How to Make South Indian Fish Sandwiches
Makes: 4
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Ingredients needed to make South Indian Fish Sandwiches:
For the fish:
- 4 small plaice fillets
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp red chili powder
- 2 tbsp tamarind pulp
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- Pinch of salt
For the crab mixture:
- 9 oz fresh white crabmeat
- 2 onions, peeled and chopped
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
- 1’’ cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 5 black peppercorns
- 2 green cardamom pods, bashed lightly
- 3 cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- Salt to taste
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
For serving:
- 1 punnet cress
- 16 cherry tomatoes
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Cooking instructions for South Indian Fish Sandwiches:
- Warm up your oven to high.
- To prepare the fish, place the tamarind pulp into a bowl and stir in ground spices as well as a dash of salt until well combined.
- Rub this mixture all over the flesh side of the fish and set aside for half an hour to marinate.
- To make the crab mixture, drizzle a lashing of oil in a frying pan and heat it over moderately-high flam until it shimmers.
- Throw in the whole spices and stir fry them for a couple of minutes, or until they are evenly toasted, begins to splutter and give out a spicy aroma.
- Stir in the onions, and continue to sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until they begin to caramelize.
- Spoon in the ginger-garlic paste, and stir it into the mixture before stir frying it further for another couple of minutes.
- Toss the tomatoes into it and sprinkle the ground spices over them.
- Stir them all together to mix well and sauté the mixture for 8-10 minutes or until the tomatoes become soft enough to turn mushy and break down to form a thick sauce
- Dump the crabmeat into the sauce and stir it into the mixture, along with the chopped cilantro and a dash of salt.
- Arrange the marinated fish fillets on a baking dish, with the flesh-side facing up, and cook them in the hot grill for a couple of minutes or until the flesh turns opaque and the fish is cooked through.
- Take them out of the grill and spoon the crab mixture on top of half of the fish fillets.
- Place the other fish fillets on top, with their skin side facing down, to cover and grill them further for another 5 minutes, flipping them halfway while grilling, until they crisp up and turn golden brown.
- Place each fish sandwich onto the centre of a serving plate and scatter few tomatoes on top.
- Place some cress on top and set aside.
- Whisk the oil and vinegar together, along with a dash of ground turmeric and drizzle it over each fish sandwich.
- Serve right away.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Last Updated on May 16, 2013 by
