Mint Fish Tikka

Mint Fish Tikka. Just the name alone is salivating right, munchies?

I am a huge fan of Mint in savory dishes. I find mint soothing and calming and I personally love the way it smells.

So, I kinda realized that I don’t post much recipes for Indian cuisine. I mean by right, I should be posting more Indian recipes since I’m Indian. Okay, I see some of you going, “What? She’s Indian? I thought she’s Italian??” Hmm…ok my parents are Indian and I have got a tiny weeny bit of Italian blood in me because I love Italian food especially pasta.

This “I am an Indian” thingy always confuses people even my BFF. Like he kept saying I am NOT Indian since I wasn’t born in India. In fact, even my parents were not born in India. Basically, only my grandfather was from India. He came to Singapore to work and later on met my grandmother. Got married, had kids (13 of them!) and remained here till the end..

Hmm, so I’m basically a Singaporean Indian. 😀

Which reminds me, I went to get some baking supplies a few days back. During a conversation with 1 of the salesperson, I mention that I am Indian coz she thought I was of some other ethnic group. The instant reply from her was “Oh you Indian? Then how come you are not dark?” WOAH woman, how much more racist can someone be??? Have you not seen any of the Miss Universe or Miss World Pageant? Indians can be fair too… and smart and cute and pretty.

Moving on, so as many of you might have known, tandoori or tikka is a very famous Indian dish. Although tikkas and tandooris are traditionally baked in a tandoor, which is a traditional oven made from clay, how many of us have one of them at home?

Some of you might not be knowing the difference between chicken tandoori and chicken tikka. Well, chicken tikka is basically small marinated pieces of boneless chicken wherelse chicken tandoori can be a whole chicken or big chicken pieces.

I have shared a recipe for Chicken Tandoori before. Today we are doing fish. This is actually a simpler recipe for Hariyali Fish Tikka but I believe it is more convenient for me to name it Mint Fish Tikka especially for those who are not familiar with Indian cuisine/terms.

Anyways this Mint Fish Tikka is succulent as it is marinated in an assortment of spices and herbs. The mint, coriander and curry leaves are all blended and they infuse the fish with lots of flavours. This recipe uses garam masala which is a spice mixture that you can easily purchase at any Indian groceries store. It consists of aromatic spices like cardamom, cumin, coriander, ginger, pepper…etc. This is basically the Indian version of the Chinese, “five-spice powder”. This recipe also calls for yogurt and lemon juice that helps to tenderize the fish even further.

Don’t be scared because it’s green and alien looking. Well, it is an exotic dish and it is WICKED EASY and DELICIOUS. If you enjoy the good old’ chicken tandoori, you are DEFINITELY going to love this one too. Equally YUMS!

This low-calorie mint fish tikka recipe uses quite a number of ingredients, however, it is simple to make and can be prepared well in advance too. It makes the perfect healthy meal. Warm, with a slight hint of spice and it can be made with chicken, fish or shrimps. Serve these with some carrot salad (recipe included) and bread, with lime/lemon wedges by the side. SO YUMMY!

In my case, I had it with a garlic naan. I meant two garlic naans.

Served with naan and a side of carrot salad and dal (lentil curry).

Mint Fish Tikka

 

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Prep time

60 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

 

Author: Maya Kitchenette

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 500g fresh fish fillet (I used Tilapia)
• ½ cup chopped coriander leaves
• ¾ cup chopped mint leaves
• 4 to 5 green chilies (according to how spicy you like it)
• 10 curry leaves (optional)
• 1 small onion
• 1 level tbsp garlic paste
• ½ tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 2 tbsp yogurt
• ½ tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp ghee for basting (you can use oil too)
• Salt to taste

Carrot salad

• 3 carrots (I used to vegetable peeler to cut it into strips)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt to taste
• Cilantro for garnishing (optional)

Instructions

1. Clean and cut fish into cubes. Place it on a kitchen towel to remove all excess water.
2. Marinate fish with salt and lemon juice. Set this aside
3. In a blender, place all of the ingredients (except ghee) and process until smooth.
4. Mix the blended ingredients to the fish and marinate for at least 1 hour or preferably overnight.
5. You can cook the fish on the stove using a non-stick pan. Alternatively, you can grill the fish in the oven at 200 degrees C for about 15 minutes or until cooked.
6. While grilling, baste the fish by brushing ghee over each piece of fish.
7. Serve hot with lemon wedges by the side.

For the carrot salad

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

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