Masala fish fry | South Indian masala fish fry recipe
Masala fish fry is a quick and simple South Indian fried fish recipe made by freshly blended masalas.
There are a number of methods available to make fish fry and this is yet another variation from the south Indian region. Already I have posted a simple Tawa fish fry in my blog. There we use spice powders, which are commonly used for a basic fish fry. But here, the whole spices are freshly ground and used as marination. Today I used seer fish to make this masala fish fry and it is absolutely ok to use any boneless fish or fish with less bone.
Always try to use fresh fish instead of frozen to make fry. In the case of frozen fish, thaw it completely before marination.
Initially, while I was learning cooking all my fish fries used to lose its cover inside oil lol…later I found the trick to fry fishes with its marination in place all the time till the end. I will share those tricks in the tips section.
I used medium level spice in this fry. However, you can alter the quantity of pepper and number of red chillies to suit your needs.
Fish is the number one in the seafood section because of the various varieties and easy availability. As you may know, eating fish regularly benefits brain health and enhances the function of the nervous system.
Check out these popular fish recipes:
For other non-veg posts:
Dindigul style chicken briyani
Look at the quick video of making masala fish fry:
Masala fish fry | South Indian masala fish fry recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 6 fish slices
- 6 tbsp oil
- 6 small onions
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 6 red chillies
- 1 tsp pepper corns
- 1 tbsp rice
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- ½ tsp jeera seeds
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
Instructions
Preparation:
- Peel small onions.
- Clean the fishes and tap out extra water with a kitchen cloth.
- Make ginger garlic paste (6 garlic pods+ 2 inch ginger) if you don't have readily.
Recipe:
How to marinate fishes with masala paste:
- Grind cumin, fennel seeds, pepper corns, red chillies, and rice into powder.
- Add onions, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and salt with the power and blend into a fine paste. If required add very little water in a teaspoon. Be care full not to add too much water as the masala will become runny which is not suitable for the marination.
- Now apply this masala paste liberally on both the sides of the pieces.
- Keep aside this marination at least for an hour. You can keep in the refrigerator or under the sun for the masala to stick well on the surface of the fishes.
How to fry:
- In a flat pan or tawa, heat oil to smoky temperature.
- Place the marinated fish pieces in hot oil, reduce the heat to medium temperature.
- Fry the bottom sides for 3 to 4 minutes until you get nice brown color. Check in between by lifting the corners. If the piece is coming easily without sticking to the Tawa, then flip the pieces.
- In case if the oil is completely absorbed, drizzle few tsps around the corner.
- It may take around 6 to 8 minutes in total to finish each batch.
- Wait for the deep brown color and remove from the pan.
- Serve with a lemon slice and few onion rings.
Notes
Nutrition
Preparation:
- Peel small onions.
- Clean the fishes and tap out extra water with a kitchen cloth.
- Make ginger garlic paste (6 garlic pods+ 2 inch ginger) if you don’t have readily.
Recipe:
How to marinate fishes with masala paste:
- Grind cumin, fennel seeds, pepper corns, red chillies, and rice into powder.
- Add onions, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and salt with the power and blend into a fine paste. If required add very little water in a teaspoon. Be care full not to add too much water as the masala will become runny which is not suitable for the marination.
- Now apply this masala paste liberally on both the sides of the pieces.
- Keep aside this marination at least for an hour. You can keep in the refrigerator or under the sun for the masala to stick well on the surface of the fishes.
How to fry:
- In a flat pan or tawa, heat oil to smoky temperature.
- Place the marinated fish pieces in hot oil, reduce the heat to medium temperature.
- Fry the bottom sides for 3 to 4 minutes until you get nice brown color. Check in between by lifting the corners. If the piece is coming easily without sticking to the Tawa, then flip the pieces.
- In case if the oil is completely absorbed, drizzle few tsps around the corner.
- It may take around 6 to 8 minutes in total to finish each batch.
- Wait for the deep brown color and remove from the pan.
- Serve with a lemon slice and few onion rings.
Tips:
1) Always heat oil to nice smoky temperature to get proper fried fish with nice coated masala. If the oil is not hot enough the masala marination will be sticking to the Tawa instead of fish. In addition to that after placing fish pieces in hot oil, reduce the heat to medium flame for even roasting.
2) Moreover, don’t use water to grind the masala paste as onions have enough moisture to blend. You can use a tsp of water if needed.
3) Since I do shallow fry, few tablespoons of oil are enough to make masala fish fry. Likewise, you can do deep fry from the same recipe, if you are making large batches. Just you have to make sure to heat the oil properly.
4) This masala fish fry is best suitable for fish slices instead of whole fish. Make sure the cleaned fish slices are dry before applying marination.
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