Utsav- Celebrating the Foods of Major Festivals of India

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• 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Fill both pockets with 3 or 4 tablespoons of the spice paste.
5. 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