Snap the snapper

Red snapper meen moili at Indian Accent in New Delhi. Photo: V. V. Krishnan

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.