Stuffed Mackerels with coconut, garlic and chili, a recipe from Goa


This below is my version of a lovely recipe from the wonderful cookery book Great Indian Feasts by Mridula Baljekar published in the UK by John Blake publishing.
Ingredients for two (the original recipe is for four but the children were away):

  • 2 mackerels (I did gut them, but I did not remove either the heads or fins or backbones which made the eating at the end a little more messy I’m sure, but I like working with tasty whole fishes and eat the little cheeks, anyway I did not trust myself to remove the backbone elegantly)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon of lime juice (or lemon)
  • about 8g (1/4 oz) desiccated coconut rehydrated with 40ml (1.5 fl. oz) very hot water (10 minutes)
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • a small chunk of ginger, chopped
  • 1 green chili (seeded if you’d rather less hot)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • flour/salt&pepper to coat the fish
  • cotton kitchen string

We ate these with a salad, not rice nor a lentil side dish as advised, this is very tasty and very filling, basmati rice would have been lovely though I’m sure.

 
Gutted, pat the insides dry.
 I use organic ginger, I do not peel the skin.All the ingredients ready to be blended together.


The recipe said “don’t worry if it appears overstuffed” it certainly did.
I  aim to improve on my mackerel-tying techniques.
Rolling them in flour turns them into neat(er) little parcels.
Cooks for about ten minutes on each side in a knob of butter and a swig of olive oil.

Celebratory Goan-style mackerels “Recheade”, enjoyed in a kitchen in the north-west of Ireland. A holiday ? A truly lovely way to travel.

One comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *