Pan Roasted Salmon / Kerala fish Fry

By Flagthis -

fish2

Every time I’m at the fish mongers’, I cannot get myself to pass by the salmon without dropping a pound or two of it in my cart. Salmon is my favorite among all the fish. This does not mean I like other fish any less. No, I actually love them all. With an untainted genealogy of blood thirsty Mallus, I, but obviously, devour all of the sea world with great relish and gusto. I’d maybe wipe up the salmon a tad bit faster though ;).

Salmon tastes the least bit fishy to me and hence allows me a lot of room to cook it any which way I want. Though we never did salmon in India, I was surprised that it tasted amazing in all Indian recipes. Fish is a staple for most meat eating Malayalees and we usually have a number of ways of cooking it. But I find the ‘Kerala fish fry’ to be the tastiest and easiest of them all.

There are just 5 basic ingredients for this fried fish marinade – ginger, garlic, chili, turmeric and salt. Everything else you add are just enhancers or taste boosters as I would like to call them. I grill or roast them in a non stick pan with very little oil.  I can feel big nods of disapproval when I use the word ‘non stick’. But I find, while working with eggs or fish, nothing serves you better than a non stick pan. You just need to use it right. Teflon allows you to use very little oil and the food doesn’t burn up on you (which is more of a carcinogen if you ask me) . Just make sure you cook in low to medium heat and use wooden utensils on it. The pan I use for my eggs and fish, I’ve had for years and there is not a single scratch or blemish on it (of course I’ve had to hide it away when my Mom visits;)).

  fish

Ingredients
1 lb salmon (any firm wish will taste just as great!), sliced into desired sizes
1 1/2 tbsp of fresh ginger garlic paste ( ginger and garlic in a 1:1 ratio)
1 tsp chili powder (base it on tolerable spice levels)
1/2 tsp [amazon-product type=”text” text=”turmeric powder”]B000JMAXOC[/amazon-product]
1/2 tsp black ground pepper
salt to taste
1 tsp of lime juice (optional)
a sprig or 2 of curry leaves (optional)
[amazon-product type=”text” text=”coconut oil”]B002DGNP10[/amazon-product]/refined vegetable oil for roasting.

Directions

  • Marinate the cut pieces of fish with a tsp of lime juice and set aside.
  • Mix all the spices with ginger-garlic and salt  to make a thick smooth paste. The marinade should be slightly on the saltier side.
  • Apply the paste on all pieces of fish making sure all sides are completely coated by a thin layer of marinade.
  • Set it aside for 30 mins or so.
  • Heat oil/[amazon-product type=”text” text=”coconut oil”]B002DGNP10[/amazon-product]in a shallow non stick pan and  slide in the pieces one at a time.
  • Roast on medium heat and flip the pieces to other side after 2-3 min or when you see the fish is 3/4 cooked from the bottom.
  • The time you let to roast on each side depends on the size of each piece and how crisp you would like it to be.
  • When done palce the pieces in paper towel to soak up any extra oil.
  • Garnish with  ground pepper and fried curry leaves.

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