Goan Green Chutney stuffed Pomfret Fry

Pomfret is something I havent cooked often. Earlier had always either tawa fried or microwaved (with a blob of butter) simply marinated (ginger-garlic-lemon-salt-pepper) pomfret pieces. 

This time thought of trying something different. Hence the internet hunt ....which yielded a simple stuffed pomfret recipe in which most of the ingredients were available at home.

Ingredients :

* Whole pomfrets - 4

* Juice of 1 lime

* Salt to taste

* Sooji/Semolina/Rawa for rolling/ dredging (optional)

* Wheat flour for dusting/sprinkling (did not use)

* Refined oil for pan frying

* Turmeric - 1 tsp

* Freshly crushed black pepper - 1 tsp (not in original recipe)

* For the green chutney

   - A large bunch of fresh coriander leaves

   - 2 sprigs fresh mint leaves-optional (I did not use)

   - 1 medium onion peeled and roughly chopped

   - 1 tbs fresh tamarind paste (I used juice of 1 big lemon)

   - 7 cloves fresh garlic

   - 1 " piece of ginger

   - 2-3 fresh green chilies

   - 1 tsp cumin seeds

   - 4 tbsp grated coconut (I used 1/2 a medium sized coconut )

   - A large pinch of turmeric

   - A pinch each of Cinnamon & Clove powder (I used 1/2 inch cinnamon stick & 3-4 pieces of cloves)

   - A large pinch of sugar to taste - optional (I used 1/2 tsp)

Grind the above chutney ingredients into a thick paste with minimum water

Procedure :

1. The fish is to be cleaned and slit into pockets. I got this done from the fishmonger

2. Rub the pomfrets and their cavities with lemon juice, salt , turmeric and freshly crushed pepper and marinate for 15-20 minutes.

3. Now stuff the cavities with the green chutney and cover the whole pomfrets in a thick paste of green chutney (as per the original recipe, only the cavities were stuffed with the green chutney)

4. Marinate for 15-20 minutes (I marinated for more than an hour)

5. When ready to fry, roll each pomfret in sooji and then dust/sprinkle wheat flour on either side. I only rolled in rawa and skipped the flour sprinkling.

6. Heat oil in a skillet / pan and slide in the pomfrets one by one into the heated oil. Cook each side for at least 5 minutes or till evenly cooked and crispy. 

Serve with tomatoes, onion and a squeeze of lemon and chopped corinader. Also potato wedges & salad as the original recipe mentioned .