Manish Mehrotra, the master of experiments, comes into his own with this quaint Kerala meen moilee meets Mediterranean red snapper recipe. Red snapper is rolled in rice crust, fried and then drowned in a moilee sauce. It makes for a great, fleshy main course. The dish is served with local greens and pinenut poriyal.
Rice crusted red snapper moilee sauce
Ingredients
For red snapper
500 gms red snapper fillet
15 gms ginger and garlic paste
70 gms refined oil
Salt to taste
1 gm turmeric
5 gms red chilli powder
60 gms pounded rice
For moilee sauce
50 gms oil
3 gms mustard seeds
6 gms urad dal (washed)
8 -10 curry leaves
100 gms sliced onions
4 gms ginger juliennes
2 green chilli juliennes
200 gms coconut milk powder
30 gms deseeded and chopped tomatoes
2 gms turmeric powder
1 gms red chilli powder
3 gms salt
6 gms sugar
2 gms chopped coriander
Method
For the sauce
Heat oil in a pan and crackle the washed urad dal and mustard seeds and then put in the curry leaves. Add ginger and green chilli juliennes and cook till ginger changes its colour. Add to it sliced onions and cook till translucent. Add tomatoes and sauté, pour in the coconut milk and cook for another minute. Now add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and sugar. Simmer the gravy for a few minutes.
For red snapper
Clean and cut the red snapper fillet into 125 gms each approximately. Marinate the fillet with ginger garlic paste, refined oil, salt, turmeric and red chilli powder. Dust in a roasted rice powder and deep fry till golden.
For service, place the fish on a platter and pour the sauce on top.
