Meen pollichathu/Fish fried in banana leaf

    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. This is an easy and simple fish recipe. Hope you all will try this.



Ingredients:

For marination:

  • Fish - 4 pieces
  • 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 - 4
  • Ginger - 1 medium size size
  • Green chilli - 2
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Take the leaf and spread some masala mixture in the center of the 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.

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