Lahori Fried Fish

Walking the streets of the Inner-city in Lahore, you are bound to chance upon a street side vendor with a gigantic cauldron of oil, frying all variety of deliciousness. Sweet or savory, take your pick, but you must try one of Lahore’s oldest specialties, fried fish. Lahore sits in the verdant plains of Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab. Its fertile lands are fed by five rivers, Chenab, Sutlej, Ravi, Sindh and Jhelum. Hence, Lahoris are well accustomed to primarily fresh-water river fish. One of the regular dishes cooked during winter in our household was the Rohu fish, fileted and coated with spices and shallow pan fried. It’s a meaty fish with a very delectable taste. This white, firm fish comes from the carp family. Since we don’t get Rohu here in Colorado, Tilapia is an easy substitute. Halibut and Catfish would also work fine with this recipe.

Ingredients

4-6 fillets of Tilapia or other firm fish
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp cayenne
½ tsp coriander
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves crushed
¼ tsp panj puran ( combination of 5 seeds – fennel, mustard, cumin, fenugreek, nigella
5 tablespoons gram flour/ besan
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
3 tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp ajwain/ carom seeds

Directions:

Tilapia

sprinkle the dry mix

add the wet ingredients to make a paste

Marinate the fish in the mixture of all the ingredients. There is no need to add extra water but if you feel the mixture is too thick then add a few teaspoons of water to the mix. Coat the fish evenly and let it sit in it for about 15-30 minutes. Heat oil in a wide pan. Deep fry the fish till golden brown about 7-10 mins on medium-high heat. Careful of splattering oil!  Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with some fresh Chaat masala, a tangy and earthy combination spice of mango powder, cumin and other spices. If you don’t have it, you can omit it. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

Have it with warm Naan, or nestle it in Romaine lettuce and have it as a health fish lettuce wrap!