Fried fish stuffed with red paste

One of my grandmothers had Goan neighbors. She lived in a squat rather rundown building near the Wellesley tank. Her apartment building that went by the rather grand name of Amelia Chambers had a narrow little entrance way, no elevator and a darkish staircase. It was an exciting apartment to visit, at least during my childhood years, not least for the amazing food my grandmother prepared.

Her Goan neighbors were a large family, the lady of the house seemed to have a perpetual runny nose and loud sniffs were a part of her way of speaking. She was very noisy, largeish and had a dominating personality. Her various children and husband lived a somewhat shadowy existence somewhere in the recesses of their small apartment with formica-topped tables and plastic tablecloths. Naturally the most delicious smells wafted across from their apartment all the time. Meatballs, pork vindaloo, sorpotel, rum cakes (at Christmas time) were just a few of the goodies Sniffy Aunty (as we unkindly used to call her) effortlessly turned out of her little kitchen. The recipe below is a typical Goan way of cooking fish, not something I learnt from Sniffy Aunty but delicious nonetheless. Use a bland white fish like pomfret for the best results. The spice paste used to stuff the fish is called Recheo in Goa.


The Recipe

1 medium-sized pomfret or any plain white fish
White vine vinegar 2 tsp
Recheo spice paste 2-3 tablespoons
oil
salt to taste

Recheo paste -- this will make a fair quantity that can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator for a week or so:
10-12 dried red chillies
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
12 black peppercorns
1 teaspoon tumeric powder
1/2 chopped onion
half inch piece ginger
10 cloves garlic
a small lump of tamarind
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
6 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Grind all these ingredients into a thick smooth paste


Clean the fish and wash well. Slit the fish on the side to make a kind of pocket. Rub the salt and vinegar over the fish and keep aside for about 10 minutes.
Stuff the fish with the recheo paste.
Heat oil in a large pan, gently place the fish in the pan once the oil is nice and hot and cook well, uncovered for 6-7 minutes on medium heat. Turn over and cook the other side.
Serve hot with steamed white rice and chilled beer on a sunny afternoon!