Fish Molee

Ingredients

To marinate and fry 

1 lb fish, cut into medium pieces (I used king fish. Pomfret will also go well)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste
oil to shallow fry the fish in a nonstick pan

To make the stew

2 onions, thinly sliced
1 tomato, cut horizontally into circles
1 inch ginger, thinly sliced
4 or 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 or 5 green chillies, slit open lengthwise

1 or 2 cardamom, crushed
4 or 5 cloves
1 inch cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp pepper powder
2 cups thin coconut milk
1/2 cup thick coconut milk

2 tbsp coconut oil
salt to taste
a twig of curry leaves

Preparation

1. Marinate the fish pieces with turmeric powder, pepper powder, salt and lemon juice. Keep it refrigerated at least for half an hour.

2. In a non-stick pan, shallow fry the marinated fish pieces for 2 to 3 minutes and drain on a paper towel.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. Once it splutters add the fennel seeds, crushed cardamom, cinnamon stick and cloves and fry for 30 seconds. (I used an earthenware instead of pan)

4. Add the thinly sliced onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies and turmeric powder to this and saute.

5. Once the onions are soft, add the thin coconut milk and allow it to boil.

6. At this stage, add the fried fish pieces and tomato slices along with salt. Cover the pan and cook in medium heat for 10 minutes.

7. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add the thick coconut milk. Addpepper powder, curry leaves and adjust the salt. Let it cook for 5 minutes in low flame and turn off the heat.

It goes well with rice, appam , bread etc