Sura Puttu:

'Scrambled shark'/ Sura Podimass/ Sora Meen Poriyal/

Just dont panic looking at the name 'shark'. Its not something wild shark. Its generally called 'Paal Sura' in Tamil or 'Sura meen'. It weighs about 1-2 kilo approximately. It has tough coat....which is obviously removed before cooking. It has just cartilage bones in it. Not like usual fish bones. Its not thorny' . So....one can enjoy the whole fish meat. Even the bones are palatable here.....but I like to remove them.

I remenber my friend Janice . w . Kirru. We both studied together in Auxillium College. She is a Kenyan girl. When I tried to explain her about this dish. "Oh Malar, in my country we dont eat Sharks, only Sharks eat us!" I went hyterical for hours....you know! Anyway.......

I dont know.....is there any other recipe is there for 'sura'. Coz.....whenever I went to restaurants....this is the only dish, i found and enjoyed all the time. So....somehow managed to predict all the essential ingredients of this recipe. As usual they turned out well. So......here it goes!


Ingredients:

Shark 1 kg
Onion 6 large finely sliced
Garlic 2-3 whole garlics - peeled and finely chopped/even sliced
Green chilies 10 thinly sliced
Black pepper powder 2-3 spoons
Salt
Turmeric 1powder 1 spoon
Mustard seeds 1/2 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/2 spoon
Chenna dal 1/2 cup
Urad dal 1/2 cup
Curry leaves 1 bowl full
Oil 2-3 cups.

Method:

1. Boil shark with 1/2 spoon of turmeric and salt in water. Boil till it is tender. Then remove its outer skin and bones. Finely mince them with hands and set it aside. (Generally in Tamil Nadu, they wash fish with turmeric powder. They say....it removes the fishy odour from it. I dont know for sure....all I know is turmeric is antibiotic. Anyways......its stove top cooking, in this high heat we can kill anything left out....I guess.)

2. In a deep pan add oil. Once the oil is hot add mustard, cumin, chana, urad dal and curry leaves. Let the dal get well fried till reddish in color.

3. Followed by, add green chilies, garlic and onion. Fry them till they loose their raw smell. Or till onion turns translucent-golden color.

4. Now add salt, 1/2 spoon of turmeric and pepper.

5. Then add minced sura fish to the above. Fry them till the oil shows up on top....when fish is totally absorbed to the ingredients.

6. This is a great side dish when served along with plain tamarind rasam rice or sambar rice.

There is no alternation for this recipe.