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 .
