I happened to taste this for the first time when a friend invited us for dinner and served this curry.She told me  that this  is a simple and easy recipe  which she happened to watch in some videos by a chef but  didn't specify anything about the name. Later, one day  when i was watching something, I happened to see this recipe and came to know that it is Chef Suresh Pillai's signature dish,originally named as "God's own Pomfret".It reminded me of the dish which I had in my friend's house and  I thought of recreating it and my husband loved it with palappam .This is a very simple recipe but the taste is outstanding. The fish is marinated with spice powders and then shallow fried and poached in coconut milk. Finally chopped ginger, green chilli, and curry leaves are added which gives this dish a unique and distinct flavor, which every " Malayali" will love. For me, this finger - licking dish tastes somewhere in between the  "Fish Pollichathu"  and "Fish Moilee". This recipe is usually done with Pearlspot (Karimeen) or  White Pomfret (white Avoli) and poached in banana leaf .But since I didn't have karimeen and  banana leaf , I did it  with Tilapia (which has the closest taste of Karimeen ) just in a normal pan but the taste was almost equally good. This dish goes well with palappam, bread or even chapati and porotta.

Ingredients

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1. Fish - 1 big(or 2 small) (pearlspot, pomfret or any firm fish)
2. Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
4. Lemon juice -1 tsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. Pepper powder -1/4 - 1/2 tsp
7. Chopped curry leaves- 1 tbsp
8. Thick coconut milk  - 1 cup
9. Green chilli -4 big (slit into 2)
10. Curry Leaves - 2 spring
11. Ginger - 1 inch piece (chopped)
12. Coconut Oil -for frying

Method

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1. Make a masala paste by mixing the ingredients numbered 2 to 7.
2. Clean the fish well and make gashes so that the masala is well penetrated deep inside.
3. Marinate the fish with prepared masala  and keep aside for minimum of 1 hr.(best to keep overnight refrigerated)
4. In a heated pan , add coconut oil and sprinkle some curry leaves.
5. Place the fish on  hot oil ,and shallow fry them ,flipping both sides till they are cooked well and brown.
6. Now add thick coconut milk and in medium heat , and add chopped ginger and slit green chilli.
7. Add a dash of salt and pepper powder to the gravy.
8. Generously add fresh curry leaves and let the fish poach in this gravy for about 5 minutes.
9. Finally add 1 tsp of coconut oil  which enhances the flavor.
10. This tastes best with palappam, bread, idyappam, chapati or porotta.

Notes
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• If you have  banana leaf then poach the fish with the coconut milk gravy  in that.
• Be generous in adding curry leaves as it enhances the flavor.
• The number of green chilli and qty of pepper powder should be added to ones taste and spice tolerance level.