Salmon Green Masala – Konkani

Fried fish is to die for, specially when accompanied by rice. This green masala fish has the very distinctive flavour of Konkani cooking. This recipe uses salmon, but can be made with many other kinds of fish – be it Seer (or King) fish, Pomfret or Bombay Duck.

My Mum was a terrific cook and she loved fish. She often lamented that the fact that I did not share her great love for fish. This is one of her recipes that I miss the most.

Ingredients

• Salmon- 500 gm
• FOR THE MASALA PASTE
• Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup
• Mint leaves (optional)- 5-6
• Green chillies-1
• Ginger grated, 1 inch
• Garlic cloves- 4-5
• Lemon juice- 1 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• FOR THE COVERING
• Rice flour- 2 tbsp
• Semolina- 1/4 cup
• Oil- for frying

Method

Cut the salmon into 1 inch pieces. I usually do this here in the UK, because we get these massive fillets of salmon. If you are in India, just use the fillets that you get from the fishmonger. There is absolutely no need to dice them up.

Grind the ginger, garlic, coriander,salt, lemon juice and green chillies. You could use mint leaves too, if you like, but it is not essential.

Marinate the fish in this mixture for at least 20 minutes. If marinating longer, do refrigerate them.

In a plate, mix the semolina(suji/ rawa) and rice flour. My mum mostly used just coarse rice flour like most Konkanis do, but sometimes, she also used just whole-wheat flour. I find that semolina and rice flour together make the crispiest covering. If you use just semolina, it tends to splatter around while cooking, so a bit of rice flour helps to hold it in place better.

Roll the marinated fish in the semolina mixture, making sure that all the sides get covered.

Heat oil on a flat bottomed pan. When the oil is hot, put the pieces of salmon on the pan and fry on all sides till golden brown.

When nicely fried, remove the fish and drain the excess oil on an absorbent paper.

Each side would take about 2-3 minutes. Remember to fry on medium heat, else the salmon will get too hard and dry.