Fish Pickle - Meen Achar

 The year was 1993, the place - Adelaide. I was newly married, in a brand new place, 8000 kms away from home. I had no friends and I knew no one. I was armed with a few deadly recipes, though; and the fish pickle was one of them. My recipe said "seer fish" which is the local Indian name - and they had nothing like that in Central Market. Until a friend told me that in Australia they called it Spanish Mackerel!  My joy knew no bounds - and soon, presents for people was a bottle of home made fish pickle. My Aussie friends loved it - apparently it is best had with a glass of Chardonnay.  So that is my story about the fish pickle and its elevated status. Back home it is a humble staple - always present as an accompaniment in the meat safe ready to spice up any meal at any given time!  I haven't made it in  along time - and last week fresh Spanish Mackerel was going at $22.00 a kilo - which is cheaper than usual, so here we go!  Happy pickling!

Ingredients:

1 kilo Spanish Mackerel or any firm fleshed fish, filleted and cut into bite size pieces.

Wash the fish, pat it dry with a paper towel and cut it into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

For marinating the fish:

1 tablespoon chilli powder  ( you can reduce the quantity of chilli powder or use Kashmiri chilli powder that is not hot)

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

3 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon or slightly less of water to make a paste

Add the paste to the fish pieces, mix it well so that all the pieces are coated and keep in the fridge.

The fish needs to marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes, I generally keep it over night

For the Fish pickle:

1 to 11/2 cups oil for deep frying ( I used bran oil)

1 cup + 1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 to 2 heads of garlic, peeled and sliced into two if too big

About a 2 finger thick piece of ginger - 2 inches long, peeled and julienned

1 sprig curry leaves

12 green chillies, slit ( you can reduce the number of chillies for less  heat

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

2 tablespoons Kashmiri red chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 heaped teaspoon mustard seeds

Step 1:

Deep fry the fish pieces in oil in batches. Fry the fish in medium heat until it is well cooked and crisp on the outside. Do not over cook and make the fish too dry. Set aside to drain in a paper towel.

Reserve the oil.

In the reserved oil, add the mustard seeds and the fenugreek seeds. When the mustard seeds finish crackling, add the ginger, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves.

While the ginger and garlic pieces is cooking, mix the Kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt and mix it with a tablespoon of white vinegar.  Set the paste aside.

When the ginger and garlic start getting fragrant making sure you do not brown the garlic, lower the heat from medium to the lowest possible setting. Next add the tablespoon of ginger garlic paste and the chilli powder paste. Mix well and cook for a minute or so.

Next add the pieces of fried fish and gently move the pan around so that all the fish pieces get coated with the oil, ginger, garlic etc.  Cook for about 5 minutes.

Lastly add the vinegar and let the mixture come to a boil.

The fish pickle is now ready. You can test for salt and add at this point if needed.

Wait till the pickle cools completely and then bottle it. Make sure your bottle is completely dry before you transfer the fish pickle into the bottle. Also, when you use a spoon to get the pieces, make sure your spoon is completely dry.  Let the pickle sit in a cool and dry area in your pantry for about 3 days and mellow and absorb the flavours.  After the 3 days, you can keep it in the fridge and use it in three months - or less :-)

Enjoy your fish pickle with rice and dal, or chappaties or roti! Or may be with an ice cold chardy!