Fish Tawa Fry | Simple Fish Fry

After coming to California I tried many varieties of fish as like we get in India. In a way am happy for the switching from Minnesota. I tried King Fish (vanjaram), Pomfret (vavval) and also Golden thread (sankara) fish fries. As I already told u, am a great great fan of fish… and sankara (golden thread) is one of my favorite. I love to have fish with the bones. Actually the bones enhance the tastes. TH really gets irritated to eat the fish along with the bones.

This recipe was tried long before when I was in Minnesota. I tried it with Catfish. Amma always makes this masala for Sankara meen and it melts in mouth… whenever we buy fish, my work is to clean and doing the marinating. TH does the frying part for me patiently. I must say he is an expert in doing that. I really like the way he fries the fish for me. Even this fry was done by him and I simply ate it once they are piping hot.

Try this recipe with any variety of fish and let me know ur reviews. Don’t forget to check out other recipes of Fish. Click here for the recipe. 

Preparation time: 30-45 mins

Cooking time: 15-20 mins 

South-Indian Style Pomfret Fish Fry | Vavval Meen Varuval

After a long search process I found an Asian store which sells all live fish. I got so excited to see the store which has most of the fishes from almost all the countries. Last Sunday I bought one pomfret along with one golden thread fish. Pomfret, here they also call it has Golden Pompano. In Tamil it is called vavval meen. It doesn't have much bone, so it is easy to make steaks. It needs just a sharp chef knife to make the job easier. TH does the job for me making thin steaks and I cleaned the fish later.

 In this recipe I just used spice powders and tamarind juice to make the fry. This is the easiest masala which also suits any other fish too. I personally like the flavor of onions and tomatoes along with this masala. You can do that by adding little of onions and tomatoes paste to the fish with the powders. TH doesn't like this flavor so I avoided using it.

I also have a fish fry recipe with the chettinad flavors. Checkout the recipe here. I served it with Meen Kuzhambu along with rasam.

Preparation time: 1-2 hours

Cooking time: 20-30mins

Nethili Meen Varuval | Anchovies Fry Recipe

Time to share the weekend special non vegetarian recipe… this time it is not chicken or prawns. Its Anchovies, in tamil we call it has Nethili Meen. These are small sized fish and they are sun dried generally to store for a long period. In India, people used to sundry these anchovies during the summer days and make use of it in the winters. Usually they add lots of salt to the anchovies. Hence it can be preserved for long days without any preservatives. Sun drying helps to take out the moisture from it, so it never gets spoilt easily.

For the first time I saw this anchovies in a Vietnamese shop and I quickly grabbed ones and tried on a week day. Amma always used to make this on a week day since weekends are meant only for fish and prawns. Being a non vegetarian it is always fun to eat all these… *slurp*   

When u buy anchovies, make sure they are dried. Wet anchovies are not suitable for making this recipe. Wet ones are always good to make gravy and the dried once are for roasting. Make sure about the salt content before u add any by urs.  

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 15-20 mins

Chettinad Fish Fry - Chettinad meen varuval

Chettinad Fish Fry - Chettinad meen varuval

Before I start I need to tell this, am a great great fan of fish.  Either if it is a fry or gravy I can eat it as such. I badly need any non vegetarian food for my Sunday and mostly amma makes fish, since dats my first choice. And you know it is comparatively healthy when compared to other meat varieties  .Whenever amma makes fish I ll be the first person to taste it, even if it is hot on the tawa. Even am famous among my relatives as a fan of fish and they definitely include fish fry on the menu whenever I make a visit to their place. 

This recipe I have adapted from a cookery show and I haven’t tried it before. Once I tried, I could not able to resist myself. The flavor arrested me and I ate some pieces before taking the photo   

Here I have used catfish and it is really very soft. I have also tried with salmon and tilapia. Both are equally good. So, as like me enjoy ur Sunday with this delicious chettinad fish fry. 

Preparation time: 2 hrs
Cooking time : 30-45 mins 

Vavval Meen Kuzhambu Recipe | Tamilnadu Style Fish Curry Recipe

I love Meen kuzhambhu the most. When it is served with hot steamed rice and with the side of Fish Fry, ah!!! I will be satisfied for the entire day. Amma used to make fish for almost all the Sunday, since I and appa are crazy fish lovers. Appa always need kuzhambu(gravy) and I prefer fried fish. So, not to disappoint both of us, amma makes both the method on the same day. She makes Kuzhambu in a clay pot (Manchatti) which gives an extra-ordinary flavor to the kuzhambhu. As everyone used to tell meen kuzhambu tastes better the next day. This is because of the flavor of the fish getting soaked in the tamarind gravy for the entire day. The same thing is applicable even for biryani. Amma always makes the kuzhambu using sesame oil ( nalla ennai) which is obviously good for health rather compared with other oil stuffs and it also enhances the flavor more. The main tactics to get the kuzhambu perfect is cooking the fish. Fish needs just 4-5 mins for cooking perfectly. So never ever cook it more than the time.

Buy fresh fish for making kuzhambu. When I was in Minnesota, there was no shop to provide good and fresh fish. But here in California I found a Chinese market to provide live, fresh and good fish. Am so lucky in that way!!! This time I bought Pomfret/pomapano, in tamil we call Vavval. Since TH loves fish with no bones, we bought this. As like amma’s method I made Meen kuzhambu with little of Fish and the rest I made Vavval Fish Fry. Check therecipe here.  

Preparation time: 20- 30 mins ( for cleaning the fish)

Cooking time: 20-30mins