Meen Peera / Fish Thoran

Meen peera is a popular fish recipe of kerala.

Today, I am using sardines to make this dish.

The main ingredients required for making meen peera are sardines, grated coconut, green chillies, onions and kudampuli.

Ingredients

Small sardines/kunju mathi – 1 kg

Shallots / kunjulli – ¼ cup

Green chilli, chopped – 5-6

Ginger, chopped – 1 tbsp

Garlic, chopped – 1 tsp

Grated coconut – 2 cups

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Chilli powder – 1/4 tsp

Gambooge/kudampuli – 2-3 pieces (Wash and soak in 1/4 cup of water)

Salt – as needed

Curry leaves

Coconut oil – 2 tbsp

Method

Clean sardines well using salt and water.

 If you don’t know how to clean sardines, have a look at this video.

Cut fish into 2 pieces. Keep aside.

Soak gambooge/kudampuli in 1/4 cup of water.

Using a mortar and pestle, crush shallots, green chilies, ginger, garlic, grated coconut, turmeric powder, and chili powder. Set this mixture aside.

If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can use mixer or blender for this purpose. Make sure to give only 2 pulses to crush shallots, green chilies, ginger, garlic, grated coconut, turmeric powder, and chili powder.  

In an earthen pot, add sardines, crushed mixture, salt, curry leaves, and gambooge along with water in which it is soaked. Mix everything with your hands. Add 1 to 1/2 cups of water. 

Now place this on a flame and cook. Close with a lid and allow it to cook. When curry comes to a boil, open the lid, give a nice swirl to the earthern pot (don’t use spoon to mix). Now reduce the flame and cook. When the water is little bit dried out (gravy thickens), you can see the masala is well coated on the fish. Add oil and curry leaves. Give a nice swirl of the earthern pot as shown in the video. Reduce the flame and cook for 2 more minutes. Switch off the flame. Serve mathi peera with rice.