Fish Fry

This is a very simple direct recipe and applies to almost all fish varieties. Fish or any seafood for that matter is a staple in our house. As a kid, I remember mom always had a batch of fish in the freezer. It was always stored in a simple marinade – turmeric and salt – and later she would cook it into any desired dish. As I got married and started cooking on my own, I involuntarily picked up a lot of these teeny weeny habits from her. We live by the beach and so every Saturday my daughter and I would go buy seafood from the boats directly and I stock them up for a week. Also, recently I started packing off some for my in-laws who live a few kilometers away. I don’t know how many of you can connect, but the feeling of stocking up for the following days, weeks and months, be it pickles, preserves or frozen food gives you a sense of accomplishment. I have a serious weakness for food and the stocking up and regular checking of my stores gives me a huge sense of satisfaction.

Going back to the recipe, Srilankan cuisine is all about minimalisam. Most of the dishes have a few ingredients and each of them sings a dinstinctive note in the flavor profile. Fish fry back in Jaffna was very simple and every household was the same. Because of the minimalism, one can taste the characteristic taste of the fish and appreciate the freshness of the produce. Like my mom always had preferences of seafood and she could differentiate the taste, texture and smell of each fish. This is feel is lost when you mask the real flavor of food when you add too many spices and other ingredients. For this recipe, I have used cleaned whole Trevally fishes.

Fresh fish, marinated in spices and pan-fried to perfection.

Ingredients

• Fish – ½ kg Cleaned

• Tumeric – ½ tsp

• Salt – to taste

• Curry powder/Kulambu milagai podi – 2 tsps

• Garlic – 4 crushed

• Curry leaves – 1 sprig

• Coconut oil – 4 tbsps

Method

1. Clean the fish and drain excess water. Cut into two portions if big or if using whole fish, make slits on both sides for the marinade to seep in.

2. Marinate with all the above-mentioned ingredients and let marinate for half an hour. Use a few drops of water/oil if required to make the spices into a paste before applying.

3. Heat coconut oil in a pan and fry the fish for 4 minutes on medium flame on both sides.

*Note

This recipe can be used for any fish varieties, including fish steaks or slices.