Kerala style Fish Molee/Moly

Someone asked me the other day if I live on Palaharam(snacks), since my blog had been filled with recipes for snacks but hardly any main/side dish. It then struck me, oh ya, I have been posting only about snacks, well....mostly. If you too have been meaning to ask me the same, the answer is No :).We do make Indian meals everyday at home, but somehow I have never posted any recipe here.

As a child I was a very picky eater. My mom had a hard time making me eat. But the evening snack time was my favorite and I would eat to compensate the main 3 meals of the day. So my mom made sure that she had something heavy for me then. May be that was my love for Palaharam(the evening snack) which is still on, that it didn't take me too long to decide my blog's name too :).

Anyways, getting back to today's recipe - Fish molee. This is one among our options for side dishes for Appam on a Xmas/Easter morning breakfast, when we break the fasting associated with Advent/Lent. Speaking about non-veg during this season is hard, because there are still few days left for Xmas untill I can have it again. Try it and let me know if you like it. It is good to go with bread/chapathi too.

Ingredients

For cleaning and marination of Fish

1. 1 lbs of fish, cleaned and cut into pieces
2. 1 tsp of vinegar
3. 1/2 tsp of lemon juice
4. 1 tsp of pepper powder
5. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
6. Salt to taste

For Fish molee

1. 3/4 cup of sliced onion - preferably red onions
2. 1 tbsp of finely chopped ginger
3. 1 tbsp fo finely chopped garlic
4. 2-3 green chillies, slit length wise
5. 2-3 cardamom
6. 2-3 cloves
7. 1 stick of cinnamon
8. 1/2 tsp of garam masala
9. 1/2 tsp of pepper powder
10. 1 cup of thin coconut milk
11. 1 cup of medium coconut milk
12. 1/2 cup of thick coconut milk
13. A strand of curry leaves
14. Oil for fish to be shallow fried
15. 2 tbsp of oil
16. Salt to taste
17. 1 large tomato sliced

Method

• In a bowl, take some water and add a tsp of salt and vinegar in it. Now rinse the fish pieces in it. Drain off excess water and remove the fish pieces on to another bowl.
• Marinate the fish pieces with turmeric powder, pepper powder, lemon juice and salt. Keep it in the fridge for atleast half an hour. 
• Shallow fry the fish pieces untill they are almost cooked. Remove it on to a plate lined with paper towel to absorb excess oil.
• Heat oil(Ingredient no.15) in a pan. Add cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. When they splutter, add ginger, garlic, curry leaves and green chillies. Let them loose their rawness. Now add sliced onion and salt and mix it. 
• Once the onion turns tender, add garam masala and pepper powder. Give it a mix and add the thin coconut milk. Let it come to a boil.
• Add the medium coconut milk and fried fish pieces. Let it get heated untill it starts to boil. Add the thick coconut milk and stir it well. Now line the sliced tomatoes on top of the curry(as shown in the picture). Cover the pan and let it cook on low heat for another 3-4 minutes. 
• Remove it from the heat and serve it hot with Appam, Bread or Chapathi.

Tips

• I used salmon to make Fish molee. You could use any other fish which is fleshy and has less bones to pick.
• Washing the fish in salt and vinegar/lemon mixture helps get rid of the fishy smell.
• Do not fry the fish completely. It should not get a hard crispy cover on top of it. This would prevent the fish pieces from absorbing the gravy. Hence, fry it only for a couple of minutes untill they are almost cooked. They would get cooked completely when added to the gravy. 
• If you do not have the luxury of making fresh coconut milk at home, canned coconut milk is good enough. You could adjust the thickness of the coconut milk for the gravy accordingly. 
• You could use roasted cashews to garnish your fish molee if you wish to.

Recipe courtesy : Mummy