Fish moilee/ Fish with coconut milk

This recipe comes out from my first experiment which was the best result of the moilee curry my tastebuds have ever tasted. My mom had this special dish always when the guests were around. This was her her master piece and now obviously its my turn to grab all the data from her memory card. This is a typical Kerala style curry with coconut milk. The fish is not cooked along with the curry's gravy. It is fried in coconut oil separately (i prefer coconut oil lest u can go for any) with  freshly ground pepper, salt and ginger garlic paste marinated on it. These traces of pepper adds a special flavor and aroma to the curry. This curry is also a unique and pleasantly pungent blend of exotic spices like coriander,fennel, green chilli, cloves and cardamom.
FYI:-
Pepper loses flavor and aroma through evaporation, so airtight storage helps preserve pepper's original spiciness longer. Pepper can also lose flavor when exposed to light. Once ground, pepper's aromatics can evaporate quickly; most culinary sources recommend grinding whole peppercorns immediately before use for this reason. Pepper also has medicinal effects for constipation, diarrhea, heart diseases, indigestion, toothaches, joint pains and list goes on. But it  is usually not recommended for ulcer and those had abdominal surgeries. But there is no substitute for pepper rather than eliminating it from the ingredients.

For coconut milk's beauty tips and health facts:-here

Ingredients:- (serves 2)


For marination:-


King fish/Tilapia/Salmon/Sear fish- 1 pound/gm
Pepper- half tspn
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tspn
Turmeric powder- half
Corn starch(flour) or maida( AP flour)- 1 tspn
Salt- 1/2 tspn
Coconut Oil for frying-4 tblspn


For gravy:-

Mustard seeds- half tspn
Curry leaves-5 leaves

Green chilli- 3 long
Ginger sliced- 1 inch length comes around 1 tspn
Cloves- 2
Cinnamon- 1 small one inch stick
Onions- 1
Tomato- 1
Ground Fennel seeds - half tspn
Turmeric powder-1/2 tspn
Fried Coriander powder-1 tspn
Thick Coconut milk- 1/2 cup
Second Coconut milk-1/2 cup
Cashews-7(optional)
Pepper corns-1tspn (optional for who like extra spiciness)



Directions:-

Note:- Stove always at medium flame.

• Marinate the fish with ginger garlic paste, turmeric, salt and pepper. And finally dust both sides of fish  with flour. Keep aside for 20 min.
• After 20 min take a shallow pan and heat it with 4 tblspns of oil.  Now fry the marinated fish at a medium flame.  I would suggest a shallow fry to a deep one  on a healthy side and to reduce the oil residue . 
• Meanwhile take a deeper pan for making stew.  Pour 1 tspn oil, add the ginger and chillies.  Now put the sliced onion,curry leaves, cloves and cardamom and saute till the onions becomes translucent at a medium flame.  You dont want the onions to get browned but cooked.  The curry is going to be a mustard colour.  So brown onions takes away the characteristic of curry.
• Now add  tomato  and pour the second milk. To this add the ground fennel seeds. coriander powder and turmeric pwdr. Boil for 7 min with the lid on.
• Once the tomatoes are cooked add the thick coconut milk and give a stir to blend the whole flavor with a wooden spoon.  And throw in the fried fish slowly into the curry and give a swirl holding the pan and not with the spoon so that fish doesnt break and gets beautifully coated with the stew. Boil it and switch off the flame and put the lid on. Let it stand for 10 min before serving. (Add pepper corns)
• Serve hot with chappathi, pita bread, paratha, Vellappam  or any other bread you like . Also basmati rice.
• U can garnish with cashews fried in oil if you want.

Note: If the fish is too tender, empty the gravy into the serving dish after boiled and then throw in the fish on top and give a swirl holding the handle or brim of the serving dish. This helps the fish to lie on the top of the thick ingredients like onion and get coated with the liquid,

 so that serving makes easy without breaking the fish.


BON APPETITE :)