Monday 4 October 2010

Indo-Chinese Chilli Fish

That name itself cracks me up...Indo-Chinese, cuisines far apart, yet so incredibly tasty when put together or so I thought till I tasted authentic Chinese grub. I never missed 'Indo- Chinese' food to be honest, when we moved to the UK. Everyone harped on how the authentic Chinese was so not good and the Indian inspired ones were way better and Ro and myself used to thoroughly cherish the authentic 'far cry from Indian' Chinese food at the Chinese restaurant very close to where we live. Everything from the prawn crackers to the huge orange wedges they serve as dessert (on the house, BTW) appeal to me. I love the fact that it doesn't taste half Indian. I like it an awful lot, that this Indian inspired chilli fish tasted quite bleh to me and I vow to hence forth stick as close to the original as possible.

I came across this recipe on you tube and its by Lekshmi Nair. Did a few tweaks here and there and although the end result looked nothing like hers, it made up for dinner on a cold, rainy and windy night.

Tuna fish steak- 500 gms (or any firm fish), cleaned and cut into medium size chunks

For the marinade
Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp
Dark soy sauce- 1 tsp
Salt- to taste

For the batter
Corn flour- 1/4 cup
Plain flour- 1/4 cup
Egg- 1, lightly beaten
Water- a lil less than 1/4 cup
Salt- a pinch
Oil- enough to shallow fry the fish

For the sauce
Green chillies- 4, slit lengthwise
Chopped garlic- 1 tbsp
Chopped ginger- 1 tbsp
Spring onions- 1/4 cup, whites and greens separated
Onions- 2, roughly chopped
Capsicum/ bell pepper- 1, roughly chopped
Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 tsp 
Chilli sauce/ ketchup- 2 tbsp
Soy sauce- a dash
Corn flour- 1 tbsp
Water- 1 1/2 to 2 cups
Salt- to taste
Marinate the fish pieces with pepper powder, soy sauce and salt. Keep aside and get all the other things ready..the chopping, peeling etc.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and get the batter ready.
Mix together the corn flour, plain flour, salt and egg. Add enough water to this mix to make a thick batter.
Add the marinated fish pieces to this batter and mix well to coat them more or less evenly.
Fry the fish in batches and drain on paper towels. I preferred to shallow fry them. I also ended up eating quite a few of it..yummeee :)

In a wok, heat some oil. Use the remaining oil from frying for this.
Sauté the ginger, garlic and green chillies till nice and fragrant.
Add the white part of the spring onions, give it a stir and then add the onions and sauté till slightly translucent.
Once the mix becomes a bit wilted, add the chopped capsicum and sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes, it doesn't really have to lose its crunchiness.
Add the chilli powder and mix well.
Pour the water, stir and then add the chilli sauce. Leave it on medium- high heat to slightly boil. Add the soy sauce and salt, if required, at this stage.
Throw in the fried fish pieces and mix thoroughly. Keep it on medium flame and simmer for a few minutes.
Dilute the corn flour with very little water and add to the mix, to make a thicker gravy. Stir and keep on medium flame for a few more minutes.
Add the green bits of the spring onions, give a final stir and take it off the flame.
Serve hot with fried rice, noodles or even roti.

Notes: The original recipe called for sugar, red food colour and celery. I omitted all these, and added the spring onions instead of the celery. She didn't add ginger as well. I just couldn't think of Chinese food without ginger:)
The chilli sauce she used was that yellow one, which I didn't have, so used chilli ketchup instead.

31 comments:

Suji said...

As i started back on my fish servings, i can try this sometime....Nice cliks Nish...

Anonymous said...

That looks lip smacking and I cant imagine chinese food without ginger too!

Satrupa said...

The clicks look fantabulous ..... n fish is my all time weakness.
I fall into the category of people who love 'Indo Chinese' :) I had Authentic Chinese at a posh Manhattan Chinese restaurant n hence forth promised myself to stick to my desi version of Chinese.
But after seeing ur clicks I have gathered some courage to give it a try :D

Cheers n Happy Cooking,
Satrupa

http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com

Cool Lassi(e) said...

I have to be honest as well. I never did like indo-chinese. And Tuna is not my fish. Don't know why cause I love seafood. Love your presentation.

aipi said...

Love this kind of indo chinese food..looks so yummy!

US Masala

Torviewtoronto said...

love making this types of chilie recipes have tried with chicken, cauliflower and fish delicious
lovely presentation

Monet said...

I always add ginger to my Chinese dishes too! I can't imagine not. You take such beautiful photographs. These look like they should be in a magazine. A stunning bowl of food!

Unknown said...

Looks too gud and tempting

abraham said...

although i hate leksmi nair's cooking, i have also seen some bits of her. but this presentation looks awesome. great try...

Pushpa said...

Delicious chilli fish...beautiful clicks

Pushpa @ simplehomefood.com

Daisy Roshan said...

the recipe is interesting.....

Priya Suresh said...

Slurpp, lipsmacking chilli fish, truly very tempting and makes me drool..

Reshmi Ahmed said...

i love indo-chinese combo ! and this fish looks very delicious...
hey nisha, what really is a wok ? my husband wants to buy it but iam not sure how much useful it would be.....

notyet100 said...

drooling here,..:-)

Sreelekha Sumesh said...

Yummy looking chilli fish.

Jaisy James said...

wow yummy n nice click tooo

Pavithra Elangovan said...

That looks awesome and the pictures makes me drool more.. delicious.

Sushma Mallya said...

i have never tried using fish the chinese way but sounds really good..your pics are very tempting too...

sweet artichoke said...

Awesome and tempting pics!
I must confess that I am not a fan of chinese food... but indo-chinese has a twist that I enjoy very much! This fish looks fantastic and sooo tasty!

Sunitha said...

So, you don't recommend the recipe! Nice pictures.

Nitha said...

wonderful clicks... Love to have this with some fried rice..

Yours Truly said...

The thought of Indo-chinese makes my mouth water and crave the chinese food back home. Eating in indo chinese restaurants on a moonlit evening and taking the rickshaw back home. lol ok thats one memory i have now. great looking dish. thanks for recipe

Satya said...

delicious chilli fish ..yummy

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

Unknown said...

yeah this is my fav too. Wish i had that plate.

Unknown said...

Loving ur bowl Nisha, just back home hungry ur fish is driving me crazy... :)

Foodie Ann said...

beautiful pictures Nisha...

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

Wow.. lovely dish. Love this chili fish.

Unknown said...

I love Indo-Chinese food. This looks super-yummy..Lovely clicks..

Suja Manoj said...

Yummy fish chilly..fish is my weakness too..superb presentation..looks so inviting

Hayley said...

lovely clicks...!

PreeOccupied said...

Indian - Chinese is a BIG hit here. We specialty restaurants serving that cuisines, great influence of Hakka in it.

Like your Chili Fish.