Kerala Style Spicy Baked Fish Fry

Spicy fish “fry” that is baked instead, with some delicious Kerala style spice marinade. This is a great side to rice and curry or even an appetizer!

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Being a vegetarian, you would think I will have a tough time cooking with meat and seafood. But its not. The reason I am a vegetarian is because I have been brought up one and Ive been one for way too long for me to develop a taste for meat and seafood and actually like it. I just treat them all as just ingredients and I don’t find them gross or unapproachable. Being married to a meat-a-holic helps too, as I use him as a testing board for everything meat and seafood I make.

Chicken and meat has been easier to make, as I know they can stand spices, especially in the Indian style preparations and once I got used to cooking with them and knew the ingredient, I ventured out to cooking with them in other cuisines and eventually, developing my own recipes with them. But seafood was something I was always a little intimidated by.

Fish and shell fish seemed too delicate, that I was afraid I would over power them with spices or worse, overcook them. But I couldn’t deny my mallu-boy ( the husband is from Kerala, where seafood is consumed widely and mallu is slang for the language Malayalam and also someone from Kerala) some good spicy seafood.

All Kerala seafood dishes are covered with spices and coconut, that I knew if I tried and experimented a little, I would eventually get it right. I used ready-made spices for fish fry and make a quick fish fry on the stove top for the husband, from time to time. I even ventured into making curries with prawns and I got that right. I was not comfortable making a good fish curry, up until last year, where I came up with the perfect recipe, for me at least, so I cant mess it up without tasting it

This baked fish “fry” is a similar recipe, where you really cant go wrong much. A good spice marinade for the fish fillets and pop it in the oven till the marinade is all cooked through. The fish comes out nice and flavored. Go ahead, try it, I know you will love it as much as my meat-a-holic did.

Kerala Style Spicy Baked Fish Fry

Spicy fish “fry” that is baked instead, with some delicious Kerala style spice marinade. This is a great side to rice and curry or even an appetizer!

4.5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main, Seafood Side

Cuisine: Indian, Kerala

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 23 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 3 minutes

Servings: 2 people

Calories: 215kcal

Author: Manju

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Ingredients

• ▢ 0.75 lb Mahi Mahi fillet (2 fillets of about 6-8 inches in length) or any other fatty fish

To crush together to a paste:

• ▢ 4 pearl onions
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic
• ▢ 1 inch ginger
• ▢ ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ▢ 1 tsp Kashmiri Chilie Powder
• ▢ 1 tsp black pepper corns
• ▢ 1 ½ tsp sea salt
• ▢ 1 tsp coconut oil
• ▢ ½ lime juiced
• ▢ ½ tsp garam masala

Instructions

• Put all the ingredients under "crush to form a paste" in a mortar and pestle and grind to form as fine a paste as possible.
• Cut the fish fillets into two and make small slits in them. Smear the paste equally over all the fillets and marinate in the refrigerator for 20-30 mins.
• Pre heat oven to 375F
• Line the fish on a baking tray with parchment paper on it and bake for 20 mins. To finish it off, broil on high for 3-4 mins.
• Serve with raw red onion slices and lime wedges.

Notes

To check for doneness: teh spice / masala paste on the fish should have changed color slightly and not look too raw.

Nutrition

Calories: 215kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 124mg | Sodium: 1898mg | Potassium: 860mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 680IU | Vitamin C: 11.4mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 2.6mg

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