Fish Molee

Fish Molee (Fish in Coconut Milk) ഫിഷ്‌ മോളി

This is a typical Kerala dish which is very simple and yet mouth-wateringly delicious. This is not spicy and so even children will enjoy this. This goes extremely well with appam, white bread and rice. If you search the internet for this recipe you will find at least 4-5 different variations of the same recipe. I have tried most of them and also the method that my father uses to cook this. I am describing below the basic recipe which in itself is complete. I shall also explain the variations you could try. After all, cooking is about being creative and finding a taste that you like most. So try the different variations and settle down for what you like most.

I was not able to find out how this dish got its unique name.

Ingredients

1. Fish Fillets - 500 gm. You can use fish fillets or a whole fish like a pomfret (silver or black) or a pearlspot (karimeen) etc. Use any fish with white flesh (preferably sea water fish) without a very strong flavour of its own. In the above dish I have used Basa fish fillets.
2. Onion - 1 cup. Two large onions thickly sliced.
3. Ginger - 1 tablespoon. Cut into thin juliennes and slightly crushed.
4. Garlic - 10 cloves. Cleaned and slightly crushed.
5. Green Chilly - 3 No. Slit lengthwise and deseeded. Use more green chilly if you want to make this spicy.
6. Curry Leaf - 1 sprig.
7. Tomato - 1 No. 1 large tomato cut into 8 wedges.
8. Turmeric Powder - ¼ teaspoon.
9. Vegetable Oil - 2 tablespoon. Use coconut oil for more authentic taste
10. Thin Coconut Milk - 200 ml. Second extract of coconut milk if you make this yourself.
11. Thick Coconut Milk - 100 ml. First extract of coconut milk if you make this yourself.
12. Salt To Taste

Method

• Heat the oil in a flat pan. Tha pan should be big enough to accomodate the whole fish. If you are using fish fillets, the pan should be able to hold all the fillets in one single layer.
• Add ginger, garlic, green chillies, onion and curry leaves in that order and saute them till the onion turns translucent. After adding each ingredient wait for 5-6 seconds before adding the next one.
• Add turmeric powder and saute for a few seconds more
• Lower the heat and add the thin coconut milk. Add this slowly and if required remove the pan from the fire while doing this. Make sure not to curdle the milk.
• Add salt as per taste and then bring the gravy to a boil and then lower the heat.
• Add the fish in one single layer in the pan.
• Add the tomato slices
• Pour the gravy over the fish using a spoon and then cover and cook it for 3 minutes on low heat. Do not stir the dish. You may gently shake the pan or keep pouring the coconut milk over the fish pieces every now and then. You can also turn the fish over after about 3 minutes taking care not to break the fish into pieces.
• Add the thick coconut milk and mix it well by gently moving the pan in a circular motion. Let it stand for a minute and then remove from fire.
• Garnish with curry leaves and slit green chillies.

Recipe Variations

• You can marinate the fish pieces with a little bit of salt, turmeric and chilly powder and then shallow fry the fish on both the sides, until it is half done. And then add this fish to the gravy.
• You can cut the onions to square pieces of about 1 cm x 1 cm in size
• You can cut the tomato across its length into thick slices.
• You can add two 1" cinnamon sticks and two green cardamoms into the oil before adding anything else.
• You can add 1 teaspoon of vinegar as seasoning before taking the dish out.
• You can also add half a teaspoon of black pepper powder along with the turmeric powder.

Notes

• This dish should have thick gravy once finished. Therefore add just enough thin coconut milk to cook the fish. You can also add ground cashew nut paste to make the gravy thick or add corn flour mixed with a little coconut milk or a little bit of rice flour mixed in coconut milk. Any such neutral thickening agent can be added.
• It would be a good idea to apply a little salt to the fish and keep it aside for about 15 minutes. This way the fish will absorb enough salt making it tastier. If you follow this, make sure not to add excess salt into the dish while cooking.
• It is a good idea to prepare this dish in advance. Give the fish pieces at least an hour to absorb all the taste.
• While making the coconut milk, use warm water instead of cold water. After adding the water, knead the coconut gratings for a few minutes before squeezing out the milk.

Kollam (Quilon, Kerala) Fish Curry

Here is another fish curry recipe from Kerala. This one was made by me after watching the recipe the previous day on the TV in a Malayalam Channel. It was cooked by a house-wife from Kollam for the TV channel. So I guess this is an authentic recipe of the area. This is a speciality of Kollam (Quilon) District in Kerala and you have to try it with the large pearl spot fishes that you get over there. I was trying it for the first time and it came out quite well.

Ingredients

• Fish - Pearl spot (Karimeen) - 2 large ones. Since I did not have any stock of pearl spot fish at home, I used a fish called Kolaan (Long billed half beak). You should be able to use any other fish like seer fish, pomfret etc. and get a similar result.

Masala for frying the fish

• 1 tablespoon of coriander powder
• 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste
• ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon of red chilly powder
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• Salt and water as required

Ingredients for the gravy

• 4 tablespoons of oil
• 2 sprigs of curry leaf
• 2 green chillies slit lengthwise
• 1 cup of shallots crushed
• 1" piece of ginger cut into juliennes and then crushed
• 15-20 garlic cloves crushed
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 1 large tomato cut into 8 pieces lengthwise (cut the tomato into two and then cut the two halves into two and then cut into two the four quarters)
• ½ teaspoon of red Kashmiri chilly powder
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• ¼ teaspoon of fenugreek powder
• 1½ tablespoons of coriander powder
• 2 cups of coconut milk (first extract)
• 3-4 pieces of kudampuli (Malabar Tamarind)
• Salt as required

Method

• Clean the fish and make gashes across its length on either sides.
• Make a paste of the above masala (masala for frying the fish) by adding a little water and apply this paste liberally over the fish and set aside the fish for 20-30 minutes in the refrigerator
• Take a large pan and add the cooking oil
• Once the oil is hot, shallow fry the fish on both the sides, until they are half-cooked (2-3 minutes per side on medium heat would do)
• Remove and drain the fish
• To the same pan and oil add the crushed garlic and ginger. Sauté the ginger and garlic.
• Add the crushed shallots and sauté them till the raw smell goes away
• Add the sliced onions and sauté them till the onions turn translucent
• Add the tomato pieces and the slit green chillies
• Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, black pepper powder, fenugreek powder. Sauté for a couple of minutes
• Add the coconut milk, the curry leaf and the Malabar Tamarinds. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce the flame to a simmer
• Add salt as required
• Add the fish pieces. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Flip the fishes once without breaking them apart.

Let the dish stand for 2 hours and then use it along with rice/naan etc.

This dish should have a thick coconut gravy with the taste dominated by coriander and black pepper.

Kerala Red Fish Curry and Tapioca (Kappa)

I love fish. I love fish in any form. I love them in the water, happily wagging their tails and darting from one place to another. I used to enjoy going to the big canal near my house. Go and sit on the steps. Dangle your feet in the water. And in a few minutes you will find fishes of varying shapes and colours sizing you up. Then the braver ones get closer. At some cue, they will jump at your toes and start nibbling them. They start eating you alive. And it is a funny feeling. Thank God there are no pirahnas in there. You wriggle your toes and the fishes scurry away.


My wife would run away from the fish. She was brought up in a city and did not have any encounters with them. Moreover she iss from a Brahmin family who essentially were vegetarians. But then I got lucky and she agreed to marry me. Poor little girl had no idea what she was getting into.


I would take her out to the vegetable market. I will then guide her towards the fish market as if I did not even know that it existed. I know we are near the fish market by studying her nose. It acted like a proximity sensor for me. I would act innocent and will be wondering aloud "How the hell did we end up at the fish market?" I would then go onto buy some fish. She would be standing far off. She would run away from the kitchen screaming when I bought in fish. So I would get live crabs and let them loose in the house. She would be jumping up and down the bed, screaming her head away. I would then go about cooking the fish and the crabs and the mussels and eating them while she would nibble on grass (spinach and such) and vegetables. She would recoil at all the crackling noises that I generate while attacking the cooked crabs.


Time heals everything. Well slowly (it took a while) my wife gathered the courage and mental stregth to confront the creatures of the water. She actually astounded me by going into the fish market. And not only that. She would poke a finger into the fish to see if it was fresh. Not satisfied, she would actually open the side of the fish to study the gills.

These dishes have been cooked by my wife. Though she is a vegetarian, she has learned to cook non-veg stuff and cooks them very well, without even tasting them. So I do not have to spend time to cook these things now. Also she has mastered most of the Kerala dishes, though she is not a Keralite. Examples are below.

I consider myself very lucky that she is my life partner.


Kerala Red Fish Curry


This dish is supposed to be very hot. But you can adjust the degree of hotness according to your taste by using Kashmiri Chilly powder and by avoiding the green chillies. This also goes very well with steamed white rice/brown rice. This dish also has slight variations in different parts of Kerala.

Ingredients

• Coconut Oil - 3 tablespoons. Use any other cooking oil if you are not comfortable with using coconut oil for cooking.
• Mustard Seeds - ½ teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - ¼ teaspoon
• Curry leaf - 2 sprigs
• Green Chilly - 2 slit lengthwise
• Ginger - 1" piece, thinly sliced
• Garlic - 10-12 cloves, cut into two pieces each
• Shallot - 1 cup, sliced thinly
• Chilly Powder - 2 tablespoons
• Turmeric - ¼ teaspoon
• Kudampuli (Malabar Tamarind) - 3-4 pieces
• Salt as per taste
• Fish Fillets (Kingfish, Pomfret, Indian Salmon, Sardine, Mackerel etc.) - ½ kg

Method

• Heat a pan and add the oil.
• Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds
• Once the seeds splutter, add the ginger and garlic and fry for 1 minute
• Add the curry leaves
• Add the sliced shallots and fry till they are translucent
• Add the green chillies
• Mix the chilly powder and tumeric powder with a little water to form a thick paste. Add this to the pan. Fry the masala for about 2 minutes
• Add a cup of water.
• Once the mixture boils, add the fish and the malabar tamarind and salt.
• Reduce the flame to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes
• Take off from the stove and let the dish stand for 5-6 hours before using it.

Information & Tips

• You can find what Malabar Tamarind is here. This is usually available in Kerala Stores (for those who stay outside of Kerala) and is available in most of the shops in Kerala. If you cannot find this, you can substitute this with kokum or tamarind pulp. But the taste will not be the same. This is one of the most important ingredients of this dish, that gives it its signature flavour.
• Shallots are also called small onions, sambhar onions etc. and are widely available in South India. You can substitute it with normal onions.

Tapioca (Tapioca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

• Tapioca - 1 kg
• Coconut oil (or any other cooking oil) - 3 tablespoons
• Mustard seeds - ½ teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - ½ teaspoon
• Curry leaf - 2 sprigs

Coarse Paste

• Curry leaf - 2 sprigs
• Coconut - ½ of one coconut
• Sliced shallots - ½ cup
• Sliced Ginger - 1" piece
• Green Chilly - 2

Grind this to a coarse mixture without water. It should have the consistency of grated coconut.

Method

First Part

• Clean the tapioca and cut into small bite-sized pieces. Clean it thoroughly.
• Boil water in a pan and add some salt to it. Add the tapioca pieces and boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain the water off.
• Add fresh hot water again and boil the tapioca till it is cooked. Drain off the water completely.

Second Part

• Heat oil in a pan and once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds.
• Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the curry leaves and then the coarsely ground coconut mixture. Saute this for 3-4 minutes on medium flame.
• Add salt and then turmeric.
• Then add the tapioca and turn the flame to low heat
• Mix everything well and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Serve with the fish curry made earlier.

Sheep's Brain Masala

Recipe (Serves 2-3 people)

• 2 sheep's brain cleaned and washed thoroughly
• 2 medium sized onions chopped coarsely
• 1 large tomato chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• ½ teaspoon of red kashmiri red chilly powder
• ½ teaspoon of meat masala
• ¼ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons of curd
• 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves
• Salt as per taste

Method

• Take 2 cups of water, add a little turmeric powder and salt and put the washed & cleaned brains to the water. Boil the water till the brains are cooked and the water is almost absorbed completely. Once cooked remove the brains from the liquid and keep it aside
• In a pan, add the oil and when the oil is hot add the ginger garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the onions and saute till they turn slightly brown (do it on low heat and this will take a while)
• Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, meat masala and the black pepper powder. Add a couple of spoons of water to prevent the masala from burning. Cook on low fire for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the chopped tomato and cook till the oil separates from the masala.
• Add the curd and mix well. Saute for a couple of more minutes.
• Add salt as per taste.
• Add the cooked brains and break them into small pieces. Toss them gently around.
• Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves. Cover and cook on sim for about 5 minutes.
• Remove from the fire, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

This goes well with roti/chappati or naans.

Tips

• The brain of the sheep is covered with a thin transparent layer. Remove this layer carefully. Once done, wash it tharoughly and you are done with the cleaning of the brain.
• After adding the brains and breaking them into smaller pieces, toss the pan when you want to mix everything together. If you use a spatula then you are likely to mash everything up, because the brains will be very soft.

Mushroom, Babycorn, Bell Pepper Malai Masala

Finally a vegetarian dish. This one cooked for my better half who is a vegetarian.

Ingredients

• 250 gm white button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered.
• 100 gm babycorn cut into 1" diagonal pieces
• 1 large capsicum cut into 1" square pieces
• 2 large onions peeled and boiled for 5 minutes
• 2 green chillies chopped finely
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 green cardamom
• 2" piece cinnamon
• 5 cloves
• A pinch of mace powder
• 1 tbsp of garlic paste
• 1 tbsp of ginger paste
• 1" ginger julienned
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp of cumin powder
• ½ tsp of garam masala powder
• 4 tbsp fresh cream
• 1 cup of chopped coriander leaves
• 3 tbsp of vegetable oil
• Salt as per taste
• 1 cup of water

Method

• Grind the boiled onion to a fine paste
• Heat the oil in a large pan or kadai
• Add the bay leaves, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and mace powder
• Once the aroma of the spices is released, add the onion paste
• Sauté the onion paste till it is lightly brown
• Add the ginger and garlic pastes and sauté the masala till the raw smell of the ginger and garlic goes away
• Add the coriander powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder
• Fry the masala till the oil separates
• Add the chopped green chillies
• Add the vegetables and half the cup of chopped coriander leaves and fry for a couple of minutes
• Add water and salt and bring the mixture to a boil
• Reduce the heat and let the dish simmer till the vegetables are cooked through (since mushroom and capsicum cooks fast, you can blanch the babycorns before adding them to the dish)
• Add the remaining coriander leaves and the fresh cream
• Garnish with coriander leaves and ginger juliennes

You can vary the masalas to get different variations to this dish. I added a whole lot of cream which is why the dish is slightly whiter.

You can make this dish by completely avoiding the cream also.


A couple of more pictures

Oven Roasted Chicken

Tips

• Do not select a very large chicken. Select a chicken that is around 1 to 1.5 kg in weight (after dressing), unless you have a very large oven.
• If you use a rotisserie (like I did), then it is difficult to balance heavier birds without proper accessories.
• The basic marinade can be of your choice (indian, continental, chinese etc.)

Ingredients

• 1 whole dressed chicken with the SKIN NOT REMOVED

First Marinade

• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• Salt as per taste. Remember that the chicken will absorb some of the salt during the marination.

Second Marinade

• 2-3 tablespoons of Ginger Garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon of Kashmiri chilli powder (use a spicier one if you so prefer)
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• Salt as per taste
• 1 teaspoon of honey (optional) - this gives a caramalizing effect on the skin. You can add this at the time of basting the chicken instead of adding it during the marination

Preparation & Roasting

• First of all loosen the skin of the chicken and remove any excess fat and the giblets and kidneys etc. You can remove the chicken tail as well. Then wash it thoroughly and pat dry until all the water is gone from the skin and the inside.
• Rub salt and lemon juice over the chicken, under the skin and also inside the chicken. Let the chicken stand for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator covered
• Mix the other ingredients and apply that mixture over the skin, under the skin and inside. Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator in an airtight container/plastic bag for 4 hours at least. Marinating overnight is the best option. Do not use metal vessels for marination.
• Tie the legs together using a thick cotton thread (do not use anything other than cotton). This step is optional and not required if you are not going to use a rotisserie. Tying the chicken makes it retain its shape. But it will take longer to cook
• Grease an oven proof pan with a little oil and place the chicken on it with the breast side up. The pan should have sides with at least ½ -1 inch of height so that the juices do not run out
• You can optionally add some quartered onions, and cubes of carrot, etc. to the pan and place the chicken over those
• Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius and then place the pan with the chicken into the oven following the instructions given by the oven manufacturer for this cooking method
• Roast the chicken till it is done (approximately 25 minutes for ½ kg. So for a 1.5 kg chicken it would take around 75 minutes). But this could vary from oven to oven and bird to bird, depending on the size and other factors of the oven and the age and weight of the bird. So one needs to check it occasionally.
• Bast the chicken every 20 minutes using the remaining marinade. If you have used up all the second marinade prepared earlier, make some more for this purpose.
• Once the chicken is done, remove it from the oven and let it stand for 15-20 minutes covered with an aluminium foil.

How to tell when the chicken is done?

• If you have a meat thermometer use that on the thickest part (between the thigh joint and the body) making sure that the thermometer sensor does not touch the bone. The temperature should be around 85 degree Celsius. I use the meat thermometer
• Pierce the chicken on the thickest part with a knife/fork and the liquid coming should be clear and not pinkish
• The chicken should be moist and tender if properly roasted and not dry.

Making the sauce

• Remove the chicken from the pan and also the vegetables. In a pan sauté some chopped onions, garlic and ginger in butter. Add the liquid from the roasting pan and keep cooking till it is reduced to a rather thick consistency. You can add a little hot water to the roasting pan and scrape out all the dried juices to make more of the sauce. Pour this over the carved pieces of the chicken.

Tips

• If you see that the skin of the chicken is turning brown before the chicken gets cooked, cover the chicken loosely with an aluminium foil. Remove the foil during the last 20 minutes of the cooking to get the skin browned
• You can stuff the chicken with vegetables like carrot, onions, full unpeeled garlic pods, mint leaves, coriander leaves etc. The stuffed chicken takes longer to cook

Marinade Option II

• 2 table spoons of lemon juice
• Salt as per taste
• 2-3 tablespoons of Ginger Garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon of black pepper
• ½ teaspoons each of rosemary, thyme, oregano or 1 tablespoon of mixed Italian herbs
• Chopped fresh basil leaves
• Chopped parsley or coriander leaves
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of honey (optional)

Velvetty Egg Spread

Substitute olive oil with normal vegetable oil and parsley leaves with coriander leaves if you cannot find these ingredients. Parsley leaves give it a very unique flavour. You can
also add mixed Italian herbs to the egg.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 green chilly finely chopped
• 2 tbsp of parsley leaves chopped
• Salt as per taste
• Black pepper powder as per taste
• 50 gm amul butter
• 3 tbsp of fresh thick cream
• 1 tbsp of olive oil

Method

• Take a thick bottomed saucepan
• Place it over the stove and add the oil
• Once it is slightly hot, take it off from the stove
• Break the eggs into the pan
• Add the butter
• Return the saucepan to the stove and keep stirring the egg with a spatula in a circular motion (like whisking the egg, but at a much slower pace)
• After about 20-25 seconds, take the pan off the stove and keep mixing the egg mixture
• Repeat the above two steps for about 2-3 minutes
• Midway through the above process add the cream to the egg
• Add the parsley leaves, salt (use very little salt since we have added salted butter), minced green chilly and pepper powder just before you take the dish off the fire for the last time
• When finished the consistency should be like mayannoise. Spread it over toasted bread, or chappati

Poached Egg

Not sure how many of you have had poached eggs for breakfast. Poached eggs are great to have with bread slices or all by itself or in combination with a lot of other stuff like salami, bacon etc.

Making a poached egg is quite a simple but delicate task.

Ingredients

• One egg
• I tbsp of salt
• 2 tbsp of vinegar
• Black pepper powder
• Salt as required

Method

• Break the egg gently into a glass bowl/ceramic bowl without breaking the yolk
• Take one wide deep flat bottomed steel vessel and add water to fill it upto the half level
• Bring the water close to its boiling point but make sure the water is not boiling
• Add 1 tbsp of salt (add salt depending on the quantity of water)
• Add the vinegar
• Stir the water along the edge of vessel in a circular motion to form a whirlpool kind of motion
• Slowly slide the egg from the glass bowl along the direction of the water flow into the water
• You can gently fold the white over the yolk if needed using a fork (this is actually not required)
• Cook for around 2.5 to 3 minutes
• Take the egg out with a slotted spoon
• Sprinkle salt and black pepper powder over the egg (you can add other spices if needed)
• Serve over a slice of toasted bread or a bed of salami/bacon.

When you cut open the egg, the yolk should flow out and spread over the bread slice. There you have it, a perfect poached egg. If this is cooked too much, the yolk would harden. And that is not considered a perfect poached egg.