Snacks & street food · Andhra Pradesh

Easy Fish Fry (Andhra Style)

Thick fish steaks rubbed with a fiery Guntur chilli, garlic and lemon paste and shallow-fried until the crust is crisp and the flesh stays juicy.

Prep 10 min · Cook 15 min · Total 25 min + 30 min marinade · Serves 3

Ingredients

Fish

• 500 g Firm fish steaks (seer, pomfret or murrel), about 2 cm thick
• ¼ tsp Turmeric
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice

Masala paste

• 1 ½ tsp Guntur red chilli powder
• 1 tsp Coriander powder
• ½ tsp Cumin powder
• ½ tsp Black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice
• 2 tbsp Rice flour
• 1 tbsp Oil

To fry

• 4 tbsp Oil
• 1 sprig Curry leaves
• Onion rings and lemon wedges, to taste

Method

1. Clean the fish. Wash the fish steaks, rub them with turmeric, salt and lemon juice and leave for 5 minutes. Rinse and pat completely dry with kitchen paper.
2. Make the paste. Mix all the masala paste ingredients with 1 to 2 tsp water into a thick paste that holds on a spoon.
3. Marinate. Coat both sides of each steak with the paste, pushing it into any slashes. Leave for 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours in the fridge.
4. Shallow-fry. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan or tawa over medium heat. Add the curry leaves, then lay in the fish. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes without moving until a dark crust forms, flip carefully and fry the other side for 4 minutes.
5. Serve. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot with the fried curry leaves on top, onion rings and lemon wedges, with rice and pappu or as a starter.

Tips

Don't move the fish for the first 4 minutes. The rice flour crust needs that time to set, and it releases from the pan on its own when it's ready.