Monday, May 17, 2010

Fish Moilee

This is my grandmother’s favorite. She used to prepare fish moilee with mackerel (ayala). It’s just walkable distance to the beach and the fish market from our home in Calicut. If my father or any of the uncles get to find fresh fish just out of the sea; during the evenings or late nights, they get it then and there. They would definitely want to get it fried at that moment, but if it is mackerel, my grandmother would reserve it for the next day breakfast provided it’s the day for Puttu or Vellappam. Not sure if I had mentioned before; I am from a joint family. During the days of my grandmother, she had a time table for the breakfast items on each day. We had Vellappam on Sunday, Upma or kuthappam on Monday, Idly on Tuesday, Puttu on Wednesday and so on… An exception was when there is some special occasion; all are too busy to be in the kitchen.

I know that not everyone can digest the idea of non-veg for breakfast. Even my hubby, who is a pure non-vegetarian, never prefers it for breakfast. May be that’s the trend just towards the Malabar area. But whenever I make this dish, it reminds me the taste of the curry my grandmother used to make for breakfast. That was really yummy and the best  I ever had.


Ingredients:

Fish (King Fish)                     --   ½ kg
Onion                                      --   1 medium
Green chillies                         --    3 or 4
Ginger                                     --   1 inch piece
Garlic                                      --   2 small cloves
Shredded Coconut                --   1 cup
Turmeric Powder                   --   ½ tsp
Garam masala                       --   ½ tsp
Pepper powder                       --   1½ tsp
Coriander leaves                   --   few
Vinegar                                   --   1 tsp
Oil                                           --    2 tbsp
Salt                                         --   to taste

Preparation of Moilee:

Extract thick & thin milk from the coconut and keep it aside.

Grind 2 green chillies, 1 pod of garlic and ½ inch piece of ginger. Add 1 tsp of pepper, turmeric and salt to the mixture. Marinate the clean and cut fish with the prepared marinade.

Deep fry the fish until they are 90% cooked. Make sure that you don’t overcook them. I used King Mackerel; but this can be prepared with any fish, preferably the ones with lesser bones.



Heat oil in a pan and add the finely chopped onions, left over green chillies, ginger and garlic. Saute until the onions become translucent. Add garam masala and sauté for a minute. Add the thin coconut milk and the fried fish. Let it boil. Now the yellow colour from the fried fish blends with the white coconut milk and will give a light yellow colour to the curry.

 

Once it starts boiling add vinegar, turn off the fire and leave the pan on the stove itself. Now add the thick coconut milk. Mix it well and then garish with the left over pepper powder, chopped coriander leaves and the tomatoes cut in circles. Close the pan with the lid and leave it for 10 – 15 minutes; until the essence of the garnishing blend into the curry.


This goes well with appam, idyappam, puttu or even with ghee rice.


26 comments:

  1. nitks
    super da..one of our favorite fish dish..with kingfish it taste really delicious.we never prefer the nonveg for breakfast. good with chapathi also..
    very well explained..nice picts too ..good one..fish Molee is awesome

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  2. Looks so yummy..and that appam also..

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  3. Hello Nitks..Fish molee looks yummy..appathinte koode pinne parayandallo...Kidu..

    Love
    Kairali sisters

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  4. Fish moilee looks so yum with the appam...even I was not so much into having NV for breakfast...now I am completely changed and got used to my in-law's spicy NV dishes on weekends :)

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  5. Superb fish moli, love it with appam..I have never tried fish moli with mackerel. Will try it out sometime soon..Evide nalle aavoli vechu fish moli undakkanirikkuva, ee foto kandittu eppol thanne undakkan thonnunnu :)

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  6. M sure my DH wud love it... I dont kno much of it coz m a veggie :D luks nice

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  7. Looks delicious nitha, nice recipe too and seems tasty..

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  8. super dear...i too had posed a fish moli in my blog...grt with appam...

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  9. oh i love this one....just made one yday.....urs looks and sounds delish!

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  10. I wiah i could have this ..I am craving for this recipe since a long tme...Didnt get a chance yet to prepare or have it

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  11. Whooo, fish moily looks awesome, perfectly paired with aapams:)

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  12. oh, wow, that fish curry looks super delicious and creamy rich with that aappam !!!
    I 'm in that category of people who like to eat nonveg for breakfast as well !!! I love having fish curry with idlis :)
    your anecdotes about how your grandma prepares the meals for each day reminded me of my own :), made me nostalgic girl !!!! have a nice day !!!

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  13. that fish curry looks delicious...yum!

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  14. This is really creamy and delicious dear, nice pic too...

    http://treatntrick.blogspot.com

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  15. Hy Nitha,
    Fab recipe..loved the glazed look of your dish.
    First time here. Wonderful collection you have.
    Happy to follow u. Do drop in at my blog sometime.

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  16. I'm always hungry for fresh healthy fish anytime of the day :D

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  17. Fish curry looks very nice and beautifully presanted...

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  18. Dish looks interesting dear and yummy too! Thanks for sharing...;)

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  19. Sorry, this post is not for me. But i did come back to reading ur previous post and I liked it!

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  20. Wow! mouthwatering dish. I love fish & will try this soon. Lovely :)

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  21. yummy, iv always waited for this receipe. great!

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