Kerala style meen pollichathu/ Fish cooked in banana leaf wrap or aluminium foil

    Kerala style meen pollichath is a well known traditional spicy dish. This specialty of this dish is that it is prepared in banana leaf wrap. I used aluminium foil because banana leaf was not available when I prepared this. This is an easy and simple fish recipe. Hope you all will try this.

Ingredients:
For marination:

• Fish - 1 big
• Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Lemon juice- 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

For masala:

• Shallots/small onion (sliced) - 6 big sized
• Garlic - 2
• Ginger - 1 small size
• Green chilli - 1
• Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp
• Tomato - 1/2 of big one
• Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
• Salt to taste
• oil as needed

Preparation:

• Clean and wash the fish properly.
• Make cuts on both sides of the fish so that masala can be absorbed well.
• Mix together chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt, pepper powder and lemon juice. Marinate the fish with this mixture and keep it aside for minimum 20 to 30 mins.
• Heat some oil in a pan and fry both sides of the fish.
  
• Remove the fried fish and keep aside.
• Grind ginger, green chilly, garlic, curry leaves, turmeric powder, chilly powder and pepper by adding a little amount of water to make it a fine paste.
• Take some oil in a pan and saute chopped onions along with curry leaves. Saute till it becomes light brown in color.
  
• Add the prepared masala paste to this and saute till its raw smell goes.
• Add chopped tomatoes and saute till its cooked well.
• Add enough salt.
• Remove from flame and let it cool.
• Take banana leaves of the suitable size for wrapping the fish.
• Wash and wipe it.
• Soften the leaf by placing it over the flame for few seconds. This will prevent the leaf from breaking when you wrap the fish. I used aluminium foil instead of this as I didn't get banana leaf.
• Take the leaf and spread some masala mixture in the center of the foil or leaf.
• Place the fried fish on top of it and again spread some masala to cover the fish.
  
• Wrap it. If you are using a banana leaf, tie it using a thread.
• Take a pan and heat it in low flame. Add a little oil to it. 
• Place the wrap and cook both sides of the wrap for 5 to 7 mins.
  
• Take off from the flame. Your tasty meen pollichathu is ready. 

Notes:

• If you don't have small onions you can use big onion.
• If you don't have kashmiri chilli add normal chilli powder but it will be more spicy so reduce the quantity.
• You may use the same oil leftover after frying the fish for making the masala as it will have all the flavors.
• Preferably use coconut oil.
• You may use a small second layer of leaf inside the wrapping to make sure that the mixture and fish doesn't get overcooked.
• You may garnish fish after applying the second layer of masala. I used a tomato slice, onion slice, green chilly slice and curry leaves.
• If you are using aluminium foil, no need to add oil while cooking the fish wrap.