Fish Molee – Kerala Style Fish Curry with Coconut Milk

Delicately spiced fish curry with coconut milk, a Kerala special Fish Molee.

If you have been following my blog for a while, by now you might be familiar that Kerala cuisine uses a lot, a LOT, of coconut – ground coconut, grated coconut, fried coconut slices, coconut milk and what not! Of course, the coconut usage is not limited to vegetables and meat, we use it with fish too. After all, seafood is as integral to Kerala cuisine as coconut is.

This was my first time making Fish Molee and I looked around a little for how to make it. I knew that it is basically a fish stew but wanted to know if there was any specific way it was made or any specific spice was added or not added to make it Fish Molee. What I found in most places – internet and my cookbook collection , all pretty much said the same thing. So I went about making it and it turned out not that bad – pretty darn tasty infact. This time I had more taste testers than just the meat-a-holic, so it must be true!

Fish Molee – The Recipe

Ingredients:

Tilapia fillets, or any other similar fish fillets – 4 to 5 ( I think Pomphret and King Fish are the more commonly used ones, but I just used the fish I had)
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Lime juice – 2 tsp
Red Chilli powder – 2 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Canola Oil – 3-4 teaspoon to pan fry the fish
Red Onion, chopped – 1
Thai Green Chilies / Birds Eye Chilies, stem removed and roughly chopped – 2 or 3
Ginger, 2 inch piece
Garlic cloves – 5
Coconut Oil – 1 teaspoon (feel free to use canola or vegetable oil)
Curry leaves – 7-8
Lime juice – 1 tsp
Coconut Milk – 1 cup
Regular milk – ½ cup or more, as needed ( you can use all of coconut milk, if that is what you want. I try to use a mix of coconut milk and milk usually)
Salt – as needed

Method:

Cut each fillet into 3 inch pieces. Marinate the fillets in turmeric powder, red chilli powder, lime juice and salt and keep aside for about half an hour or so. Heat the canola oil in a pan and fry the fish lightly on both sides. Now remove the fish from the pan and drain on paper towels. Add the coconut oil to the pan, heat it and add chopped onions and curry leaves to it. Meanwhile, crush the ginger, garlic and green chilies together using a mortar and pestle. Add this crushed mix  to the pan and saute well. Add the coconut milk and milk to the pan, let it almost come to a boil and add the fish to the pan slowly so as not to break them. Add salt and lime juice to it. Lower the heat to low-medium and let it cook for 5 mins or so. Serve hot with rice, appam, dosas or chapathis.