There’s nothing I love more than coconut. Like, if I was Bubba in Forrest Gump, my shrimp-everything would have been coconut-everything. Anyway, fish molee is one of those dishes you’re bound to see at a South Indian dinner table (or lunch table…or, well, even breakfast). It’s basically fried fish stewed in a spiced coconut milk.
In the video below, I’m using those fresh-frozen salmon fillets that come bagged up in the freezer section, but I definitely recommend using fresh salmon (or king fish is great, too!).
Some other notes: if using fresh salmon, remove the skin and rinse in lemon/salt water first, then pat dry before frying. Also, add about 2 tsps of white vinegar when done (because I forgot to mention this in the video). And, lastly, you can either buy ginger-garlic paste from your local Indian store or make a larger batch at home and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
As always, if you decide to make this recipe, I’d love to see how it turns out for you. Tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter so I can see 🙂
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7E1dsl0nCA]
INGREDIENTS
- Salmon, 1 lb, cut into about 2 inch cubes
- Coconut Oil, 2 tbsp
- Mustard Seeds, 1 tsp
- Dry Red Chili, 2
- Curry Leaves, 2 sprigs
- Ginger, 1 inch, minced
- Garlic, 3 cloves, minced
- Yellow Onion, 1, thinly sliced
- Shallots, 2, thinly sliced
- Plum Tomatoes, 2, quartered
- Turmeric, 1/2 tsp
- Red Chili Powder, 1 tsp
- Coriander Powder, 1 tsp
- Garam Masala, 1 tsp
- Coconut Milk, 1 can
- Warm Water, 1/2 cup
- White Vinegar, 2 tsp
marinade
- Ginger, 1 inch, minced
- Garlic, 3 cloves
- Red Chili Powder, 1 tsp
- Turmeric, 1/2 tsp
- Rice Flour, 2 tbsp
- Salt, 1 tsp
- Black Pepper, 1/2 tsp
HOW TO MAKE IT
- Starting with the marinade, take the ginger and garlic and turn it into a paste. To do this, you can add it into a small food processor or mash it the old-school way in a mortar and pestle. Once you have the paste, get a medium sized bowl, add the cut fish, paste, and remaining marinade ingredients. Make sure the rice flour gets evenly mixed so it coats all the fish. *Rice flour helps make the fish get crispy. Let this sit in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes.
- In a deep skillet on high heat, add the coconut oil. Once it melts down, reduce the heat to medium high and add the mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the dry red chilis and curry leaves and let this season the oil for a few seconds. Now, add the ginger, garlic, onions, and shallots. Keep the onions moving with your cooking spoon so they cook evenly and faster.
- Once the onions are soft, add in the tomatoes. We don’t want the tomatoes to get mushy; we’re just cooking these until the skin gets very slightly pruned.
- Once the tomatoes are slightly soft, add in the turmeric, red chili powder, coriander, and garam masala. Mix everything together evenly.
- Add in the coconut milk. Once it begins to boil, gently add in the fried fish and let this cook for a few minutes on medium low. If the coconut milk is too thick, add the 1/2 cup of water to thin it out a little bit. Finally, add the white vinegar.
- Done! It’s my favorite with parboiled rice and moru 🙂
The recipe doesn’t mention the part about frying the fish. It was left marinating in the fridge.But the rest of it sounds lovely. Gonna try this tonight