Meen pollichathu


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Preparation time : 30 minutes + marination time of 2 hours .

Cooking time : 15 -20 minutes

Serves : 2-3 members

Description 

Meen pollichathu . A dish I came to know on my holiday trip to the back waters of gods own country , kumarakom  , Kerala . Just loved the rustic appeal to this dish of using the banana leaf to steam fish . The aroma of the banana leaf blends into the fish and it creates  pure magic Which is incredibly light , and just as delicious as its deep fried counterpart .  Did experiment a lot over this dish , got 60 percent near it but not 100 percent . Again on my visit to meet my beloved friend Sindhu Krishna in Trivandrum , we had lunch at travancore heritage hotel in kovalam and got to taste meen pollichathu once again . This time it was an explosion of flavours on the plate , tasted even better than what I had in kumarakom  . Some how managed to get the recipe from the chef and realised that I didn’t sauté the ground masala for marinating the fish . Following this new recipe , gave it a try and wolla it worked pitch perfect . From then on I religiously follow this recipe for meen pollichathu . From kumarakom  to kovalam … Some how I managed to get the right recipe and its always gratifying and popular with every one … and is treat for health freaks as its steamed and yummy yum .

Ingredients

Ingredients
Quantity
Cleaned Fish 500 grams , ( you could use whole medium sized fish or big slices of a fish . I usually like using Kari meen / black spotted pearl fish )
Small onion 1 cup
Ginger1 inch piece
Garlic 1 pod
Turmeric powder 5 grams
Dry Red chillies7
Salt to taste
Curry leavesfew
Coconut oil 1/2 cup
Vinegar 1/4 cup
Banana leaves3 to 4

Method

  1. Clean fish .Grind small onion , ginger , garlic , turmeric powder , dry red chillies , salt to taste along with vinegar to a paste .heat oil , fry the ground masala until oil floats on top and raw smell has gone . Cool completely .
  2. Apply all over the fish and set aside to marinate for at least 2 hours .apply coconut oil over banana leaves and place over high flame on both sides for the banana leaves to become pile able .
  3. place the marinated fish over the pile able banana leaves , sprinkle few curry leaves and pack the fish tightly into a parcel .
  4. Set aside to marinate for another one hour or more .steam in low flame for 15 -20 minutes ( I used my idli steamer ) and serve hot .