Goan Fish Cutlet

These fish cutlets are delicious and can be served with evening tea as snacks or appetiser. These fish cutlets takes me back to Bandra where I had lived for many years. I had few good friends who stayed near my building. One of the friend had a Maharastrian cook. Very frequently, we use to visit my friend’s place for the afternoon adda and cha. This was one the dish that was commonly made and served with tea at my friend’s place, or some time we use to get these cutlets from a local Goan Food Outlet near Bandra Market. 

Now only memories remains of our good old days. 

Ingredients 

2 big Mackerels washed, cleaned and boiled with salt and turmeric. Deboned and shredded

1 Medium size Onion chopped finely 

4 to 5 Garlic Cloves chopped 

2 to 3 Green Chillies Chopped

1 small piece of Ginger chopped 

1 tbsp Coriander Leaves chopped 

Salt to taste 

1 tsp Vinegar or Juice of 1/2 Lime 

1 tsp Goan Garam Masala powder 

1 Egg

2 Bread pieces soaked in water and squeezed 

1/2 cup Fine Semolina 

1/2 cup Oil for Shallow Fry

Method 

Take a mixing bowl, add the shredded fish, Onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander leaves, bread, salt, vinegar or lime juice and garam masala powder. Mix all the ingredients together. Add the egg and mix the ingredients together until it binds well. Take the semolina in a plate. Take a lemon size ball and flatten it. Coat the semolina on all the sides of the  cutlets. Take oil in a pan. Let the oil heat. Fry the cutlets on low medium heat until golden brown on both the sides. Remove the fish cutlets on a paper towel. Serve the hot fish cutlets with tomato sauce. 

Sambal stuffed Mackerel Fry

This is one of the Peranakan / Nyonya recipe that comes from the Peranakans, who are the descendants of early Chinese migrants settled in Penang, Malacca, Singapore and Indonesia. 

This is a very easy recipe and can be eaten with hot steaming rice.

Here I have use the ingredients available in my kitchen as normally fresh Turmeric and shallots are used in the recipe but since I didn’t have them, I used powder turmeric and onion. 

P.S. - Belacan is a hardened block of shrimp paste, made from tiny shrimp mixed with salt and fermented used in Malay cooking.

Sambal Paste

Ingredients

1 medium size Onion chopped

4 Garlic Cloves

3 Fresh Red Chillies or 2 tsp Fresh Red Chilli paste

2 Lemongrass stalk

4 Dry Red Chillies

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Sugar - (I didn't use)

Salt to taste

1 tbsp Belacan - Shrimp paste or 1 tbsp Fish Sauce

1 tsp Tamarind pulp

3 to 4 tbsp of Water

1 tbsp Oil

Method 

Add the above ingredients except oil in a grinder and grind the ingredients into a fine paste. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the sambal paste and stir and cook the paste for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and keep the paste aside to cool.

    

For Fish Fry

Ingredients

4 Mackerel - Slit on both the sides of the back bone

Sambal paste

1/4 cup Oil for shallow frying the fish 

Method

Take the fish. Stuff the fish with one tablespoon of sambal paste on each side of the cut. Take a pan, add oil and heat the oil. Shallow fry the fish on medium low heat till cooked on both the sides. Remove fish from pan. Serve the fish with hot steaming rice.