The Indian subcontinent · Volume 21, The Convent Kitchen, the Temple Kitchen and the Toddy Tapper’s Coast
Fish recheado
Catholic Goa
Illustration
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Researched
- Researched from 48 sources in the brief
A whole fish, slit and stuffed with a raw, never-cooked chilli paste, then fried.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 30 minutes, plus resting.
Ingredients
- 4 whole mackerel or a small pomfret, cleaned
- 8 Byadgi chillies, soaked, for colour
- 4 hotter dried red chillies, soaked, for heat
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2.5 cm ginger
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 6 black peppercorns
- 5 cm cinnamon stick
- 4 tbsp toddy vinegar
- 1 tsp tamarind pulp
- to taste salt
- for frying coconut oil, for frying
Method
- Blend both chillies, garlic, ginger, cumin, peppercorns and cinnamon with the vinegar and tamarind to a thick, smooth paste. Do not cook the paste before this step: it goes into the fish raw and cooks only once, inside.
- Score each fish along its length and season the cavity with salt.
- Pack the paste firmly into the slit and into the belly cavity.
- Shallow-fry in coconut oil over medium heat, turning once, until the skin is crisp and the fish is cooked through.
- Serve immediately with the fried paste still visible at the slit.
What a modern chef changes
A precisely timed fry that never lets the raw paste catch before the fish is through
Rung 4.
Method
- Bring the fish to room temperature before frying and pat the skin completely dry, so the exterior crisps quickly rather than steaming, buying time for the interior paste to cook through fully.
- Use a probe thermometer to check the thickest part of the fish reaches temperature rather than judging by the outside colour alone, since an overcooked exterior and an underdone stuffed paste are the two easiest ways to lose this dish.