Fish Moilee Recipe

An avid lover of all kinds of food here is my take on Fish Moilee, a South Indian speciality.  

I must confess this is not my original recipe. I have reviewed various recipes online and I mixed and matched them all together.

I am not sure what kinds of fish you can use with the recipe but I do know Pomfret goes best with it so go to your local fish market (I go to the market in Deira near the Gold Souk metro) and get your hands on some yummy Pomfret (you can also get it cleaned at the market itself by paying a nominal price).

So what you must have for this recipe is –

-       The fish of course

-       2 tsp Coconut Oil and 4tbsp of vegetable oil (coconut oil gives it that authentic taste but you can skip it)

-       6-7 chopped small baby onions  - the ones used in Sambhar (if using a normal sized onion, 1 will do)

-       3 cloves of garlic hopped extremely fine or mashed

-       1 inch piece of ginger chopped extremely fine or half tsp of ginger paste

-       3-4 green chillies (or less)

-       10 curry leaves (kadi patta)

-       1/4^th tsp of turmeric powder

-       1/4^th tsp of pepper powder

-       1 medium tomato chopped

-       *Half cup thin coconut milk

-       *Half cup thick coconut milk

-       Salt to taste

*Don’t worry about the coconut milk. You can mix a few tbsp of Maggie coconut powder in water to make the coconut milk. For thick milk you might require 3-4 tbsp and for thin milk around 1-2 tbsp. What I did was I bought a can/tin of coconut milk from the store and kept it in the fridge. The milk that settles on the top is thicker. I emptied half the can in a cup and used it as my thick coconut milk. I mixed the remaining half (which is already thin) with some water and voila I got my thin coconut milk.

The above ingredients are to be fried but before you start chopping and sweating, defrost your fish and marinate it with 1/4^th tsp of turmeric powder, 1 tsp salt and juice of one lime. Rub the marinade gently but all over the fish and keep it aside.

Now you start with the above mentioned ingredients. Start with frying the onions in the coconut and vegetable oil; add in the ginger and garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes till the raw smell of ginger goes away (or in my case just reduces). Add in the curry leaves, green chillies, turmeric and pepper powder and fry for about 5 mins on low flame till the raw smell of turmeric goes away. Now add in the thin coconut milk and the marinated fished and the chopped tomato. Let it simmer for a few minutes after which add in the thick coconut milk. Let it simmer for few more minutes. Do not stir as the fish is usually tender and might fall apart. Just rotate the vessel. Add salt as per your requirement and tada fish moilee is ready to serve.

PS – If you are worried about the fish falling apart you can gently fry it before adding it to the curry.

If you worried about the coconut milk splitting, it is always safer to use coconut milk powder mixed with water instead.