Tandoori Fish
Sometimes food from the Indian Sub Continent make the vibrant appearance in bright orange or red color, along with some grilled onions & peppers, making them look extremely appetizing. It could be meat, fish or cheese; and when you bite into them they are delicately succulent wonders. These are the well known “Tandoori” or “Tikka” – meat, fish/shrimp or paneer (Indian Cheese) marinated in very flavorful spices & cooked slowly & gently in a Tandoor. Now what is a Tandoor?
“A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in cooking and baking. The tandoor is used for cooking in Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Transcaucasus, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia as well as India and Bangladesh. The heat for a tandoor was traditionally generated by a charcoal fire or wood fire, burning within the tandoor itself, thus exposing the food to both live-fire, radiant heat cooking, and hot-air, convection cooking.
Temperatures in a tandoor can approach 480°C (900°F), and it is common for tandoor ovens to remain lit for long periods of time to maintain the high cooking temperature. The tandoor design is something of a transitional form between a makeshift earth oven and the horizontal-plan masonry oven.
The tandoor is used for cooking certain types of Afghan, Pakistani and Indian foods such as tandoori chicken, chicken tikka and bread varieties like tandoori roti and naan. The word tandoori is the adjective meaning “pertaining to the tandoor” and is used to describe a dish cooked in a tandoor.” (Wiki)
Marinating the meat, fish or the cheese in slightly acidic base with a lot of spices & then slow cooking in an evenly distributed temperature, make them irresistibly aromatic & tender. I do not own a Tandoor (wish I did) & for some unknown reason I do not like to cook the fish in the oven. I just do it on the iron skillet over high heat; it takes only a couple of minutes to cook them on the stove-top.
Tandoori Fish
Ingredients:
Note: Indian Groceries carry Ready-made Tandoori Pastes in jars & Tandoori Powders. Use the ready made ones, if you do not have the time or enthusiasm to make your own.
- Fish fillet-4 pieces (I used Tilapia, any firm white fish will do)
- 1 Tablespoons of Oil
For the Tandoori Paste/Marinade:
- 1 Teaspoon Red chili/Cayenne powder (adjust to taste)
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
- 1/2 Teaspoon Oil
- 3/4 Teaspoon Garlic paste
- 1 .5 Teaspoons Ginger paste
- 1/2 Teaspoon of Cumin Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Powder
- A pinch of Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kasuri Methi (Dried Fenugreek Leaves, available at the Indian Grocery)
- 1/4 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
- 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
- Orange Food color (Optional)
- Salt
Preparation:Wash the fish & pat dry with a paper towel.
Combine all the ingredients for the marinade.
Pour the mixture over the fish fillets & toss gently to evenly coat the fillets. Let the fillets sit with the marinade for about an hour.
Coat a large skillet with oil. (Use a skillet which can hold the fillet in a single layer without overlapping one layer). Heat the skillet to almost a smoking point.
Put the fillet on the pan, arranging them carefully so they are not overlapped. Cook for 3-4 minutes or till the fillets loosen at the bottom & are ready to flip over. (They will loosen by themselves when done, do not try to scrape, push & flip; they will break)
Flip over with a broad spatula & cook the other side of the fish in the same way as above.
Serve with rice, salad, mint & coriander chutney & some yogurt. (I added some carrots, orange zest & red pepper to the yogurt)
My kids eat the “Orange Spicy Fish” (In their words) a few times a week. They love it with some buttered rice & some side salad or steamed veggies, which makes it really easy for me to make a quick. healthy meal for them. I rarely cook fish in any other form.. tho’ I would really love to:-) The Spicy Orange Fish is going to Indrani’s Spotlight Fish.
Related Posts:
Shish Kabab (Skewered Chicken)
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August 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
The colors and texture looks good even for a vegetarian like me!
August 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Wow wat bright and eyecatching tandoori fish Soma!looks fabulous..
August 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Looks great! Nice color!
August 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
they look wonderful Soma. You are right there is something about the stove top for cooking fish. Tilapia works great for these yes!
August 30th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
that looks so appetizing no wonder your kids love it.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
yes, i have a lot of people asking why indian food is so red! i love the look of that fish up there soma, absolutely gorgeous!
August 30th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Tandoori fish does look so appetizing, but I never had tandoori fish. I usually get tandoori chicken at Indian restaurants. I will have to try this at home sometime. Tonight, I made your chicken curry recipe that you posted in May and it turned out excellent! The only two mistakes I made were I put all the ginger paste in the marinade instead of both the marinade and the curry sauce and I think I put a little too much oil by mistake (had to pour out some of it later on). Even with that, it was really good. My husband and I really enjoyed it. I also checked your site today for naan bread recipe, however I didn’t see any. I had to make up some kind of flat bread that was fast to make to go along with the curry. Thanks!
August 30th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Have never try tandoori fish only chicken. Would like to try this
August 30th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Who can resist them ? Thanks for the tandoori masala which you prepare..am in search of an authentic one..readymades are waste…would love to see this..Appetising..My God,thats truly temting presentation..
August 30th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Who can resist them ? Thanks for the tandoori masala which you prepare..am in search of an authentic one..readymades are waste…would love to see this..Appetising..My God,thats truly tempting presentation..
August 30th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Wow tht looks delicious…nice click
August 31st, 2009 at 12:13 am
soma, in the interest of people (like me) who are going to have a shudh shakahari dinner tonight, pls refrain from posting such delicious, downright mouthwatering and lipsmacking pictures!!
OMG…wish wish I could make that tonight!
August 31st, 2009 at 1:21 am
Aha, aha … ki hobe amaar? Dupur duto baje … luncher kono thik nei … ar ei chobi.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:32 am
Love your presentation!
August 31st, 2009 at 4:36 am
Every time I go to an Indian restaurant, I get the chicken tandoori. I love the flavors used in that dish.
Beautiful pictures as usual
August 31st, 2009 at 7:03 am
tandoori fish looks wonderful! Thanks for the info about tandoor!
August 31st, 2009 at 7:48 am
tata tandoor fish khabe?
August 31st, 2009 at 8:45 am
I am pretty fish challenegd & have read your post twice over. This just might tempt me to fry fish! YUM!!
August 31st, 2009 at 9:03 am
yumm!! ye tandoori fish sound amazing!
August 31st, 2009 at 9:14 am
The colors of your fish look amazing! I love that you used tilapia. It is my favorite fish. It’s mild and lends it self nicely to a variety of uses. I can’t wait to try this!
August 31st, 2009 at 10:32 am
I love that bright Orange color..I can eat it just cos of that..yumm..:)
August 31st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Highly colorful and appetizing! Tandoori Fish, that sounds marvelous!
Cheers,
Rosa
August 31st, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I’m not a big fan of tilapia, so I love finding new ways to cook it and this looks great and colorful
August 31st, 2009 at 6:48 pm
This looks amazing!! I love Tandoori chicken – it seems only natural I would love this too!
August 31st, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Just looks so delicious. Thanks for sharing this.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Looks so tempting – i LOVE fish ! Dont get fresh ones here and thats been the only thing that stops me from cooking it…tandoori fish is perfect !
September 1st, 2009 at 3:45 am
It’s my first time at your blog. Love the photos and the recipes. That tandoori fish looks awesome!
September 1st, 2009 at 6:38 am
wow.. so tempting and colorful!!! looks perfect!
September 1st, 2009 at 11:16 am
Yummie! I’ll try this dish…I never thought in making a Tandoori fish…sounds fantastic! Nice pictures as well.
September 1st, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Yum… amazing color
September 1st, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Fish looks yummy Soma. I usually put in the oven for bake/broil unless it is a Indian fish.
September 1st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Soma , this is K’s favorite dish.. he can eat tandoori fish .. 7 days a week , 365 days a year without complaining ! Showed it to him and he was drooling
I add a bit of kasuri methi to my tandoori spice mix …
Didn’t know you guys ate fish!!
LOL that is how it is with my little one right one. I use kasuri methi with the chicken & paneer marinade, but somehow cannot get myself to use the methi with the chicken…have not idea why. But i think i will bypass the bias & try it out for the kids (& put an update in the post too) atleast. The authentic tandoori aroma is enhanced with the methi for sure. Thanks Dee!
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:17 am
OMG!!! That looks lip smacking delicious
The colour is so beautiful!
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:46 am
Gosh! That looks awesome. If the pic looks so good, I wonder how the real thing will be. Yummmmmmmmmm!!!
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Looks absolutely amazing!!! Thanks for the recipe!
Miri
September 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am
oh ya !! just lovely..I can almost smell this tandoor fish….lovely photography
September 4th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I will be making this tonight with haddock – I added some Fage 0% Greek yogurt to the tandoori paste (to cut back on oil) and will broil it. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
September 5th, 2009 at 9:48 am
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September 7th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
The color does make it look delectable! The spice mixture sounds delicious for fish too.