Kerala style Baked Fish/Meen Pollichathu

Clean the fish thoroughly. Give it a final rinse in a bowl of water with vinegar and 1/2 tbsp of salt. Pat it dry using a paper towel and make gashes on both sides of the fish.

Then marinate the fish with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, pepper powder and salt. Keep it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Heat a pan and pour the oil. Line the strands of curry leaves and place the fish on top of it. Fry both the sides of the fish lightly, by flipping it when necessary. Transfer it on to a plate when done.

In the same pan, pour the oil. Once its hot, drop in the ginger, garlic and green chillies. After they loose their rawness, add the sliced shallots, curry leaves and salt. Cook till the shallots turn soft.

Add in the coriander powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder. Give it a stir and add the lemon juice, mix this well. Now add the coconut milk. Let it heat up until it just starts to boil. The masala mixture should now look like a paste.

Spread the aluminium foil or banana leaf (which ever you are using to bake the fish) on a baking sheet. Spread half of the masala on it and place the fried fish on top of it. Now spread the remaining masala on top of the fish.

Fold the aluminium foil/banana leaf to wrap up the fish completely. If using the banana leaf, tie it up with a twine. Bake it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes at 204 degree celsius.

You can also grill it on the stove. Just place the wrapped up fish in a hot cast iron skillet and place another heavy pan on top of it. Grill it on medium high heat flipping it every 10 minutes to cook them evenly.

Serve it hot with some steamed rice and it would be heavenly. All you would be missing, would be a real Alappuzha house boat.