Fish Tacos

Soft or fried? Tacos make excellent please-all dinner platters as you can assemble them any way you like and stuff them them ten different ways. On the tortilla itself, you can grill them, fry them or just warm them, though I prefer to just warm them as it keeps it pliable and adds that soft bite of corn. I've made fish tacos here, with breaded white fish fillets and soft corn tortillas, with shredded cabbage and guacamole adding the healthy greens to the mix. I'd made these over a long-weekend, and so everything from the tortilla to the guac was made at home.

Ingredients

Guacamole

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 red onion, chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 jalapenos, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped

Fish

• 500 g fresh white fish fillet, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 tbsp plain white flour 
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil

For Serving

• 6-7 corn tortillas
• 1/2 cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)

Method

Guacamole

Add the onions, tomato, salt and jalapenos to a shallow mixing bowl. 

Split the avocado and remove the pit. Scoop out the flesh of it, and add it to the mixing bowl. 

Add the line and crush the avocado with the back of a spoon while mixing it with the onions. Add a little lime over to prevent the guac from oxidising, seal the mixing bowl with cling-film and refrigerate till its time to use.

Fish

Wash and pat dry the fish fillets.  Mix the flour, paprika, turmeric, salt, pepper and red chilli powder in a plate. Add the fish fillets and toss around to evenly coat with the flour mixture.

Add the oil to a flat shallow pan and bring up to heat. Once it starts smoking, reduce the heat and add the floured fillets. Raise the heat and fry on both sides till the fillets are golden brown. If you're using thick fillets, reduce the heat and cover to cook through.

Once golden brown, take out and pat with paper towels to remove the excess oil.

Assembly

Warm the tortillas in a low oven for 10 minutes. Add a layer of guacamole, and some shredded cabbage. Add two fish fillets and a small scoop of sour cream.

If you don't find sour cream, just use normal cream and add a tea-spoon of lime juice before whipping it in to aerate and thicken it.

Serve up either pre-rolled or leave to everyone to assemble their tacos.

Kilimeen Varuthatu

Pink Perch is such a beautiful fish, with its light pink hue and shimmering skin. It has a firm texture, which makes it an excellent fish to fry, and a slightly sweet flavour. The fish is also quite small and can very  This preparation is a Keralite way of making the fish, and generally involves wrapping the fish in banana leaves and frying on high heat. However that's quite a messy process, and the whole fish (with its skin-on) can just as easily be shallow fried in a pan on medium-high.

Ingredients

• 2 whole pink perches, scaled and cleaned
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
•  1 tsp pepper
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Clean and pat dry the pink perch, and make deep slits in fish, on both sides.
2. Add the salt and turmeric to the fish and rub into the fish, particularly into the slits.
3. Toss the onion, ginger, garlic, pepper and red chilli powder into a pestle and smash down into a thick paste.
4. Add the paste to the fish, and rub into the flesh. Leave aside to marinade for an hour.
5. Heat the oil in a pan, and once hot, add the curry leaves. 
6. Once the leaves stop sputtering, add the fish and lower the heat to medium-high.
7. Cook on both sides, till the fish is completely cooked through. It should take around 1-2 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the fish.
8. Serve up, with a squeeze of lime.

Pan Seared Fish with Lemon Caper Sauce

The local store today have this wonderfully vibrant parrot fish, with its glistening blue skin and thick meaty steaks. I've only ever seen this bounding in and out of coral reefs on Discovery, so was curious about how it would taste. Like other reef fishes, like the Dotted Cod, it is a firm white fish but with a much deeper flavour. It also helps that this fish is neither commercially exploited nor farmed, so its flavour matures naturally. Since I was trying it for the first time, I decided to season it sparingly, and just pan-searing it, then deglazing the pan to create a lemon caper sauce. As the fish was a mature 2 footer, the thick skin-on that I got out of it had few bones, that a simple tug dislodged. Along with the fish, I served plain rice to mop up the sauce. 

Also, for that yummy crispy skin, I used a non-stick steel pan and a rice bran oil, to get the temperature up to high. Any other oil with a high smoke point can be used, like canola or refined safflower. 

Ingredients

Fish

• 2 skin-on parrot fish filets, or any other white fish.
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp rice bran oil
• 2 tbsp butter

Lemon Caper sauce

• Juice of half a lime
• 8-10 pickled capers, whole
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 cilantro stalks, chopped
• Rice to serve

Method

1. Salt the fish filets liberally on both sides, and rub the salt into the flesh. If you're using thick steaks there's no need to score the skin, but for thin filets, lightly score the skin. Sprinkle the pepper on the flesh side.
2. Leave aside for 10 minutes at room temperature. 
3. Heat the oil in a steel pan on high heat. If the oil starts smoking, take it off the heat and let it cool slightly. Then put it back on high heat and immediately add the fish filets skin side down. Jiggle the pan when the fish hits the oil to dislodge it slightly, as it keeps it from sticking. Cook uncovered on high heat for a minute, and don't move the fish around. 
4. Add the butter and lower the heat to mid-high for a thin filet and medium for a thick filet (thicker than an inch).
5. Melt the butter and pour over the fish. Keep basting it till the butter soaks into the fish.
6. Cook covered for a minute, until the fish is cooked 2/3 of the way. Using a sharp firm spatula, drive it under the fish and gently flip it over. A bit of the skin may stick, but most of it should come away easily.
7. Baste again with the cooking liquour and cook on medium-high or medium (on the basis of filet thickness) until the fish is completely cooked.
8. Place on a plate with the skin-side up to show off the golden brown skin.
9. Raise the heat and cdd the garlic and capers to the butter-oil mixture in the pan. Crispen the garlic and capers slightly and deglaze with the wine. Stir vigourously to dislodge the bits stuck to the pan and cook until the wine reduces to half.
10. Add the remaining butter to the pan and melt it to create an thin emulsion. Take off the heat and add the lemon juice, pepper and cilantro. Avoid cooking the lemon juice as it makes it bitter.
11. Pour over the fish and serve immediately with rice. Fish with its delicate texture does really need any resting time.

Thai Green Curry with Fish

I've been looking to use this bottle of thai fish sauce that's been lying at the back of the pantry, but never really had the entire suite of ingredients available. This time though, I finally found some fresh lemon grass, and decided to make this curry for dinner. I made it with fish, but this curry can be made with diced chicken as well, and this recipe can be adapted into a vegetarian version with paneer or tofu and the use of light soy sauce instead of the fish sauce. I had some Malabar Trevally fillets left over, and used that fish. With coconut based stews I prefer to use a bland white fish as the flavours of the coconut and the spices infuse into the flesh of the fish. In case Malabar Trevally is unavailable, you can use Basa, Cod or any other similar white fish. The green curry paste can be made in advance and keeps well for at least 3 days in the fridge.

Ingredients

Green Curry Paste

• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 1 large bunch coriander leaves, shredded
• 1 lemon grass stalk (white part), chopped
• 2 inch ginger root, roughly chopped
• 1 inch galangal (optional)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 medium shallot, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 long green chilies (1 deseeded), chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 3-4 kaffir lime leaves (or any citrus leaves), shredded
• 2 tbsp oil
• juice of half a lime with zest

Green Curry

• 300 g Malabar Trevally filets (skin-on) cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 small purple aubergine, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 2 cups thin coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons of the Green Curry Paste (above)
• 1 lemon grass stalk (green parts)
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp oil

Method

Green Curry Paste

1. Roast the cumin, peppercorns and coriander seeds in a pan to release its aromatic oils.
2. Once cooled, pound it in a pestle into a fine powder.
3. Add all of the remaining ingredients to a food processor along with the spice powder.
4. Grind with a little water to create a thick paste. 
5. Remove and store away in an airtight container.
6. Thin the paste remaining in a food processor with water and keep aside.

Green Curry

1. Marinate the fish pieces in the thin paste liquor for at least 3 hours, or use 1 tsp of the green curry paste with half a cup of water to create a thin marinade.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the aubergines. Cook until the aubergines soften.
3. Add the green curry paste and lower the heat. Cook the paste until the oil starts to leave the paste.
4. Add the tomatoes and let it stew and soften.
5. Add the coconut milk, salt and lemon grass stalk and stir around to create a thin coconut stew.
6. Add the fish pieces, skin side up and the marinade.
7. Raise the heat, and once the stew stars to boil lower the heat. Cover and cook for around 10 minutes, or until the fish is completely cooked through.
8. Serve with plain rice, with a little lime.

Sri Lankan Fish Curry

This bright yellow curry is sweet and lightly spiced, with a focus on the individual flavours of each spice. Some variants of it use gambooge or tamarind juice to add a little sourness, but I prefer to add lemon grass for that light lemony flavour. I had this curry in Mirissa with tuna and boiled rice and was amazed by its light playful melding of sweet coconut with bitter coriander. A vegetarian version of the curry can be made by substituting the fish with okra (lady's finger) and frying the okra with the onions prior to stewing it in the coconut milk. 

For the fish, this curry is typically made with thick cut tuna steaks, but I preferred to use Malabar Trevally. Malabar Trevally is a firm white sea fish with a fairly bland taste. I preferred this fish to the strong flavoured tuna as the bland fish acts as a great palette for the spices of the curry. You can use Basa or a similar firm white fish, but try to get skin-on filets as it will prevent the fish from disintegrating while stewing.

Ingredients

• 300 g Malabar Trevally filet, with skin, cut into large chunks
• 1 star anise
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 cups thin coconut milk
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 stalk lemon grass
• 1 pandan leaf (or substitute with 1 bayleaf)
• 1 green chili, slit and chop into large chunks
• 1 handful curry leaves
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste

Method

1. Add some salt and half the turmeric to the fish and rub it into the fish. Let it aside for an hour.
2. Heat the coriander, cumin and star anise in a pan and roast lightly to release its aroma.
3. Remove the star anise and pound the cumin and coriander into a fine powder.
4. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions. Sweat down the onions till it turns translucent. 
5. Add the curry leaves, green chilies and the coriander-cumin powder. Fry lightly and add the chopped tomato.
6. Once the tomato has cooked add the cinnamon, coconut milk and star anise and lower the flame.
7. Bash the lemon grass with the back of a spatula, and add it to the pan along with the turmeric, pandan (bayleaf), fish pieces and salt to taste. Stir it lightly to get the turmeric to evenly diffuse.
8. Cover and let it stew on a low flame till the fish is cooked.
9. Serve up with boiled rice or appams. 

Shorshe Maach

I've been trying to re-create this dish ever since I had it at Number 6 Ballygunj Lane. At that time, I had it with luchis (deep fried wheat bread), which isn't the ideal compliment to the dish as gravy is quite thin. This dish is best served with plain rice, which soaks up that wonderful mustard gravy. While making it, be careful with the quantity of mustard used, its a temperamental spice, and has this incredibly strong and bitter flavour. I used yellow mustard seeds, but if you're using black mustard seeds, use 1/3 of the listed amount. With the fish, I used a filets of a sweet river fish, called roopchand, but any other sweet river fish, such as basa, can be used. This dish can also be made as a vegetarian gravy with the use of parboiled potatoes and aubergines.

Ingredients

• 300 g filets of any sweet river fish, cut into bite sized pieces
• 3 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 3 tsp poppy seeds
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup water, at room temperature
• 1 tsp nigella seeds
• 1 tsp mustard oil
• 2 green chilies, roughly chopped
• salt to taste

Method

1. Add the mustard and poppy seeds to the warm water and set aside for 20 minutes.
2. Add 1 tsp of the turmeric and some salt to the fish, coat it evenly on the pieces of fish and set aside for 20 minutes.
3. After soaking the mustard and poppy seeds, filter out half the water and add the water, mustard and poppy seeds to a grinder. Add the green chilies and grind into a coarse paste. I would caution against tasting it, as the paste is extremely bitter and will leave you in a coughing fit.
4. Add the oil to a pan on high heat, and once it starts smoking, add the nigella seeds and the remaining turmeric and lower the heat to medium. 
5. Let the nigella seeds release their aroma before adding the fish filets. 
6. Fry lightly on both sides and then add the mustard paste. Stir around to ensure that it coats the fish and add the remaining cup of water.
7. Add salt to taste and bring the water to a boil before reducing the heat to low. Cover and let it cook for 3-4 minutes. If the gravy seems too thick, add some water to get the desired amount of gravy.
8. Once the fish is cooked through, take it off the heat, and let it stand for 5-6 minutes.
9. Serve hot with plain rice, or rice lightly flavoured with a few cardamoms and cumin.

Meen Moilee

One of my favourite curries, especially with appams as it adds some bite to cut the sweetness of the appam. Incredibly easy to make, with just a hand-full of spices and loads of coconut milk. It can be made with any tender white meat, like chicken or a firm white fleshed fish, like pomfret, bass. I made this with fillets of Emperor fish, which added a sweetness to the entire dish. You can have this curry with plain rice or appams, the recipe for which can be found here: Appam with Nadan Mutta Curry
Ingredients

• 200 g firm white fish fillets or 400g white fish steaks; cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 cup thick coconut milk (first extraction)
• 1/2 cups thin coconut milk (second extraction)
• 2 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 4 green cardamoms
• 2 split green chilies
• 1 inch ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 tomato cubed
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Wash the fish and add some salt and half the turmeric to it. Coat the fish evenly with the turmeric and salt and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
2. Crush the ginger and garlic together into a thick paste.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a flat bottomed pan and add the fish. Lightly fry the fish till it turns brown around the edges and remove from the oil.
4. Add the cloves, cardamom, curry leaves and cinnamon and lightly fry it to release its aroma. Add the garlic-ginger paste, onions and green chilies, and fry till the onions turn translucent. 
5. Then add the tomatoes and cook until they turn tender. Then add the thin coconut milk, bay leaf and fish, and let it cook on high heat for around 4 minutes.
6. Add the remaining turmeric, salt and pepper to taste and lower the heat. Let is stew covered for another 5-7 minutes, so that the flavours meld together.
7. Now add the thick coconut milk and let it simmer on a low heat for 3 minutes before taking it off the heat.
8. Add the lime juice after taking it off the heat and let it sit aside covered for 10 minutes before serving.