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.