Some years back my friend had gone to her home town on an emergency. We friends decided to take turns to send dinner for her husband. My turn came and my husband suggested that we call him home for dinner as it would be nice to be together after a long day at work. I made fish curry that night. I called him for dinner the next night too. I made egg curry for dinner that night. He burst into uncontrollable laughter seeing the egg curry. The reason….we died laughing. Here is what he told. Usually in India, you treat your guests with a feast at every meal. Fish is a little pricey in India. So if you serve fish, you are saying your guests that you love to have them home. When the hosts are tired feeding the guests, the fish menu becomes mutton. After some more time it becomes chicken. After sometime it finally comes down to egg. When the guests get eggs as a main course for a meal, it’s a cue that they have been there a long time and it’s time for them to leave. So when we heard this story we all had a hearty laugh. And oh yes… I never made egg curry ever again for him. And coming to today’s post, we are making fish. Here is how to do Vanjaram Fish Fry, Tamilnadu style.
Clean the fish steaks and dry them thoroughly on a paper towel. Set aside. Take 10-12 cloves of garlic and grind it to a smooth paste. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water while grinding. Apply the paste on both sides of the fish. Set aside for 5 minutes.
In the mean time make a dry rub powder with 2 heaped tablespoon of red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon fine pepper powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 heaped tablespoon corn flour.
Take the garlic marinated fish and dust it in the dry rub powder to evenly coat. Let the dusted fish rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
Heat oil in a pan until very hot. The marinade will not leave the fish if fried in hot oil. That’s the trick. Shallow fry the fish for 2 minutes on each side in really hot oil.
Drain the fried fish on a paper towel and serve hot.
- 500 grams Seer Fish (Vanjaram Fish) cut into steaks
- Garlic Paste (made with 10-12 cloves of garlic and 2 tablespoons water)
- 2 heaped tablespoon red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon fine pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 heaped tablespoon corn starch
- Oil for shallow frying
- Clean the fish steaks and dry them thoroughly on a paper towel. Set aside. Take 10-12 cloves garlic and grind it to a smooth paste. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water while grinding. Apply the paste on both sides of the fish. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- In the mean time make a dry rub powder with 2 heaped tablespoon red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon fine pepper powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 heaped tablespoon corn flour.
- Take the garlic marinated fish and dust it in the dry rub powder to evenly coat. Let the dusted fish rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
- Heat oil in a pan until very hot. The marinade will not leave the fish if fried in hot oil. That’s the trick. Shallow fry the fish for 2 minutes on each side in hot oil.
- Drain the fried fish on a paper towel and serve hot.