Unakka-meen Chathachathu – Crushed Dried Fish spiced up with pearl onions & dry red chilly

“……..Amma has her version of Unakkameen chathachathu, which is so good and lasts very long! “ wrote Ria on my last post.

Her words hit me like a twister. My hankering was strong that I secretly wished I had not trashed that last packet of dried fish my parents got me when they visited us year before last.

Yet, I rummaged around the refrigerator, hoping that my memory was wrong and I would find that last packet, tucked away in some corner and luck was on my part that day !!!!

Called up home on Saturday morning and got the recipe from my mother and she fuelled my craving with her “ooh..aahs” about this dish. Decided to make it for lunch, ignoring the fear of complaint from the neighbours for that strange but horrible smell, a warning letter from the Leasing Office for spoiling the aura of the community, living in an house where everything from your couch to remote control to your own hair stink like dried fish and ofcourse, overlooking my man’s inherent disdain for such dried fish concoctions.

I made it for lunch.

I served it with some hot, plump , creamy and starchy bowl of goodness Kanji, rice gruel.

WE devoured every bit.

WE ate it for dinner too.

The bowl was polished off at the end.

And …

I heard my man saying as he chew on each bite, “ …Adipoli…..…awesome!! WOW!! “

On learning that it was the last packet left in the refrigerator,, he made a light joke that “…..we should salt some fish and oven -dry it “. Hmmmmmmmmmm………!!!

Well, he had a philosophical addendum too , for his newly found liking for this dish, “….mm.....I think, with age, I am developing a liking for certain dishes that were not appetizing while growing up…”

Honestly, I was not certain whether it was worth responding to such talks when I was sitting in our living room stinking like a dry fish store house, with aroma candles lit in all corners of the house and with balcony doors wide open in a freezing weather outside!!!! When my nose was being tortured with all that strong smell, it would have been atleast pleasing to my ears had he said something like ,”……..loved it this time …may be ‘coz I liked how you made it “ . I know, cheesy it would have been, yet…..…..:P

Well, my stomach was full, satisfied and I was one happy soul yesterday! :)

Here’s how I made it:

Ingredients: (Approx)

• 1 cup dried fish/ Unakka-meen chunks (Check under ”Directions” for notes on soaking & cleaning instructions)
• ½ cup small red pearl onions, sliced
• 6-8 dry red chilly
• 8-10 curry leaves
• Coconut oil for shallow frying the fish

Directions:

• Notes: Soak dried fish ( I used about 150gm “bral” ) in water , along with some small newspaper pieces , to soften the fish for about 30 mts ( newspaper helps to absorb the excess salt content on the dried fish). Remove newspaper, drain water and remove the scales from the fish , if any; cut the tail and all the unwanted parts of fish and cut them into small chunks.
• Crush and shred the dried fish chunks in a mixer or ideally using a mortar and pestle and keep it aside.
• Next, crush the onions and dried red chillies together and make a nice coarse mixture.
• In a shallow pan, heat some coconut oil and fry the dried fish until almost fried (Do not fry them too crispy at this stage) and keep it aside. In the same pan, to the same oil ( add more oil if required), tear off the curry leaves and throw them into the pan, followed by the onion and red chilly mixture and cook till a nice aroma comes, for about 1-2 minutes. At this point, add the fried fish and combine everything together and cook for another 2-3 minutes till everything is nicely combined.
• “Ultimate” when served with Kanji/rice gruel .

Dear Ria, thank you for that appetizing comment, we had two satisfying meals ‘coz of you :)

Luv

Shn