Ingredients:
- Boneless Fish fillets – 4 (seer fish, giant seaperch/chanak, red snapper)
- Salt – a pinch
- Pepper powder – ½teaspoon
- Vinegar – ½ teaspoon
- Cornstarch – 3 tbsp in ½ cup water slurry
- Garlic – ¼ cup, chopped
- Garlic flakes – 5
- Green chilli – 4
- Coriander leaf – ½ cup
- Soy sauce – 2 teaspoons
- Green chilli sauce – ½ teaspoon
- Jaggery – 1 teaspoon
- More Garlic flakes – 6, chopped very fine
- Oil – 4 teaspoons
- Water -1½ cups
- Roasted Sesame seeds to garnish – 1 teaspoon or more (I like the crunch)
- Salt to taste (bearing in mind the saltiness from the soy sauce)
Method :
- Marinate the fish fillets in salt, pepper powder and vinegar. Set aside for half an hour.
- Grind together five garlic flakes, green chillies, coriander leaves, soy sauce and green chillie sauce to a very fine paste.
- Shake off the excess marinade and fry the fish fillets on a frying pan with 2 -3 teaspoons of oil on medium heat. Save the marinade for later. Set aside once the fish fillets are light brown and cooked.
- To a wok on medium heat add a teaspoon of oil and toss in the finely chopped garlic. Fry until the garlic turns a golden brown.
- Stir in the ground coriander paste along with 1½ cups of water and the saved marinade. Bring the sauce to a boil.
- Stir in the cornstarch slurry, boil the sauce for two more minutes and then gently slide in fried fish fillets. Turn off the heat, cover and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with roasted sesame seeds and serve with steamed rice or stir-fried noodles.
Notes:
- I’m not sure I’ve got all the English names of fish right. But basically any fish fillet will do just fine.
- Increase or decrease the number of green chillies depending on the preferred spice level.
- The same with the jaggery. Its meant to lend just a hint of sweetness but avoid it completely if you prefer spice over sweetness.
