Netholi/Chooda Porichathu or Smelt/Anchovy Fry

Today I am going to share you the Netholi fry recipe. I have already posted the Netholi peera....If u are not ready to prepare the curry or peera using smelt just try this fry. Its quiet simple and also the fried netholi is really tasty with rice..If you r buying the frozen fish just wash it with the lemon juice. This netholi fry is my husband's favorite, so its a common one in our menu... 

Ingredients 

Netholi : 20 nos 

Pearl onion/big Onion -15 nos /1/2 portion  

Turmeric Powder : 1 tsp 

Chili Powder : 2 tsp 

Ginger : a small size(optional) 

Sat - to taste 

Preparation 

1. dice the onion into small pieces (you skip this step if it is pearl onion).
2. Crush the onion & Ginger and mix it with turmeric powder chili powder           and salt. 
3. Marinate the netholi with the paste. Keep it aside for 30minutes-1 hour.. 
4. Heat oil in  a pan.  In the hot oil add the netholi and fry it for 4 to 5          minute per side until the fish is nicely browned. If u like to use the           oven method for frying the fish just check the  Fish Fry -Oven Method blog for details.

The mouth watering Netholi porichathu is ready to serve...Have it with rice, if u add any side curry like sambar ,veg curry the meal would be super.. 

Points to ponder 

• Do not add water while grinding the mix.. 
• Use peal onion; It gives more taste to the dish 
• If you like Black Pepper, use it instead of Chili powder 
• Ginger is good for digestion so better to include it

Netholi/Chooda/Smelt/Anchovy Peera/Thoran-Dried Coconut curry

Netholi or Chooda is a small fish, commonly used in kerala. My mom used to prepare the netholi fry, peera and netholi with green mango curry. When we moved to US, i really missed all those dishes as because we hardly find this fish at any store...Finally google told us that our netholi  is anchovy/Smelt..So search goes on... Finally got the frozen smelt in Kroger(one of the grocery shop).Fresh or frozen that doesn't matter ,we used to buy this smelt whenever we feel to eat the "meen peera"...Anyhow both this Smelt and Anchovy are  big enough compared to our "netholi"..The taste is almost same...not as much as our netholis..(It seems that fishes from Arabian Sea are tastier than Atlantic/Pacific, just kidding::)))Nothing is better than something....

We can use any small fishes (or canned fish chunks) for preparing this peera... For example sardines, canned tuna or salmon etc are very good for this preparation...So if u donot have a chance to get the netholi, try this recipe with any other fishes mentioned above...

Netholi is really good for health..the small bones and also the meat  have good amount of calcium.

If u buy fresh one, it's a little time consuming job to clean up the fish.While cleaning cut off the head and tail part and then clean the internal part also.Then wash it using lemon juice..I usually cut the cleaned netholi into 2 or 3 pieces .. (The frozen ones are comes with cleaned...). Peera will be more tastier with smaller pieces.

Cooking time : 20-30 minutes

Cost of the item: 4.99 usd/bag

Ingredients

Smelt/Netholi/Anchovy(cleaned and cut into small piece) : 20nos

Coconut  :1/2 cup

Green chili : 5 nos split into 2 piece

Ginger  : 1 medium size

Curry leaves : 6 leaves

Shallots/Onion:6 nos /1/2 portion of a medium sized diced

Oil : 2 tsp

Kokum or kudam puli : a small piece (optional)

Water : 1 cup

Preparation:

1. First lightly crush the onion and ginger.
2. Mix the coconut,crushed ginger onion, split green chili and curry leaves and the kudam puli
3. Add the netholi pieces into it 
4. Heat a pan add the mix into it .Pour 1 cup of water to the mix 
5. Let it boil for about 15- 20 minute in medium flame
6. Stir in between..once the water dried up add the oil into it then switch of the flame let it cool down for sometime.

The delicious "Netholi peera" is ready to eat..Have it with Rice...

Tips  to go:

• You can  soak the puli in one cup of water and use that water for cooking instead of adding the water puli separately...
• Do not add excess water...
• Better avoid to stir the mix using the spoon .Just close the pan and hold the handle then rotate the whole pan. this will help to avoid separating the fish-bone and meat.

FishCurry KoKum Method

Here i am going to share the fish curry recipe with kokum .In Kerala, fish curry is a popular dish in everyone's kitchen.Variety of recipes are available for single fish curry. for example Fish curry with coconut,fish curry with fried coconut fish curry with tamarind ,fish curry with kudam puli or kokum etc..are there to prepare...

Actually i donot  know about the kokum,frankly speaking i hardly know this is our kudam puli..Finaly google given the information.actually its available in most of the indian grocery shop.Thats the best thing  otherwise we have to miss our fishcurry without having the kudam puli at handy.This puli is really good for digestion too...so don't forget to trythis tasty and healthy curry...

Cooking time : 15-25 minute

Cost of the fish : 2.99/pound(Here i used the red snapper) 

Ingredients:

Fish : 1 pound

Ginger : 1 medium size

Garlic : 2 cloves

Tomato : 1 no

Green chili : 2 nos

Onion/Pearl onion : 1 no/10-15 nos

kokum : 1or 2 medium size

Salt : to atste

Turmeric Powder : 1 tsp

Coriander Powder :2 tsp

Chili powder : 2 tsp

Fenugreek powder: 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida:1/4 tsp

Oil : 2 -3 tsp

For Seasoning 

Mustard seed: 1tsp

Curry leaves : 4-5 leaves

Red Chili :1 no

Preparation :

Step 1: Clean the fish and cut  into medium sized pieces.

Step 2 : just marinate the fish with little turmeric powder and salt.

Step3: soak the kokum in 1/2 cup hot water.

Step 4:Pour a little oil in the heated pan...add the mustard seed once it get spluttering add the curry leaves and the red chili

Step 5: once the red chili and the leaves get  saute add the garlic ginger and green chili..after a while add the sliced onion.let it saute for 5 minute 

step 6 :Once the  onions get a slight brown color add the powders and stir well.

Step 7: add the fish pieces into it ...stir well fro 5 -10 minute..

Step 8: then add the kokum water into it..If u wish to make more gravy just add one more cup of water ..add salt to taste..

Step 9: Let the fish to cook for about 10-15 minutes in medium heat..

          Now the delicious curry is ready to eat

Points to ponder

• If u want to make the curry spicy add more green chili and red chili powder.
• If u wish to like the seasoning at the end do it after the fish is cooked .
• If u want to make  more gravy add 2 cup water.Don't add more water it will spoil the taste..
• do not over cook the fish..
• if u want to add the kokum to the curry add it with the hot water otherwise squeeze it and then add that solution.

FishCurry/Fish Kulambu with cocunut

I think nobody needs an introduction about fish.Fish is a very healthy and nutritious food.Today all are very  concious about their body and trying to avoid any kind of non-vegetarian food..But anyone can have fish without any dilemma,as it doesn't have that much fat and also it have  lots of minerals..especially fish have lots of calcuim ...Curried or baked fish is really good..Fried one taste good but not good if we have it frequently so have the fried one less frequently.If you are fond of fried one just fry the fish using the oven method.Just refer the blog  FriedFish .

We usually buy fresh fish from the asian market...There we can find all varieties of fish like tuna pomfret pompano cat fish tilapia red snapper King  fish etc...Cat fish and tilapia are ocean fish so it will have some mud taste...we usually prefer tuna pomfret pompano red snapper..sometimes love to add tilapia and cat fish too... will be available sometimes...King fish have its unique taste nothing comparable to it....Today i thought of sharing my Fish curry recipe to all my friends...i got this recipe idea from my mom'...In my home mom used to prepare the fish curry using coconut..Its quiet simple and tasty..My husband's place they used to have the fish curry using the komkum so nowadays my mom's recipe is a visitor to our kitchen..but we really love the taste ...Let me explain how to prepare the fishcurry using the coconut..

Here i am using the Yellow fin Tuna.Usually you can find the tuna in almost all the grocery shops and also in FreshMarket too if u go with a fresh one it will tastes more.

The cost of this fish will be 3.99/Pound. 1 fish will come almost 1 to 2 pound.

Cooking time -15 t0 30 minutes

Ingredients

Fish - cut into small pieces

Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup

Pearl onion - 6 nos

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tbs

Chili powder - 1 tsp

Fenugreek powder - 1 pinch

Tamarind - 1 small lemon size 

Salt - to taste

For Seasoning 

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Red chili - 2 nos

Curry leaves - 4 leaves

Green Chili -1 number

Pearl Onion -2 sliced

Preparation:

Step 1: Wash and clean the fish..

Step 2:Make a paste of coconut,pearl onion, chili powder, coriander powder ,fenugreek powder,turmeric powder and the tamarind(just soak the tamarind in hot water for 5 minutes then used that water for grinding),salt using a mixer.

 Step 3: Heat oil in a skillet.(Use a deep skillet )when it get heated add the mustard seed,once it started spluttering,add the curry leaves and red chili once it get sauted add the paste into it..

Step 4 : Let the mix to boil for about 5 minutes in medium heat...Add the Fish pieces into it...

Step 5: Cook it for 10 -15 minutes..Do the slow cooking,

Step6: So now the quick and easy  Fish curry is ready to serve....

Points to ponder.

• If u just wash the fish with lemon juice then the bad smell will goes off.
• if u do the slow cooking ,it will give more taste, so that we can use the curry as a sudden otherwise we have to keep it aside for sometime then only the pieces will get that curried taste...
• If u like more gravy add 1or 2 cup of water at the time of grinding the ingredients otherwise use very little water...

Fish Fry-Oven Method

 

The Fish Fry is one of the tastier food for those who loves non vegetarian food. Fish is a good source of calcium. Here in United States its quiet easy to find fish in any of the grocery store. The frozen and cleaned fillets are common in any of the grocery shop. If we get the fresh fish then the taste will be really good compared to the frozen food. Usually fresh fish is available in almost all Asian market and also in some of the Indian grocery we can find Indian Pompfret in a frozen form...

Here i used the Yellow Fin Tuna,we got it from  one of the Asian market.The best thing here is the fish will be  cleaned in the shop itself  with or without cost. Anyhow we have to wash and clean before going to use.

If we fry the fish stove top(in the pan) the smell will be a problem. Usually in India the houses are highly ventilated. But here because of the weather variations, no more ventilation. So we have to open all our windows and door for the air circulation. While frying the fish, the smell will be inside for long time if u r not doing that way. During winter season its quiet difficult to open the windows/doors for longtime ...I think the exhausted fan won't absorb all the smell.So here i use to follow the oven method.

Actually we got this idea from my husband's friend.When i tried this method its really works.No smell and the taste the exactly same as the stove fried fish...

So i am going to share how to do this and  friends just try this ,i can guarantee it will come up good...Nowadays this fish fry is a common in our menu. My husband  is fond of fish items. If its a fried one he is ready to eat as much double the amount of rice. So i am so happy always thankful to his friend for this great idea.

The cost of this fish will be 3.99/Pound. 1 fish will come almost 1 to 2 pound.

Cooking time -15 t0 40 minutes

Ingredients:

 

1.Cleaned Fish -1-2 pound (cut into the pieces shown in the picture)

2. Chilli Powder  - 2 tbsp

3. Turmeric Powder -1 tsp

4. Methi/Fenugreek powder -1/2 tsp

5. Pepper Powder -1 tbsp 

6. Salt -1  tbsp (according to the taste)

7. Ginger -a small piece

8. Pearl onion - 5 nos

9.Oil - to fry

Preparation:

Step 1

 

• Make the Fine paste of the ingredients listed from 2  to 8.
• Do not add more water just add 2-3 tbsp water.

Step 2: 

• Marinate the fish with the paste.
• Keep the marinated fish in the refrigerator for 30 minutes,it will help the fish slices to absorb the marinade.

Step 3:

• In the baked pan pour the oil
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit
  

Step 4:

• Place the fish in the pan.
• Place it in the preheated oven for 30 minute.
• In between just check the fish and turn the side.

Your Fish fry is ready to eat....Enjoy...

Points to ponder:

1.Cut the fish into medium sized pieces.

2.Do not add more water for making the marinade

3.Don't forget to preheat the oven 

4.If u want to make the fish more crispy keep it in the same heat for 10 more 

   minutes.

5.If u wash the fish with lemon juice u can avoid the smell

6. Use big onion slices and tomato slices with little vinegar as a side