155) KONKANI FISH FRY

KONKANI FISH FRY

Ingredients:

     1)    King fish (Ayakoora in Malayalam & Visonu in Konkani which some people call Spanish mackerel or King mackerel) – 1 kg.

     2)    Hot red chil powder – 1 tablespoon

     3)    Powdered salt – 1½ teaspoons

     4)    Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

     5)    Asafoetida powder – ¼ teaspoon

     6)    Putte podi or roasted rice powder – 2 tablespoon

     7)    Coconut oil or other cooking oil – to deep fry

In Kerala, you can buy freshly caught Ayakoora fish and have the fish monger slice it up beautifully like bread slices.

To Cook:

          Wash the slices in a solution of 1 litre of water with 30 ml. of vinegar. This will help make the fish extra clean. Drain and transfer to a bowl. Tip in the powdered salt, the chili powder, the asafoetida powder and the turmeric powder. Rub it well on the fish with your fingers (use a glove if you have sensitive skin). Now sprinkle the roasted rice powder and mix it well with the fish.

          Set a wok or pan on high heat. Pour in the coconut oil or other cooking oil. As soon as the oil is hot, turn down the heat to medium and put in a few pieces of fish, taking care not to crowd the wok or pan. If the oil is too hot (it should never smoke), lower the heat and fry slowly till both sides are well done (see picture). The fish tastes best when fried slowly on medium heat. Serve hot.

Notes:

     1)    Any other type of fish can also be used to make Konkani fish fry.

Crispy fried mothyalae (anchovies)

     2)    If rice powder is not available, you can use fine semolina of wheat (Bombay rava) with good results.

     3)    In my recipe, I have asked you to mix in the rice flour with the fish in order to avoid a) burning the oil and b) wastage of rice flour. However, the traditional Konkani way of frying the fish is to rub in all the other ingredients and then to dip it in the rice flour, coating all the sides just before frying. In that case, part of the rice flour sinks to the bottom and burns by the time you fry the second or third batch of fish. The fried fish also loses its beauty in the later batches since the burnt rice powder sticks to the pieces.