Rava Fry Fish

These days, I always want to cook something that doesn’t take up an entire day. I had made simple Mora Dar Chawal also known as Dhandar (read: Dal Chawal made the Parsi way) and as I’d ordered Surmai steaks, I decided to rava fry them. I can describe the combination of dal, rice, fried fish and pickle in two words: Soul Food!

Ingredients:

500 grams Surmai steaks, wash and pat dry with kitchen paper towels

4 heaped teaspoons Red Chili Powder + ½ teaspoon more

1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

Salt to taste + ½ teaspoon more

2 teaspoon Garlic Paste

½ teaspoon Pepper Powder

½ teaspoon Dhania-Jeera Powder

1 tablespoon Malt Vinegar or to taste

½ to ¾ cup regular rava (semolina)

Oil 

Method:

1. Mix all the dry spices, then add the malt vinegar. Add water to make a thick(ish) paste.
2. Apply the spice marinade to the fish steaks and keep for an hour or two in the fridge.



3. In a flat plate empty out the rava/semolina; add ½ teaspoon chilli powder and ½ teaspoon salt and mix well.
4. Coat each fish steak evenly in the semolina mix; dust off the excess semolina from the fish pieces.



5. Heat oil in a non-stick pan.



6. Fry the fish slices on one side, flip after a couple of minutes and fry the second side till done.
7. Drain on kitchen paper towels. Serve with onion rings and lemon wedges.



Chef’s Notes:

1. You can marinate the fish for up to 6 to 8 hours in the fridge – you can also marinate merely for 10-15 minutes if you are short on time. I marinated the steaks overnight.
2. The cooking/frying time will depend on the thickness of the fish steaks. Approximately 2 minutes on the first side and 1-1.5 minutes on the flipped side should suffice.
3. If the steaks are thinner than the ones seen in the photograph you may have to reduce cooking time by a few seconds. I prefer the texture of the fish to be flaky hence prefer not to overcook the fish. If you want a firmer texture continue cooking for at least a minute more.
4. You can also use lime juice, tamarind pulp or kokum pulp or regular white or brown vinegar instead of malt vinegar – any souring agent will work just fine.
5. Please feel free to increase or decrease the spices as suited to your palate.
6. You may, of course, use any fish available but do adjust the frying time depending on the fish used.
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.