Meen peera. This classic fish coconut stir fry hits all the right notes with a delicious combination of healthy fish, flavorful coconut, coconut oil and aromatic spices. Traditionally served with rice, this stir fry is guaranteed to satisfy your taste buds.
Who doesn’t love seafood, and I love it even more when it’s loaded with my favorite spices. This recipe, meen peera, a very traditional way of cooking fish with coconut, tamarind and a little spice is absolutely delicious, and I’m pretty sure you’re gonna love it. This dish is friggin’ classy and perfectly pairs with a bowl of steamed rice.
To make this fish coconut stir fry, start with preparing the fish. Very small fishes like anchovies also called netholi or kozhuva are traditionally used in this recipe. To prepare the fish, you just need to remove the heads, the small bones are edible.
The fish is cooked alongside a flavorful coconut mixture, shallots, coccum, green chilies, curry leaves, and a few spices like ground turmeric, red chili powder and freshly ground black pepper. The use of fresh ingredients is vital in this recipe for the ultimate flavor, so make sure you get super fresh ingredients.
Again, you’ll need to make the coconut mixture separately and add it to the meen peera. Place grated coconut, ginger, garlic, ground turmeric and red chili powder in a food processor, and grind to a coarse paste. Remember the coconut mixture needs to be coarse and not smooth.
To make meen peera, place all the ingredients including coconut mixture, shallots, coccum, green chilies, curry leaves and a few spices. Add a little water to cook the fish. Once fish is cooked and water is dry, drizzle with some coconut oil.
Finally, serve it with rice.
More Fish Recipes:
- Meen Mulakittathu | Red Fish Curry
- Meen Pollichathu | Fish Cooked in Banana Leaf
- Fish Tikka Masala
- Fish Tikka
- Pan Fried Tandoori Fish
- Brazilian Fish Stew | Moqueca
- Fish Molee | Kerala Fish Stew
- Goan Fish Curry
- Malabar Fish Roast
- Fish in Roasted Coconut Sauce | Varutharacha Meen Curry
- Classic Spicy Fish Curry – Kerala Style
- Bengal Fish Curry
Meen Peera | Fish with Shredded Coconut | Video
Ingredients
Coconut mixture:
- ½ cup grated coconut
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and chopped
- ½ inch fresh ginger peeled and chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
Fish coconut stir fry:
- 500 g small fish cleaned and heads removed- anchovies (netholi or kozhuva), whitebait or very small sardines
- ½ cup chopped shallots
- 3 slices coccum soaked in ¼ cup (62.5 ml) water
- 1 large green chili chopped
- 1 sprig of curry leaves
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
Instructions
- To make coconut mixture, place coconut, ginger, garlic, ground turmeric and red chili powder in a food processor. Process to a coarse paste. Set aside.
- Place fish, shallots, coconut mixture, coccum, green chilies, curry leaves, ground turmeric, red chili powder and ground black pepper in a large frying pan or clay pot. Season with salt.
- Stir to combine.
- Cook, covered, for 10-12 minutes or until fish is cooked through and the mixture is dry.
- Drizzle with coconut oil.
Notes
- Use fresh coconut if available
- If coconut oil is not easily available, substitute with vegetable oil
- Coccum is available from Indian grocery stores
Nutrition
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