Meen Pollichethe

Have been meaning to try meen pollichethe since some time but always thought it was an arduous recipe. But since I had some frozen fish fillets, thought it was the best time to experiment. These fillets come very clean and without any odor. Meen pollichethe ideally needs banana leaves but I had to be satisfied with aluminium foil. Next time I see banana leaves in the market, I am going to grab one only to try this recipe. The popular choice of fish for this recipe is Pearl Fish (Karimeen).

Ingredients

1. Fish - 1/2 kg one can either cut it into small piece or leave the fillets as thus

Lightly coat the fish with 1/2 tspn each of powdered red chilly plus black pepper and 1/4 tspn of turmeric powder along with salt and leave it in the fridge for minimum 30 minutes. Fry this lightly in coconut oil.

For the masala

2. Onion - 1 or shallots 1/2 cup (thinly sliced) I prefer shallots
3. Ginger - 1 tbspn sliced
4. Garlic - 1 tnspn sliced
5. Green chilly - 2 or 3 number sliced
6. Chilly powder - 1 tspn
7. Coriander powder - 1 tspn
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
9. Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon
10. Curry leaves - a few
12. Tomato - 1 number cut into small piece
11. Coconut powder - 1 or 2 tbspn (or thick coconut milk 1/4 cup)

Method

Saute Ginger, garlic and green chilly in coconut oil until the raw smell leaves and add the onions. Fry it until the onion becomes soft. Add the powders and then add the tomato. Saute it until tomato becomes soft. Now add the coconut powder. It should be a semi solid masala. Spread half of the masala on the leaf or foil and place the fish above it. Cover the fish with the rest of the masala. Close it well and bake it for 20 minutes. I used my air fryer this time. (160 degrees). After I took it out I also placed it on a pan and let it sizzle for sometime while I placed a heavier pan on top.
The result was good. Had it with boiled tapioca.

I modified the recipe from here.