Fry

Meen Porichathu (Fried Fish)

May  3, 2010
4.7
3 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Test Kitchen Notes

As a general rule, I prefer to cook with recipes that use measurements that I understand. But once in a while, instead of a teaspoon of this or a half cup of that, one has to be content with the allocation of “some.” Though this recipe is written in grams, I added “some” chili powder, “some” turmeric, “some” black pepper, the juice of a small lime and some very finely chopped ginger and garlic smashed together to form a paste. I salted my cod a bit, rubbed it with the spice mix and tossed it all in a Ziploc bag for about 30 minutes. Maybe you will choose to marinate it longer; but that was my interpretation of “some” time. Then came the revelation: rice flour. Who knew? The incredibly light fry that this flour makes, the way it refuses to stick to the pan, the lovely gold it turned this fish -– seeing this was worth all my worrying. I cooked my cod about 4 minutes a side –- you can cut into it and make sure you are not overcooking. - Jenny —Jestei

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 4 fillets of fish (any fish, but firm, flaky white fish like grouper, fluke, U.S. farm-raised catfish or tilapia work well)
  • 10gm Chilli powder
  • 3gm Turmeric
  • 5gm Black pepper
  • ½ tsp Ginger garlic paste (or equal parts grated ginger & garlic)
  • 1 tsp Lime juice
  • Salt to taste
  • Rice flour to coat
  • Oil for shallow frying (something neutral with a high smoke point, like canola or grapeseed)
Directions
  1. Clean, cut and wash the fish. Prepare a thick paste with all remaining ingredients (besides the rice flour and oil) and apply it to the fish. Keep it aside for some time.
  2. Coat the rice flour into the marinated fish, shallow fry in oil and remove.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Carmas
    Carmas
  • gingerroot
    gingerroot
  • healthierkitchen
    healthierkitchen
  • pauljoseph
    pauljoseph
  • Sagegreen
    Sagegreen

11 Reviews

Carmas April 30, 2013
Made fish taco's, using the recipe, and the breading was so light. Used Tilapia and the seasonings didn't overpower the subtle flavor of the fish. A definite addition to my library. Many thanks!
 
rlb296 January 17, 2012
I made this last night and it was incredibly spicy! The pepper was the only thing I could taste. I measured everything precisely with a kitchen scale...is it supposed to be so hot?
 
gingerroot June 27, 2011
I made this last night (again, yay!) with my Slow Food Oahu cooking club. It was delicious with your cucumber pachadi and coconut cilantro chutney.
 
mzmecz June 2, 2011
I agree, rice flour is wonderful for frying. It's light but I think its best quality is the crunch it gives the coating.
 
healthierkitchen November 20, 2010
We enjoyed this for dinner the other night as well. Thanks for this easy and delicious recipe.
 
pauljoseph November 20, 2010
You are welcome
 
gingerroot November 20, 2010
I made this for dinner a few nights ago and everyone enjoyed it. What a lovely, easy to put together recipe. Thank you pauljoseph!
 
pauljoseph November 20, 2010
thank you gingerroot
 
pauljoseph November 15, 2010
Thank you Sagegreen this really an award for me
 
Sagegreen November 15, 2010
So glad to see you featured in Jenny's spotlight today!
 
pauljoseph May 3, 2010
gm=gramI 450 grams equal to 1 pound