Fillets of fish are coated with green chutney and wrapped in banana leaves before cooking. Served in the banana leaf parcel, it is featured at Parsi weddings and is an impressive way to serve fish at a dinner party.
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Serves 6
- 1 kg (2 lb) boneless fillets of firm white fish
- salt
- 2 tablespoons ghee or oil
- banana leaves cut into large squares
- lime wedges
Green Chutney
- juice of 2 limes or 1 lemon
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 2 cups chopped fresh coriander leaves
- ½ cup chopped fresh mint
- 4 large green chillies, seeded and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 cup grated fresh coconut or ¼ cup desiccated coconut
- 2 tablespoons ghee or oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
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Wash the fish fillets and dry on kitchen paper, then sprinkle lightly with salt and cut into serving pieces. Set aside while preparing the chutney. To make the Green Chutney, put all the ingredients into a blender. It helps if the onions and lime juice go in first, since the blades need liquid to draw the ingredients down. Add a little water if necessary and blend to a pure, but do not make the pure too wet. (If using desiccated coconut, first moisten by sprinkling with a little water and mix lightly with fingertips.) Fry the green chutney on low heat in ghee or oil until fragrant. When cool, spread on both sides of the fish fillet pieces.
To prevent the banana leaf splitting, pass it over a gas flame or put it under an electric grill until it becomes pliable. Wrap each serving of fish securely in a piece of banana leaf, fasten with wooden toothpicks and steam over gently simmering water for 30 minutes. Or the banana-leaf parcels can be shallow-fried in just enough oil to cover the base of a heavy frying pan. Allow about 7 minutes for each side, depending on the thickness of the fish. Serve with lime wedges. Diners unwrap the banana leaf before eating.