Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Neythili Meen Aviyal (Anchovies in Coconut based Gravy)

Neythili or Anchovies are one of the food which I enjoyed the most in my childhood.  Whenever I visit my grandma's place or aunt's place, these anchovies are must in their regular diet.  Even though when I was not a big fan of fish in my childhood, I used to love these gravies even still now.
After a very long time, I had these anchovies, that too prepared by me.  Last week when I got these, the immediate thing which I done was called my mom and asked for the recipe. Except the cleaning part of the fish, the recipe by itself is quite easy. If you can get cleaned fish directly, then that makes your life much more easier . I have used raw mango for this recipe, if you couldn't find raw mango, you can also replace it with tomatoes.  Try this recipe, I'm sure you'll love it.


Preparation Time: 10 minutes (excluding cleaning the fish)
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Neythili or Anchovies- 500 g
Shallots- 6 finely chopped
Raw mango- 2 small sized (sliced)
Garlic- 4 pods
Grated coconut-  5 tbsp
Green chilly- 2
Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
Chilly powder- 1 tsp
Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
Mustard  seeds- 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- 10 leaves
Oil- 1 tbsp
Salt as required

Method:
Remove the head and tail part of the anchovies and clean it well in water.  Grind together coconut, turmeric and chilly powder by adding little water.  Heat oil in a pan or kadai,  add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, garlic pods and green chillies.  Then add the chopped shallots and saute it for 2 to 3 minutes until it looks translucent. Now add the ground coconut mixture, sliced raw mango and the fish.  Add very little water to this and salt as per taste.  Give it a gentle stir, without breaking the fish.  Cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 20 minutes.  Then open the lid and cook for further few minutes, until the water gets dried out completely.  In the middle of cooking give it a gentle stir.  Once the water gets dried out completely, take it off from heat and serve it with plain rice.

Sending this to Kerala Kitchen Event

45 comments:

Kim said...

anchovies is a really popular food ingredient in korean cuisine. you can use them to make broth or mince it and eat it as a side dish!

Indu said...

Never had meen aviyal before. The dish reminds me a bit of meen peera. Looks good, I feel this is a healthy way to eat fish, rather than frying and meen curry which has loads of chili powder.

kankana said...

I don't think i ever tried anchovies .. but this dish is tempting me. Lovely presentation.

Unknown said...

Fish aviyal is something new to me...looks yummy

Nandita SS said...

First of all let me wish you a ramadhan Karim!! This dish looks very tempting. The presentation and the photography is simply superb :)

Swati Sapna said...

Frankly have never tried anchovies... my sea-foood repertoire is quite small i must admit :D but i love spicy south-indian style fare, esp prawns and chicken in coconut based gravy! so this recipe just caught my eye... it looks so fresh and inviting! a must-try soon !

Prathima Rao said...

Yet another tempting avial version!!!! Nice clicks too ayeesha :)
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner

Rekha shoban said...

very interesting dish....lovely click!

Lavanya Selvaraj said...

Avial with fish is very new to me... But looks delicious... Love to try this.

-Lavanya
My recent post: Easy Breezy Chicken Curry

Vimitha Durai said...

Looks so tempting... Would love it with anything.

Menaga Sathia said...

ரொம்ப நல்லாயிருக்கு ஆயிஷா,எனக்கு நெத்திலி மீன்னா ரொம்ப பிடிக்கும்.ரமலான் வாழ்த்துக்கள்!!

divya said...

looks yummy and delicious fry...

Chitra said...

u r clicks are making me drool ...my fav dish...love it..

Ramya said...

Looks so yummy...my mother makes peera with netholi meen...and i miss it...

That Girl said...

I've used anchovies in sauces, but I've never had them on their own.

Torviewtoronto said...

deliciously done anchovies looks fabulous I haven't had with mango in it looks wonderful

Shanavi said...

Soooooper Yaar..Looks YUM..Bookmarking it

Sini Cherian said...

Nice,yummy

SavithaRaj's Spice Land said...

All time favorite....
savitharajsspiceland.blogspot.com

Mugdha said...

Never had this before. Looks good, I feel this is a healthy way to eat fish, rather than frying and making curry which has loads of masalas and chillies...thanx for sharing this dear..tc..enjoy..:)

schmetterlingwords said...

I tasted this Nethili Avial only after coming to Nagercoil, prepared by my maami. I absolutely love this. You have prepared it exactly the same way. May be, it is a Nagercoil speciality. Sometimes maami prepares Nethili puttu too. Hope you know that as well. Very nice presentation. My husb appreciated the lighting here too!! :)

Divya said...

I haven't tried anchovies before, just anchovy paste. This sounds awesome - will have to try it out sometime!

aipi said...

Loved that serving pot ~ the recipe sounds so authentic :)
Us Masala

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

Oh my what a terrific photo... Makes these look delicious. Great writeup

Sanctified Spaces said...

Nice click Ayeesha. The silver on the fish and the veggies. I have never seen this combination before.A very unique dish indeed.I buzzed you actually, looks like you were busy.

Nisa Homey said...

wow and tempting period!!!

Blackswan said...

Hey, anchovies is one of my fave food! I like to deep-fry them sometimes but cook with chilli on other days. This is so interesting. I've never heard of the name Neythili Meen Aviyal. Sounds cool!

Shobha said...

I never knew that avial could also be made with neythili meen...looks interesting ..will try it out when I am back.

Indian Khana said...

Looks nice ...lovely pic

Sarah Naveen said...

Beautiful pic!!!! my fav!!! looks awesome!!!

Anonymous said...

I usually stir fried anchovies, never tried with coconut or in aviyal, but your pics are so tempting...will try it your way Ayesha...
and thanx for your insight into baklavas...it seems I need to first learn to handle the filo sheets, ystday I almost messed it up while making a pastry...baklava had to wait for sometime..:(

sukanya

Anonymous said...

Woww.. this looks so yummy.. I have never tried a non-veg aviyal :D

Juls said...

Wow! This looks absolutely beautiful. My partner absolutely hates anchovies so we rarely eat them but I think I may sneak this in on a day where he is gone and treat myself. It looks totally tempting.

Unknown said...

Super. first time am hearing abt meen avial. But liked it.

Cheers,
Uma

Niru said...

i love fish in any way...lovely presentation..

Zareena said...

Tempting pics dear. Looks so so delicious. I love anchovies a lot. Nice presentation.

Reese@SeasonwithSpice said...

We share the same love for anchovies in Malaysia too. The common way to enjoy anchovies is fry them up with fiery sambal. Would love to try this recipe..the use of all these wonderful ingredients and spices sound really tempting.

Unknown said...

luvly snap on fish avial..u r rocking..

Catherine said...

I love anchovies. I think I would like this very much. Blessings, Catherine

Mehjabeen Arif said...

A Fish Aviyal.. :) Oh My My .. amazing flavor.. would love to taste this.. Pictures are too good..

Jabeen's Corner

Ongoing Event-Iftar nights

Unknown said...

Meen Aviyal is superb dish..luv the click with a silver glittering..

Plateful said...

Ramadan Kareem, Ayeesha! May Allah accept our prayers and deeds this season. Ameen.

Girl, I've never tasted meen avial but this looks scrumptious! Would love to have it for Iftar, ahh.

Vidhya said...

I have heard bout this dish before but never seen it.This looks so good.Thanks for this delicious entry.

kate said...

I have never tried anchovies, but i like south-indian food. Will try it soon.

Unknown said...

Likes from nagercoil

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