Tandoori Fish
Tandoori fish is a south Indian dish that is wrapped in banana leaves & grilled or baked or pan-fried with all the masala’s make your mouth water. Who doesn’t like fried/ baked/ grilled fish when it’s healthy and light? Right? You can use any fresh fish you can get that day like karimeen( pearls spot fish), red snapper, tilapia (whole/ fillets), or pomfret. I used pomfret here for this recipe. You can even choose small pomfret as an individual portion size. It kind of looks elegant when you use small pomfrets.
Whatever fish you are using you can ask your butcher to clean and remove all the fins and tail. Once it’s done, you can cook the fish in no time. It’s so simple and healthy when you bake it in a banana leaf. This is a good option for those who don’t like oily food or on a diet as it’s so light on the pallet and some salad on the side makes a complete dish for your weekday or weekend dinner.
You can just use all the pantry ingredients to make this dish. Mix all the ingredients, apply them to the fish and marinate it and wrap it in a banana leaf and bake it in the oven. It’s as simple as that. You don’t have an oven you can even pan-fry the fish.
Using coconut milk in this recipe gives you that hint of creaminess & sweetness, while the chili powder, coriander powder, and garam masala add some spiciness to the fish. You can also add some crushed black pepper if you like. If you are not used to eating spicy, you can just add some salt, pepper, paprika and some lime juice, and a tablespoon of oil.
Its sometimes not easy to find banana leaves for everybody but you can find them at any Asian/Korean stores. Banana leaf breaks easily while folding. A small technique used here that I didn’t show in the video is you want the banana leaf to be flexible while wrapping the fish. Wilt it by running it over a medium fire to make it soft. This step allows you to wrap the leaves without tearing. Use a banana string or kitchen twine to tie the banana leaves.
If you can’t find banana leaves, you can wrap the fish in Aluminum foil and bake it. Now let’s check out the process of making the recipe.
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Tandoori Fish in Banana leaf
Equipment
- Oven safe tray
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- Salt
- 1 tbsp Chilli powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- ¼ tsp Garam masala
- 1 pc Lime
- 2 tbsps Coconut Milk
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp Cilantro Chopped
- Banana leaf
- 2.5 lb Pomfret Fish 1 Full Fish
- Twine kitchen thread or twine
Instructions
- Clean a Pomfret fish and keep it aside.
- Into a bowl add the ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, coconut milk, some lime juice & oil. Now taste the masala and adjust the salt & seasonings accordingly.Note : I doubled the recipe as i am baking 2 fishes.
- Take the fish and make some deep cuts on the sides with a knife. Now spread the masala paste on top & bottom and inside of the fish. Be generous and spread it into the cuts for best flavour.
- Cover the fish and let it marinate in the fridge for minimum 1 hour.
- Cover a baking tray with aluminium foil. Now layer some banana leafs on the top of the silver foil. Add some lime slices on the bottom and place the fish on top and top it off with some cilantro. Now cover the fish with banaan leaf.Note: Tilt the banana leaves by running them over a medium fire to make them soft.
- Now fold the banana leaf edges and tie them with a banana string or kitchen twine.
- Bake the fish at 400° for 30-40min. I baked for 40min as it is a big fish. Note: If you dont have a oven, you can do it on the stove top using a non stick pan/ grill it.
- Remove the fish after 40min and broil it for 5min.
- Steaming Hot Tandoori fish is ready. Serve it with some onion and lime wedges.
