Fish in a banana leaf

Name: Fish in a banana leaf
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 4 tomatoes, coarsely chopped; sprig of fresh curry leaves; coconut oil; 4 small red onions, finely chopped; 4 small fish, such as mackerel, trout, or red mullet, weighing about 225 g/8 oz each, scaled, cleaned and de-finned (leave head and tail on); 4 small fish, such as mackerel, trout, or red mullet, weighing about 225 g/8 oz each, scaled, cleaned and de-finned (leave head and tail on); 4 small fish, such as mackerel, trout, or red mullet, weighing about 225 g/8 oz each, scaled, cleaned and de-finned (leave head and tail on); 4 small fish, such as mackerel, trout, or red mullet, weighing about 225 g/8 oz each, scaled, cleaned and de-finned (leave head and tail on); 10 g/⅓ oz ground turmeric; salt; juice of 6 limes; chopped fresh coriander leaves; 4 banana leaves; 20 g/¾ oz red chilli powder; 6 green chillies, coarsely chopped; 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped; 2.5 cm/1 inch piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Floyd's India

By Keith Floyd

Published 2001

About

Each fish is wrapped in a banana leaf to cook, sealing in all the flavour. If you can’t find banana leaves, use large pieces of kitchen foil instead. I have no idea what the Indian name for this dish is - I devised it on a beautiful beach fringed with banana trees in Cochin.

Ingredients

juice of 6 limes
10 g/⅓ oz ground turmeric

Asia
India
Kochi; Kerala
Fish course
Pescatarian
Spicy
Gluten-free

Method

Mix together the lime juice, half the turmeric and some salt and marinate the fish in this mixture for 1 hour.
Heat some oil in a pan and sauté the onions until soft. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until you have a rich tomato and onion sauce. Then add the curry leaves, ginger, garlic, green chillies, chilli powder and remaining turmeric and cook until no lo