Netholi-Nethli Meen Fry/Anchovy Fry-Kerala Style

Hi all, it's been a long time i posted here something. I have been going through various things in life and now it was because of your likes and queries to my previous posts i thought of a reentry.Thanks everyone:). Finally i'm here with another easy recipe.

Netholi Porichathu is my all time favorite. Already i posted a recipe with anchovy. The below recipe comes with slighter variations.

Ingredients:

Anchovy fish/Smelt fish/Natholi	1 lb
Red chilly powder	5 tspoon
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tspoon
Pepper Powder	1 tspoon
Ginger	1 inch piece
Garlic	4 cloves
Small Onion/Shallots	8
Lemon juice	2 tspoon
Coconut Oil/Cooking Oil	to fry
Salt	to taste
Curry leaves(optional)	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean the fish. I removed the head and tail part using hand. Remove the guts from its belly using hand. Scale the body from tail to head in some sharp surface or using a butter knife. (Knife is not necessary for cleaning anchovies or smelt fish )Handle as per your convenience. Take the cleaned fish in a bowl. Add lemon juice and little salt to it. Mix once. Keep it aside for 5 minutes. This helps to get rid of the fishy smell.

(2) Take onion, ginger and garlic in a mixer and grind it. To this add chilly powder, turmeric powder,pepper powder,curry leaves and salt. Grind it again and make a fine paste by sprinkling 1 tspoon of water to it.

(3) Add the ground paste to  fish and mix well so that it coats well. Let it marinate for another 20 minutes. You can also cook without marination.

(4) Heat oil in a pan and add fish to it. Allow to fry by turning the fish once. Let it turns crispy. Cooking time depends on the vessel and heat used. Once cooked drain on kitchen tissue.

Your yummy and crispy fish fry is now ready.Enjoy…

Tips:

• The whole fish is edible. You can eat its bone too.
• Since anchovy is a small fish,  it tends to break easily while cleaning and cooking. Handle with care.
• Adding lemon juice helps to reduce the fishy smell.
• Cooking with coconut oil gives an authentic flavor.
• Adjust spiciness according to your tolerance level.

Crab Masala-Tamilnadu Style

Well, it was my long time desire to taste crab curry but i'm not pretty sure how to cook it. The thing i had no clue was regarding the cleaning process, but it was easy:). Luckily this weekend, my friend shiney invited us for lunch and guess what??Yeah it was THE CRAB!!! Wow i was super excited and asked her to start the process after our arrival so that i can learn the techniques. I clicked everything with my mobile camera and yeah sorry for the bad image quality, see how i love my blog :p. We had it with steamed rice and the taste was slurpp…awesome... A big thanks to shiney sangeeth:). I'm just sharing her recipe in my words.. You can expect various versions of crab curry in future….

Ingredients:

Whole Crab	8
Big onion	1 (big)
Tomato	1 (big)
Chilly Powder	2 tspoon or to your tolerance level
Green chilly	3 (medium)
Garam Masala Powder	2 tspoon
Turmeric Powder	1/2 tspoon
Tamarind (optional)	1 gooseberry size (Soak in hot water and extract the juice)
Salt	to taste

For grinding:

Garlic	20 to 25 cloves
Cumin seeds	2 tspoon

Preparation:

How to clean crab:

(1) If crab is live, kill it (:p) by dipping it in hot water/hot running water (We used both kitchen wash base for entire cleaning). 

(2) Take a crab. On the bottom side of the crab there is a flap like thing which will be in some triangular shape. See the picture.

(3) Lift that using hand or with a knife and pull away the top shell (other side) just like opening a box by holding the bottom of crab with one hand. Remove that shell. Gently scrape away the gills on either side and remove the intestine which runs down the centre (don't remove the flesh part). Remove the yellow layers in the cavity. Rinse the crab in running water/water and remove unwanted dirt/mucus like stuffs from the crab.

(4) After removing the dirt of all the crabs, cut it in a cutting board  Remove the ends from legs of the crab as shown in below picture. You can use the whole shell (centre part) or can cut into two. Use a sharp knife/back of a knife to break it. 

(5) Have a look at a clean crab:) (You can first remove the  legs one by one or you can keep it with the centre part, don't throw away the legs, they are edible).

There are lot many videos in youtube demonstating how to clean the crab. Click here.

How to Cook Crab Curry

(1) Chop onion and tomato into slices. Keep it aside.

(2) Grind garlic and cumin seeds in a mixer and make a fine paste by sprinkling little water. Keep it aside.

(3) Now heat oil in a bottomed kadai/vessel. Add onion slices, green chilly with little salt. Saute till onion changes light brown. Now add tomato and saute till tomato turns juicy.

(4) Add the ground paste to it and mix well. Now add chilly powder, garam masala and turmeric powder. Saute till the raw smell leaves and oil separates. Pour tamarind paste and add little salt. You can add add 1/4 cup of water if you find the masala dried. Mix well. Your masala for crab is now ready. To this add the crab pieces.

(5) Mix well. Make sure to coat all crab pieces with masala. Close the vessel with a lid and allow to cook for some 15 to 20 minutes in medium flame.

(6) Mix the crab pieces with masala in between cooking by opening the lid. Your crab curry is now ready.

Enjoy the crab curry with boiled rice/appam…

Tips:

• Adjust spiciness according to your tolerance level. 
• Eating crabs develops lot of heat in your body. Drink more water.

Kerala Style Meen Curry/Pomfret Fish Curry With Malabar Tamarind(no coconut)

I already added Puzha Meen Curry/Fresh Water Fish Curry  which was my mom's recipe. This is some what same but with slight variations. This is my families favorite and finger licking fish curry, simply drooling :)

Ingredients:

Fish(Pomfret/Avoli)	1(1/2 kg)
Small Onion/Shallots	20
Garlic	10 cloves
Ginger	3 inch+1 inch(chopped finely)
Fenugreek seeds/Uluva	1/4 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Kudampuli/malabar tamarind (or)tamarind	4 to 5 pieces (or)1 lemon size(soak in hot water and extract the juice)
Salt	to taste
Oil	1+1 tspoon
Chilly Powder	2 tspoon
Coriander Powder	1&1/2 tspoon
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tspoon

For Seasoning:

Oil	1 tspoon
Dry red chilly	3
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Curry Leaves	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean the fish. Chop it into medium slices.

(2) Peel the skin of shallots and chop ginger, garlic into cube shapes.

(3) Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic, ginger and saute for a minute. To this add shallots with little salt. Saute well so that the raw smell will leave. To this add fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Saute everything so that color of onion, garlic will change and it will emanates a nice flavor. Now switch off the flame and allow to cool.

(4) Once it is cooled down grind it in a mixer to a fine paste by sprinkling little water to it. Keep it aside.

(5) Heat oil in an earthen bowl. To this add 1 inch piece of ginger and saute well. Now add ground paste. To this add chilly, coriander and turmeric powder. Mix well so that the raw smell of masalas will goes off. Now pour 3/4 cup of water to it. Mix once.

 (6) Add salt and malabar tamarind (or tamarind juice). Mix and make a salt test. To this add  fish pieces. Let it boil for another 15 to 20 minutes. Fish will be now completely cooked and you will find the curry dried up.

(7) At the last minute heat oil in a pan and season with the ingredients shown under "for seasoning" heading. Pour it to the curry (you can do the seasoning before adding the ground paste too) Close the vessel with a lid for 10 minutes before serving. Yummy fish curry is now ready.

Have it with rice/kappa..

Tips:

• You can clean the fish pieces by rubbing it on a stone surface to remove the outer silver color. As i don't have that option i removed the skin which is not recommended.
• It is better to use earthenware to cook fish(i don't have).
• You can try the same with king fish/tuna/pompano,  you can use any fleshy fish.
• Using malabar tamarind/kudampuli will enhance the taste(i don't have it so i used tamarind juice :) ).
• Don't disturb the fish pieces with spoon while cooking as the pieces might break.
• Ensure fish curry doesn't get burnt at the bottom by slowly moving the vessel side by side in between cooking.
• If you find the curry completely dried up and want some gravy, you can add little water in the same vessel and heat it.
• Coconut oil will give extra flavor.

Chemmeen Theeyal/Prawns Curry

This is a nadan dish which goes good with rice and chapathi. I slightly varied the recipe from my mom's usual recipe. This is too yummy..

Ingredients:

Chemmeen/Prawns	1/2 kg
Grated Coconut	1&1/2 cup
Shallots/Small Onion	15
Garlic	4 cloves(chopped)
Ginger	1 inch piece(chopped)
Green Chilly	5(chopped)
Dry red Chilly	2 to 3
Turmeric Powder	1/2 tspoon
Fenugreek Powder	1 pinch
Coriander Powder	1 tspoon
Tamarind	1 gooseberry size(Soak in hot water and extract the juice)
Oil	1+1 tbl spoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Salt	to taste

For Seasoning:

Oil	1 tspoon
Dry red chilly	2
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean the prawns. Those i bought were without heads and for that, you have to deshell it and remove the black vein like thing from its back. Rinse in water with a pinch of turmeric powder. Keep it aside.

(2) Heat oil in a pan. Add grated coconut and saute for some seconds. To this add 4 peeled shallots and dry red chilly. Saute till the color of coconut changes brownish. Switch off the flame and add coriander powder. Saute well and remove the pan from stove. Let it cool.

(3) Once it is cooled down grind the ingredients in a mixer by adding 2 tbl spoon of water. Make a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

(4) Mean while heat oil in a pan and add curry leaves. To this add ginger and garlic pieces. Saute till the raw smell goes off. To this add remaining shallots along with little salt and green chilly. Saute for some seconds. 

(5) Now add turmeric powder and fenugreek powder. Saute once. To this add prawns and saute for a minute. Now pour around 1/2 cup of water to it. Once it starts boiling pour tamarind juice and add little salt. Close the vessel with a lid. Let it boil for another 15 minutes so that prawns will be cooked well(make sure it is cooked).

(6) Retain remaining water in the vessel and switch off the flame. To this add ground paste and mix well. If you want the curry to be more watery add little water. Also make a salt test here. Add salt or tamarind juice to your taste. Again allow it to heat for another 5 minutes in low flame.

(7) Mean while temper with the ingredients shown under "for seasoning" heading. Pour it to the curry. Switch off the flame and close the vessel with a lid for 10 minutes before serving so that flavor sets well.Your chemmeen theeyal/Prawns curry is now ready.

Have it with your rice/chapathi/appam/dosa/idly...

Tips:

• It is better to use earthen clay pot/manchatti for cooking (i don't have it).
• While you are stir-frying the coconut make sure not to burn. Always cook coconut on medium heat. Ensure to stir constantly and scrape the coconut from bottom of pan/vessel while stirring. If coconut got burnt your curry will be a flop.
• Always add small amount of tamarind water or tamarind pulp while cooking any prawn dishes. Better to use kudampuli/malabar tamarind (not used here).
• The bad way to cook prawns is to over cook them. If you over cook prawns, it will change rubbery and dry.

Anchovy fish fry/Natholi porichathu-Easy Recipe

Natholi/Anchovy is one of my favorite sea food. It is quite available in my home town- a small village adjoining trivandrum. Now in US the situation is different. I couldn't find it on any fish market. Luckily we visited a new fish market last week and i saw something similar to anchovy/natholi. Hurrraayyyy. It is called as "smelt fish". Of course its a member from anchovy family but not exactly the same. The size will be some what bigger than natholi. I was planning to make curry but due to shortage of some needy things i ended with fry and here is my recipe. Its a simple and easy recipe. NATHOLI ORU CHERIYA MEENALLA :)

Updated:Click Netholi Fry-Kerala Style

Ingredients:

Anchovy fish/Smelt fish	40
Red chilly powder	4 tspoon
Small Onion	4
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tspoon
Salt	to taste
Oil	to fry

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean the fish. I removed the head and tail part using hand. Also there will be a thin coating(skin) over the body of smelt fish (it will not be there on anchovies). You can easily remove it using hand. Knife is not necessary for cleaning anchovies or smelt fish. I prefer cleaning the entire fish. It can be cooked without removal too. Handle as per your convenience.
(2) Now peel the skin of onion and grind it in a mixer. Add chilly powder and turmeric powder to it. Grind it again and make a fine paste by sprinkling 1 tspoon of water to it.

(3) Take the paste in a bowl. Add salt to it. Add one tspoon of water to it and make thick masala. Don't add too much of water . Now add the cleaned fish to it and mix well so that the masala will coat well with the fish. If you have time leave it for marination about 30 minutes. You can also cook without marinating.

(4) Heat oil in a pan and add fish to it. Let it fry for 2 minutes. Now turn over the sideand cook for another 3 minutes. Your yummy and crispy fish fry is now ready.

Enjoy...

Tips:

• The whole fish is edible. You can have its bone too.
• Since anchovy is a small fish,  it tends to break easily while mixing and cooking. Handle with care.

Meen Pollichathu/ Fish Fried In Banana Leaf-Kerala Style

Meen pollichathu is a popular kerala dish. I already added this recipe. This is another version which is more easier than the previous one.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time:50 minutes.

Ingredients:

Fish(i used pearl spot, it also works for king fish, pomfret and tilapia)	2
Shallots/Big onion	25/1(skin peeled,chopped)
Tomato	1(chopped)
Curry leaves	2 sprig
Coconut Oil	2 tspoon+2 tbl spoon

To Marinate:

Chilly powder	3 tspoon
Coriander powder	2 tspoon
Turmeric powder	1 tspoon
Ginger-garlic paste	1 tspoon
Garam Masala	1 tspoon
Lemon Juice	1 tspoon
Salt	to taste
Water	To sprinkle

To Wrap:

Banana Leaf or Foil paper

Preparation:

(1) In a bowl add the ingredients shown under "to marinate" heading. Sprinkle water and mix well. Make a thick paste which should be in spreading consistency

(2) Well, before preparing masala you have to wash and clean the fish. Make horizontal slits over the fish. Now paste more than half of the masala over the fish(Keep the rest of masala aside). Mind to paste the masala inside the slits too. Keep it for marination about half an hour.

(3) Mean while heat oil in a pan. Add shallots/onion slices along with little salt. Stir till the color changes brownish. Add tomato slices and saute till it turns juicy(i didn't used tomato due to out of stock). Now add curry leaves. Saute well and add the rest of masala(add little more water to the remaining masala) which we kept aside. Stir well and allow the added water with masala to boil so that the raw smell of masalas goes off and onion will cook well (take care not to burn). Switch off the flame. Keep it aside. Let it cool.

(4) Now heat oil a pan to fry the fish. Add the marinated fish into it. Fry it till half cooked( say 2 minutes on each side. Don't cook completely). Keep it in a tissue paper.

(5) Now take a banana leaf. Spread some onion masala over it and keep the half cooked fish over it. Again spread more masala over the top. Fish will be now covered by the msaala. Now wrap it carefully.

(6) Heat a pan and keep the wrapped fishes over it(i made a knot with an aluminium foil over the wrap). Sprinkle water over it. Close the vessel with a lid. Let it steam cook. Flip the parcel in between by sprinkilng water. Cook for 15 minutes on each sides. Now you will get a nice smell of banana leaf). Switch off the flame when the color of leaf changes brownish. Your Meen pollichathu is now ready.

Enjoy your fish pollichathu with Kappa Puzhungiyathu, Kappa Puzhukku or rice….

Tips:

• Lightly heat the banana leaf over the flame so that it will not tear during wrapping.
• You can also use aluminium foil paper instead of banana leaf.

Prawns Thoran/Chemmeen Thoran

This recipe will suits good with prawns/chemmeen and squid/kanava. I used prawns. This is an easy fish curry recipe which goes well with rice.

Ingredients:

Prawns	1/2 kg
Salt	to taste
Water	1 cup

for grinding:

Grated coconut	1/2 cup
Small Onion	3
Turmeric powder	1 tspoon
Chilly powder	2 tspoon
Cumin seed	1 tspoon

for tempering(optional):

Oil	1 tspoon
Dry red chilly	2
Cumin seed	1/2 tspoon
Mustard	1 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 pinch

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean the prawns. Keep it aside.

(2) Grind the ingredients shown under "for grinding" heading in mixer . Grind for some 3 seconds and make a coarse mixture. Keep it aside.

(3) Now take the fish in a cooking vessel. Add the grinded mixture into it. Add water and salt. Mix well.

(4) Boil it in medium flame. Stir the mixture in between while boiling. Switch off the flame when fish is cooked well. Also don't retain water in it.

(5) Heat oil in a pan and season the ingredients shown under "for tempering" heading. Pour it to the boiled fish and mix well.

(6) Close the vessel with a  lid for 10 minutes. Your fish thoran is ready.

Have it with your favorite meals...