Steamed Fish with Pickled Potatoes

Now that I have again started posting on my blog, decided to try out an elaborate recipe I had noted from one cookery competition on television – Foodistan. This was made by an Indian chef Sunil Chauhan. I have by and large used his recipe with a few minor tweeks here and there.

Ingredients

350 grams of white-fleshed fish fillet,

1 lemon,

1 tbsp mustard paste,

A handful of coriander leaves,

1 tsp powdered red chilli

1 inch piece of ginger,

8-9 small garlic cloves,

For the potato pickle

250 grams boiled and peeled baby potatoes,

2 small seedless cucumbers,

½ a lemon,

1 tbsp white sesame seeds,

½ tsp turmeric powder,

1 tsp red chilli powder,

1 tbsp mustard oil,

A pinch of fenugreek seeds,

A pinch of kalonji,

3 small slit green chillies

For cooking

Banana leaf

Thread for tying

Method

Clean and wash the fish. Pat dry and cut into pieces. You can cut them to the size and shape as you desire.

Grind the following ingredients into a fine paste – coriander leaves, mustard paste, salt, lemon juice, red chilli powder, ginger and garlic. Apply this to the fish chunks and let it stand for about half an hour.

After the marination time, place about 5 chunks of the marinated fish on a clean and dry square of banana leaf. Wrap it to form a packet and secure with a thread. Wrap all the fish and place the packets on a hot girdle.

Cook on both sides for about 8-10 minutes.

Potato Pickle

Roast the seasame seeds and coarsely pound them.

If the potatoes are a little big in size, cut them into halves or quarters. You can leave them as is if they are very small potatoes.

Dice the cucumbers and toss them in with the potatoes.

Add the roasted and pounded sesame seeds, lemon juice, turmeric powder, salt and red chilli powder to the potato-cucumber mix.

Heat the mustard oil and temper with the fenugreek seeds, kalonji and slit green chillies. Pour this over the prepared salad and toss them well.

Assembling

Unwrap the fish pieces and serve with the potato-cucumber salad.