GARLIC PEPPER FISH | Delicious Fish Recipe

On today's menu is a fish recipe that is aromatic and extremely delicious. Hey everyone, namaskar and welcome to Curries with Bombay. Okay, the first thing we need to do is to get the aromatics ready. I will be using my mortar and pestle today because I am looking for a coarse grind. It's garlic fish guys, so we need a good amount of garlic along with the green chilli that looks all shriveled up and sad. I don't know what happened but the green chillies that I bought this time are getting all shriveled up. Then ginger goes in followed by a fourth of a teaspoon of salt and about half a teaspoon of black peppercorns. Now bash bash bash and we are looking for a situation like this that is coarse in appearance. Next coming to the fish, I have used boneless skinless tilapia fillets. You can use cod, halibut or any firm fish. And as you can see, I have made medium sized pieces so that each person can get a good solid piece. To this, I will first add two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice, about a heaped teaspoon of that ground garlic and ginger. Then here comes four tablespoons of cornstarch and two tablespoons of all-purpose flour. Add less of flour and more of cornstarch or else the coating becomes too doughy. Then two eggs and about half a teaspoon of salt. If you are allergic to eggs then add a tablespoon of baking powder. Now mix well. If you see everything looking a bit runny then please add more of cornstarch but remember guys not to add more of flour. I added another tablespoon of cornstarch. Allow this to sit while you do your other prep work. I will first make the sauce. Bowl out a tablespoon of regular soy sauce, a tablespoon of dark soy sauce. If you do not have dark soy sauce then please add two more teaspoons of regular soy sauce. A tablespoon of mushroom sauce. You can use oyster sauce instead of mushroom sauce. It's only that I cannot have anything related to oysters so I always use mushroom sauce. A tablespoon of sweet chili sauce. A tablespoon of hot sauce. And finally two tablespoons of tomato ketchup. You can replace tomato ketchup with a tablespoon of tomato paste. Then a teaspoon of sugar which is totally optional but I love adding it. And about half a cup of water. Mix everything and also add about a teaspoon of sesame oil to the sauce for that extra flavor. If you don't have sesame oil then you can leave it out happily. It will still be delicious. Next I will make a cornstarch slurry. In a bowl add about a tablespoon and a half of cornstarch along with three tablespoons of room temperature water. Mix very well till all the cornstarch dissolves. Next coming to making a flavorful spice powder. Pan on medium low heat. Half an inch of cinnamon stick. This is star anise. I will be using just two petals from this or else it will be too strong if I use that whole one. And a teaspoon of fennel seeds. Stir the spices continuously on medium low heat till they become fragrant. You can also use two cloves over here but I do not like the flavor of cloves in stir-fry dishes. Please see to it that the fennel doesn't turn too dark brown in color as that means they are near to getting burnt and you don't want that because burnt spices ruin a dish. Take them out once you get those wisps of aroma and grind them to a fine powder. Okay, frying time. I like to shallow fry the fish but you can definitely deep fry them. Once the oil turns hot, lower the heat to medium and add the fish. Guys, the oil should not be extremely hot because then the outer coating will immediately become dark brown and that's deceptive because though it will look brown on top, the fish is not yet cooked inside. So while adding the fish, the oil should be hot but not smoking hot and the heat should be medium. At the same time, if your oil is not hot enough then the fish will get too oily. Please do not overcrowd the pan because then the fish will get stuck to each other and it will be hard to flip them and then it will be a messy disaster. So allow a little gap between each piece of fish and fry in batches. Allow the fish to get fried for a few minutes before turning. Do not be in a rush to turn the fish immediately after a few seconds but please give it a few minutes for that coating to settle on the fish and then turn. If you rush and flip it too soon, then the coating is going to say farewell to the fish and enter the oil and the whole scene will be like fish without a coating and all that coating dancing around merrily in the oil, enjoying their freedom, floating around the fish. See how that light brown color is starting to show up around the sides? That's like a green signal for turning. I usually put a splatter screen on top to prevent the oil from splattering on me but never cover it totally with a lid because then all the coating from the fish will come off. Turn the fish from time to time and once they reach this beautiful golden brown color, take them off heat. I like putting them on a wire rack instead of on a paper towel so that they don't get soggy. Now guys, I still have some of that batter left and I hate wasting it so what I did was I took some chopped bell peppers which I will be using later in the recipe and added them to the batter. All of these will be joining the fish in the sauce. A lot of bell peppers will go in later so why not use up the batter like this instead of wasting it. Okay, after frying, what do I do with the oil? Do I throw it away? Nope. I pass it through a tea strainer and once the oil cools down, I put it in the refrigerator and then use it for cooking fish the next day. It stays good in the refrigerator for about two to three days, not beyond that. And please don't use that oil to cook vegetables or pasta or making an omelette. I mean, who wants to eat a fishy omelette? Okay, I took two tablespoons from that oil. Heat medium high and chopped onions go in. Stir for a minute then add the ground garlic and ginger. Stir again for a minute. Next, the bell peppers tumble down gloriously with all their beautiful colors. A pinch of salt, freshly cracked black pepper. Heat high and stir the bell peppers for a few minutes. You do not have to use different colored bell peppers. Any one color will do. At the same time, you do not have to use so much bell peppers. I get bell pepper crazy. That doesn't mean you have to follow crazy boombi. You do what you think will be best for you or your family. I'm telling you what happens to me. At the end, once served, I see all the fish gone and all those lovely bell peppers looking up at me like, now what? Okay, so fry the peppers till they start getting soft but not soft to the extent that they wilt down and lose all their beautiful colors. They should still have that little tiny bit of crunch on them. At this point, add a few onions. Please note that I have cut the onions in the same way as I chopped the peppers. Fry the onions for another two minutes and then it's time for that delicious sauce to bring everything together. Remember guys, the heat should be medium-high at this point and allow the sauce to bubble up. As you can see, the sauce is still thin in consistency. Now goes that aromatic roasted spice powder that we had made earlier. My family always seeks for a little bit of gravy so I added another third of a cup of water. Next comes the cornstarch slurry but I'm not going to add all of it and I will leave this all up to you to decide that how thick you want that sauce to be. I added just a tablespoon and the sauce got thick enough to my desired consistency. In fact, I again loosened it a bit with a splash of water. Allow it to bubble up after adding the cornstarch. Everything looks good so finally the fish joins the party. Then mix well and switch off the heat. I added a few chopped fresh green chilies along with my beloved coriander leaves. You can also add green onions. Serve this with hot steamed rice or noodles or pasta. Please try this recipe and send me your feedback and please do not forget to smash that like button for me. Bye bye!