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Pomfret Recheado – Christians - Recipe from the feast cooked on Christmas, the festival that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ
POMFRET RECHEADO
Pomfret Stuffed with a Red Chile and Vinegar Paste
Silver-white pomfrets with their delicate white flesh are a gastronomic delight and must feature on a Christmas menu. They lend themselves well to fragrant coconut curries and are equally good filleted and fried, or stuffed with a coconut and cilantro chutney, or a spiced red chile and vinegar spice paste.
Recheado masalaas it is locally known, or recheio(stuffing),is a spice paste that is an essential Goan spice mix. A vinegary blend of dried red chiles and other spices, a jar of the masala is always at hand in a Goan kitchen. Used mainly to stuff fish or as a marinade for fried fish, recheado, which means stuffed, can also be used as a base for fish and seafood curries such as Goa’s famous hot and sour ambot-tik or baby shark curry.
Ingredients
1 whole pomfret, about 500 grams (about 1pound)
Salt
2 teaspoons vinegar
3 or 4 tablespoons Recheado Spice Paste (below)
Vegetable oil for frying
Recheado Spice Paste
10–12 dried red Kashmiri chiles
6 tablespoons vinegar
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
12 black peppercorns
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ small onion, chopped (optional)
12-mm (½-inch) piece fresh ginger, chopped
12 cloves garlic, chopped
Lime-sized ball of tamarind
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Method
- For the spice paste, soak the chiles and the dry spices in the vinegar for at least 30 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and grind to a fine paste.
- Transfer the paste to a pan and cook on low heat for a few minutes, stirring continuously, to remove the raw taste of the spices. Cooking will also help preserve the paste for a longer time. You should get about ½ cup paste.
- Clean and gut the fish and wash well. Slit the fish on either side of the bone to make 2 deep pockets. Rub all over with a mixture of salt and vinegar and leave to marinate for 15 minutes.
- Fill both pockets with 3 or 4 tablespoons of the spice paste.
- Heat the oil in a skillet; place the fish in the pan, and fry uncovered on medium heat for 7 minutes on each side until golden brown, turning the fish only once. Remove from the pan and place on paper towels to drain. Serve hot.
Serves 4
