Fish Puttu / Meen Puttu / Steamed And Shredded Fish Stir Fry

Fish puttu is a very delicious traditional recipe of south India, and has an awesome flavor. This authentic recipe is very easy to make and serves as a good side-dish and snack. Kids and people of all age groups will love this puttu. This recipe is usually made out of Shark, a salt water fish variety, so the authentic name of the recipe is Sura puttu, Sura is the Tamil name for Shark. But I have used Barracuda fish for making this recipe. Usually people use Shark fish pieces because its tasty and the other main boon about it is that it does not have tiny bones and has only a few big bones which can be easily removed while preparation. You can use any fish variety but you must be very careful to handpick all the bones out of it, or else the tiny bones will get stuck in your throat and cause discomfort while eating. Anyhow hard work turns fruitful, right? so just try this yummy fish puttu and enjoy. You can use, Seer fish, Barracuda, Red snapper, also Sardines (but sardines have a lot of tiny bones, so more eye-work is needed, yet I have tried with this fish variety too, it was awesome) and any fishes of your choice. I have this Meen puttu like main course, its so delicious and you'll agree with me after trying it. It is less spicy, aromatic and so delicious!! Lets see what's required and how to prepare such an authentic South Indian Fish Puttu recipe.

INGREDIENTS

(Serves 4)

1. Fish pieces - 6 
2. Big onions - 1 
3. Green chillies - 2 
4. Chopped ginger - 1 spoon
5. Chopped garlic - 1 spoon
6. Curry leaves - Few  
7. Pepper powder - 1/2 spoon  
8. Cumin powder - 1/2 spoon 
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 spoon (optional)
10. Cumin seeds - 1/4 spoon
11. Mustard seeds - 1/2 spoon
12. Skinned black gram (whole) / Urad dal - 1 spoon 
13. Salt - As per taste 
14. Oil - 5 spoons 

PREPARATION METHOD

• Wash fish pieces well in water. (Click here to know how to wash fish pieces properly)
• Then steam the fish pieces using any vessel/provision for 5 minutes. (I used idli pan to steam the fishes, just place the fish pieces on the idly plates, pour some water in the pan and place the plates inside the pan and steam them as you would do for making idlis. You can also use any pot to steam fish pieces. Do not boil the fish pieces, only steam them).
• Once it gets cooked remove all the fish bones from the fish pieces and shred them well using hands or a spoon. 
• Meanwhile, chop onions, green chillies, tear curry leaves and set them aside.
• Then in a frying pan/wok add oil, after it heats up add mustard seeds and let it splutter. 
• Then add cumin seeds, urad dal (ulutham paruppu), and saute for a minute until the urad dal turns slightly brownish. 
• Then add curry leaves, chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute well for a minute.
• Now add the chopped onions, salt, turmeric powder and saute well until onions become translucent. 
• Then add cumin powder and pepper powder and stir well.
• Now add the shredded fish pieces and saute well. Stir frequently.
• Cook for 3 minutes on a low flame.
• Remove from flame and Serve!!

TIP 1: Be very cautious in picking up the fish bones from the cooked fish. Hand-picking will be the best idea. 

TIP 2: You can either use or discard the skin of the fish pieces. It depends on the type of fish you use, Sharks may have a thick skin so discarding them away will be the best idea. I have used the skin because barracudas have a very thin skin.

TIP 3: Don't add too much of green chillies if you are going to serve it for kids.

TIP 4: Urad dal/Ulutham paruppu/Skinned whole black gram has a crunchy texture and you can feel it on every bite, so if you like it you can add it else avoid it, increase or decrease the quantity according to your wish. 

TIP 5: Add more ginger to enhance the aroma and flavor. Also curry leaves can be added more according to your wish.

TIP 6: Addition of turmeric powder gives a mild color and helps remove microbes, but its totally optional if you need the recipe to be in white color then avoid turmeric powder.

TIP 7: You can also use leftover fish pieces from the fish gravy to prepare this recipe. Just wash of the extra masala from the fish pieces and prepare the recipe. There is no necessity to steam fishes in such cases.

TIP 8: Never boil the fishes, only steam them or else the fishes will become mushy to use.

Delicious and authentic Fish puttu is now ready!! Serve as a side-dish for Rice with Fish gravy or any gravy of your choice!! Am sure you will love this delicious treat!!

Linking this authentic South Indian Recipe to Anu's "South Indian Cooking" (SIC) Series Event - #1 

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