When Raju stuffed Shrimps down his belly - Shrimps stuffed Mackerel Fry

I love surprises especially when I’m not at the receiving end. Frankly speaking, I’m glad Abbas seldom throws me surprises. Reason?

1. His tummy tickles itself till he blurts out to me.

2. He wouldn’t want the surprise to turn out as a shock!

Even today, the child in me gets excited at the sight of ‘Jack popping out of boxes’. What if the Jack hides in my food… The idea struck me as I was planning to make Mackerel Doddak. I had a few shrimps lying in my freezer and the quantity was too meager to make a stand alone dish out of ‘em. That’s how this idea was born. I initially wanted to bake the stuffed fish but later ended up shallow frying on a griddle by coating them in rice powder. The fish fry was good but I loved the shrimp masala more…

Ingredients:

For Shrimp masala:

Shrimps – ¾ cup, deshelled, deveined and cleaned

Salt to taste

Coconut oil – 1 tbsp

For the masala:

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Red chillies – 5-6 (increase or decrease as per spice tolerance)

Tamarind – 1 small marble sized ball

For the fish fry:

Mackerel / Bangda / Raju – 8 nos

Red chilli powder – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Juice of half lemon

Rice powder – to coat

Oil – for frying

Method:

1. Grind the ingredients called for masala with little water if necessary. Mix with salt and shrimps. Saute this masala in coconut oil for 3-4 mins till it is dry and can be stuffed inside fish.
2. Make a huge slit in mackerel sideways and clean it well. Also, make some light slits all over the body.
3. Marinate with Red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and lemon juice.
4. Stuff the shrimp masala and keep in refrigerator for atleast 10-15 mins.
5. Roll the fish in rice powder and shallow fry on a tawa by covering for some time Flip the fish so that both sides are well cooked. I used coconut oil to fry.
6. Serve with lemon wedges and chillies.