Meen Roast | Fish Roast ~ Step by Step Pics

Fish is an inevitable item in majority of the Keralite menu. And there is always abundance of fish in Kerala markets. Most of us malayalees are more than happy to devour a fish curry meal. Back home, I regularly prepare the Meen muakittathu or Meen Manga curry, sometimes its fish fry which kids love the most. But these days, fish available from markets are packed with chemicals especially formalin. The authorities have waken up now to get the issue corrected, there are squads deployed at check posts, railway stations to curb the defaulters. Hope these corrective measures would be fruitful. Its hard and paining to know that each of the food item whether its fish, chicken, fruits or vegetables including milk is adulterated. Where are we heading to ? Are we aiming to bring up an unhealthy generation? Are we going to make pharmaceuticals companies / hospitals profitable ? So many q's come up in my mind with 'no' straight answers.

Anyway, back to today's recipe, it's a different recipe than the usual curry or fry that we make. Fish roast somewhat tastes like a fish curry dried up, but it has some more uniqueness to this. Roasted fennel powder is added to this fish roast. The kokum / fish tamarind adds the richness of this roast. H is not a big fan of fish recipes, but my elder son loves fish in any form. The younger chap is a fan of fried fish only. This roast tastes best after 4–5 hours of resting time, as the masala seeps well in the fish pieces. We enjoyed with pathiris , but am sure it tastes good with idiyappam as well. Give it a try if you get hold of some firm fish.

Preparation time ~ 15 mins
Cooking time ~ 25 minutes
Author~ Julie
Serves ~ 4-5
Ingredients
to marinate
fish like tuna, 500 gms
hot chili powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

for masala
onion medium-sized, 2 sliced
shallots 1/2 cup sliced
ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
tomato 2 chopped
fennel seeds 3/4 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
kashmiri chilly powder 2 tsp
coriander powder, 2 tsp
kokum /gamboojia / fish tamarind 3–4 pieces
water 1/2 cup
salt to taste
curry leaves
oil (preferably coconut) 2 tbsp

Watch on YouTube -

Method

• Wash and clean the fish into pieces. Cut the fillet in small pieces and marinate using the ingredients listed under marination and keep for half an hour. Soak the fish tamarind /kokum after tearing the big pieces in small in another bowl of water (1/4 cup) and leave aside.

(the kokum here may look more than required for this recipe, as I had soaked the tamarind for another recipe as well)

• Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan and add the fennel seeds. Add in the ginger garlic paste. Sauté till the raw smell of ginger-garlic paste disappears. Add in the onion, shallots and curry leaves. Sauté till the onion and shallots mixture is wilted and slightly browned. Add in the spice powders on low flame and then add in the chopped tomatoes. Add in the fish tamarind with water. Cook covered for a minute till the tomatoes turn mushy.  

• Slide in the fish pieces, add in 1/4 cup water and cook covered for 5–7 minutes on low medium flame. Uncover the lid and check if the fish is cooked, if not add another 1/4 cup water and adjust salt if needed. 

• Dry up all the moisture left in the masala and cook open on high flame for another minute. Switch off flame and keep covered for half an hour minimum before serving so that the fish gets coated well with the masala.

NOTES

* You can even use the regular tamarind instead of fish tamarind, but I feel fish tamarind adds more flavour to the fish recipes.

* Remove the kokum pieces when you feel the fish is cooked nice and good. In the pics, I haven't removed, but in video I have removed.

* Adding fennel powder remove any bad odour of fish and adds a nice flavour to the roast.

* You can use any firm, boneless pieces of fish or fillets to make this recipe.

* Add more oil if needed to get the masala form and if you wish the onion mixture to be fully wilted.

* You can add 1/2 tsp garam masala too.

Please check out a few more roast recipes, if interested-
* Kada Mutta Roast
* Chicken Sukka
* Egg Pepper Roast
* Special Chicken Ularthiyathu
* Beef Ularthiyathu
* Chemmeen(Prawns) roast
* Kanava (Squid) Roast
* Clams(kakkairachi)  Roast
* Chicken kerala style roast