Each time I head home to Kottayam, amma makes it a point to cook this up with whatever fish is available. I do feel that to get the authentic taste we get in Kerala, especially for fish dishes, it's essential to get the freshest fish possible and the amazing sweet coconut that grow back home. The frozen kind we get outside just don't cut it, especially for recipes that concentrate on simple flavours such as this one.
For more fish recipes, check out Kerala fish curry (without coconut), spicy prawn masala,
Amma uses coconut quite liberally in her dishes and this one is no exception. If you want to have more fish and less coconut (she uses them in almost equal quantities), then please adjust that as you prefer.
Meen Peera Recipe
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4-6
Recipe source: Amma
Ingredients:
500gm of fish with bones, cleaned and sliced (we used anchovies which can be used whole with heads removed)
3 kudam puli - the blackened tamarind that's used in most Kerala fish curries
4-6 green chillies, depending on taste
1 cup of grated coconut
3 cloves of garlic
6-8 shallots / cheriya ulli
1" piece of ginger
¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
A few curry leaves
2 tablespoon of coconut oil
Salt to taste
Instructions:
1. Grind the coconut, garlic, shallots, ginger, turmeric, and chillies together into a coarse paste with some added water.
2. Add the cleaned fish, ground coconut paste, kudam puli, and salt to a wide pan and mix gently until combined. Bring this mixture together with a spatula and press down firmly, keep flame on low and cook covered until the fish is cooked and soft - depending on the type of fish used, this will take anywhere between 12-20 mins.
3. When done, add the coconut oil and curry leaves, mix gently, and keep covered until ready to serve.
Note - if raw mangoes are in season, Amma adds a few pieces of that for sourness instead of the kudam puli. It's delicious and pairs well with the fish and coconut.
Meen peera is a wonderfully light yet flavourful fish recipe from God's Own Country. Can't wait for my next vacation! 🙂
@nc
ooh.. this is one of my favorite preparations of fish! its also important to have the original kudampuli (gambooge in english) and not kokum that you find in stores outside India. Both belong to the same genus Garcinia but they dont taste exactly the same. I made sure I got six packets of these gems from Kerala 🙂
divya
wooow....drooling here..Looks awesome n so tempting!!!
Roshan R
this fish makes for a lovely curry dish.. love it both wyas though.. fried and in curry form
lifescoops
wow drooling here..I haven't eaten this for years and now I am craving for it
Chella KS Nathan
hey nags, we call this fish aviyal back home and i love it. i am this big fan of nethili fish and i made this dish just a week ago. your pictures just takes me back, slurp slurp!!
Sharmilee! :)
This sounds very interesting....looks very flavourful and yummy!!
Mélange
Perfect ! made me hungry..The shallots give it very pleasant flavor..And yes,during mango season,it's perfect with mangoes as well .
Nagalakshmi V
so true! i have added that as a note 🙂
Priya R
This is a yum fish curry looking forward to trying it 🙂 love the Kerala fish dishes and the taste of coconut in them makes the dish so mallu, love it