Kalia is a typical middle-eastern Mauritian dish often referred to as a “light” Biryani because of the similarity in spices used for both dishes as well as their methods of cooking.
Ingredients of Fish Kalia – 4 servings
500 gm fish
1 large potato
1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 large tomato
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 bay leaf
3 red chilli
1/2 cup mustard oil
4 tablespoon onion paste
1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
3 green cardamom
salt as required
1 tablespoon yoghurt (curd)
water as required
- To start with, marinate the fish pieces with salt and half a teaspoon of turmeric. Set it aside for 20 minutes. Then heat the mustard oil in a frying pan, and fry the fish pieces once the oil becomes hot. to remove the excess oil dab the fried fish pieces with paper towels. Keep the fish pieces for later use.
- Now, fry the potato pieces in the same oil in which the fish was fried. Once golden, remove the potatoes and keep them aside.
- In the remaining oil, add the bay leaf, cardamom, split red chillies, coriander and cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds start spluttering, add the onion paste, ginger and garlic paste, and fry for 5 minutes.
- Next, add the chopped tomatoes, the remaining turmeric powder and yogurt. Stir it so that it mixes well. Fry until oil separates from this mixture, which will take approximately 10 minutes.
- Then add water and bring it to a boil. Then add the fried potato pieces to it. Reduce the flame and let it simmer until the potatoes are tender and the gravy is thick. Then add the fish pieces and cook for about 5 minutes.