Fish and Prawns

Boneless Fish Tawa Fry

1. Used Reef Cod boneless pieces from Licious. Wash the pieces with salt and turmeric. Marinate overnight with salt, turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and lemon.

2. Take out of the fridge 30 mins before cooking and add corn flour and mix well. In a flat kadai add oil and let it heat up. Spread the pieces in a single layer and cook with medium to low heat.

3. Turn the pieces after 3–4 mins. Add curry leaves, coriander and pudina and cook the other side too. Once cooked transfer the pieces to a flat plate. Make sure to scrape out the masala stuck to the pan after frying each batch. This masala adds taste to the fish pieces.

Fish Fry (Seer/Vanjram)

1. Mix ginger garlic paste, lemon juice, salt, turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala, coriander powder, cumin powder, and little rice flour.

2. Apply generously to both side of the fish pieces. Keep it covered for at least an hour. Overnight preferably.

3. In a kadai add oil and wait until it heats up. It’s important for the oil to be hot before we start frying the fish.

4. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the fish piece. Fry on both sides only on medium low flame. Each piece needs about 5 mins depending on the thickness.

Chepala Pulusu (Fish Gravy)

1. Grind onions and a fist full of coriander seeds into a paste.

2. In a kadai, add oil and add slit green chillies and fry. The quantity of oil should be enough. If the oil is too less, the dish doesn’t taste good.

3. Add the onion paste and ginger garlic and fry until the onion slightly changes color.

4. Add turmeric, salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and fry. The whole taste of the dish hinges on how well this paste is fried. It has to be a beautiful brown and should not have any raw taste. You should be able to eat the paste as is.

5. Now arrange the washed fish pieces and add lots of tamarind juice. Add loads of water until the fish pieces start floating.

6. Cook on medium low. Once half the water evaporates, add garam masala, kashmiri red chilli powder and shake the kadai to mix.

7. Continue cooking with a closed lid, until there is no watery gravy left. This is important. The gravy has to be thick and should be stuck to the fish piece. Adjust the spices, add curry leaf powder, coriander leaves and shake the kadai until everything is properly mixed.

8. At this point, there is a proper layer of oil on top of the dish. You can taste the sourness, but that gets absorbed into the fish once the dish rests.

9. The dish tastes better if it rests for at least 3 hours.

Prawns Avakaya

1. Add the washed prawns, turmeric, little salt, little chilli powder to a dry kadai, cover with a lid and cook on medium low flame.

2. The prawns leave water. Keep tossing slowly in between and let the water evaporate. The prawn should still be soft enough to cut with a spoon easily.

3. Once all the water evaporates, remove the prawns.

4. In a separate vessel, add oil for deep fry. For 1 kg peeled prawns, about 500 ml of oil is needed. More oil can also be added later. So add enough so that the prawns can be deep fried.

5. Add about 1/2 cup of ginger garlic paste to the oil and fry until color starts turning brownish and the raw smell is gone.

6. Add the prawns and reduce the heat to medium low. Fry the prawns for about 20 mins while making sure they don’t turn tough. If they start turning tough, reduce the heat. Fry until the prawns turn golden brown.

7. Reduce the heat to low, add 1/2 cup coriander powder. The heat should be very low. Otherwise the powder will turn bitter.

8. After mixing well for 2 mins, add chilli powder and mix. The flame is still on low.

9. Then add salt. Mix for a bit and adjust the taste. It should have enough oil but not too much that it floats on top. The consistency should be like avakaya.

10. The spices should be slightly on the higher side but it shouldn’t be way too salty. Should be enough when mixed with rice.

11. Take off the heat and once it completely cools down, add juice from 7 to 8 lemons. The avakaya at this point should have a slight tang from the lemon juice but not sour as such.

Prawns Fry

1. Add salt and turmeric to washed prawns and leave aside for 10 mins
2. Wash and add prawns to a kadai. Cook on high until the prawns are just cooked
3. Transfer the prawns along with the water to a bowl.
4. Make a paste with onions and coriander seeds. In the same kadai, add oil, onion paste, salt, turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala, curry leaves and fry well. The spice level should be on the higher side.
5. Once the paste leaves water, add the prawns along with the residual water.
6. Cook with closed lid on simmer until the gravy starts leaving oil.

Pachamulaku prawn curry

1. Wash the prawns and add salt and turmeric. Leave aside for 30 mins
2. After 30 mins wash the prawns, take a kadai, add oil and add the prawns.
3. Cook on high flame until the prawns are just cooked. Remove from heat.
4. Add more oil, add thinly sliced onions, salt, ginger garlic paste and fry well.
5. Grind together coconut, green chillies, pudina, coriander.
6. After the onions are fried well, add the paste from the previous step, turmeric , coriander powder, masala, curry leaves and cook until the gravy leaves oil.
7. Add the prawns and water. Cook on high with a closed lid until the gravy thickens and starts leaving oil.

Spl Prawn curry – Restaurant style

1. Wash prawns and marinate with salt and turmeric. Set aside.
2. In a small kadai, deep fry 3 thinly sliced onions until they turn crispy
3. Grind the fried onions, one small tomato, 10 cashews, 10 almonds.
4. Wash the marinated prawns.
5. In another kadai, add the oil from the fried onions, add the prawns, ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, red chilli powder, masala powder, salt, Kashmiri red chilli powder, curry leaves and fry until oil separates.
6. Add the ground paste, and fry until the gravy thickens.
7. Add coconut milk and cook covered until oil separates.