Ingredients
6-7 cleaned pomfrets (palm-sized)
For marination
2 1/2 tbsp pepper pods
15 bird's eye chilli (kanthari)
1 ginger
15 garlic pods
15 small onion
5-6 slices of raw mango(6-7 Irumban
puli /bilimbi can be used instead of raw mangoes too)
1 cup curry leaves, mint leaves,
coriander leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 pinches fenugreek powder and fennel
powder (uluva and perumjeerakam)
Lemon juice squeezed from 1 large lemon
1 tbsp coconut
Salt to taste
Banana leaf and fibre as required
Preparation
The ingredients except lemon juice,
coconut oil and the powders should be ground together into a coarse
paste
Mix lemon juice, the powder ingredients
and coconut oil to the mixture
Take half of the mixture and coat each
whole fish with the masala
Set it aside
Wilt the banana leaves over flame until
they are soft and yielding and slightly brownish
Tear the leaves into smaller pieces
that can hold one fish each
Now, spread some of the masala on each
leaf and place a fish on it
Spread a little more masala on top of
the fish and fold the leaf over it
Tie up each banana leaf packet with the
fibre from the leaves
This will secure the packets without
damaging the fish
Place a tawa over the stove and spread
some coconut oil on it
Lay out the banana wraps on the tawa
and cover it with a lid
Let it cook for a few minutes on low
flame
Keep flipping them over every few
minutes until both sides are cooked
Let the banana leaves turn brown and
crispy
When the leaves are about to get
charred, switch off the flame and remove the tawa from the heat
The hot and steaming pomfrets can be
unwrapped and devoured with rice, pathiri, vellappam or nan as you
choose.