Crispy Fish fry with semolina / Sooji / Rava

Crispy Fried Sardines! Fish coated with herbed semolina mixture with a hint of lemon zest and shallow fried in a pan. I used sardines. However you can use any fish preferably whole small sized ones or thinly sliced fish. I have tried this fish fry preparation with other fish types like Barracuda slices, pomfret slices, seer fish and small sized whole red snappers and worked perfectly. These are so delicious with homemade tartar sauce or ketchup.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients 

To Marinate Fish

• 10 Sardines ( I used sardines, you can use any other fish either sliced thinly )
• 1 Teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 Teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt 

Fish Coating one ( Wet Mixture)

• 1 Teaspoon red chilli powder / paprika powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 Teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon water 

Fish Coating two ( dry mixture) 

• 2 Tablespoon rice flour / corn flour
• 2 Tablespoon Semolina (sooji or Rava )
• 1/2 Teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 Teaspoon Garlic powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon red chilli flakes
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tablespoon finely chopped cilantro leaves or parsley

For Shallow Frying Fish

• 3 Tablespoon Vegetable oil  

Directions 

1. Clean, wash fish several times. Pat dry with a kitchen towel.
2. Marinate fish pieces along with the list of ingredients listed under 'To Marinate Fish' for 30 mins or 1 hour
3. In a small bowl, add all the ingredients listed under 'Fish Coating one' along with 1 Tablespoon water. Check seasoning and add more salt if required. This wet mixture will be thick
4. In a separate bowl mix all the ingredients listed under 'Fish Coating two. Set aside
5. Now take the marinated fish, apply wet mixture all over. Set aside. Repeat the process for rest of the fish pieces. set aside
6. Next coat the fish in the rice flour semolina dry mixture we prepared at step number 4. Gently press the dry coating so that it sticks firm to the fish skin. Since we already coated the fish with wet mix , dry mix will easily coat fish
7. Repeat the process for rest of the fish pieces
8. Heat oil in a pan for shallow frying fish. You can also deep fry, but the dry coating tends to fall off from the fish and settles down in oil and creates a mess. Hence I do not prefer to deep fry fish for this preparation. I always shallow fry
9. Add 4 fish pieces ( batch of 4 at a time) on a pan at a time and fry on medium flame until the crust is crispy golden. Flip sides and fry on the other sides too
10. Drain on the kitchen towel and serve hot
11. If you are serving it later , the fish might become wet and soggy. But the good news is we can fix it, You can spread the fried fish pieces on a baking tray and bake at 160 C for 8 to 10 minutes. Fish will be crispy again.