Fish Moolie

Fish Moolie in my pot

I remember coming home from school at noon to the lovely smells of fish moolie happily gurgling away on my mother's little stove. I can recall to this day, snippets of our conversation about the origins of this dish. This is a typical Sri lankan dish which now has been adopted and adapted by the other asian communities. Now even the eurasians, singaporeans and malays have their own versions. And most likely the chinese and nyonya too. My mother's version was learnt from her mother-in-law, my paternal grandma who was of Irish/Tamil parentage and who had married into a Sri Lankan/Eurasian family. So there was a happy marriage of eastern and western dishes in our household throughout our childhood. This tradition of cooking diverse ethnic dishes has carried on right through my adulthood and thus features often throughout my children's childhood. I hope this gesture on my part will make for happy memories for them too later in life as I tend to cook the dishes that I had learnt from my mother on more or less a daily basis.

This mild fish dish with wonderful subtle undertones is one that my whole family enjoys especially when made with super fresh tenggiri (spanish mackerel) from Mukah that hubby normally lugs home for us! Fish moolie is best served over white rice with fresh greens on the side dipped into a dish of chilli hot sambal belacan... Slurp, slurp. Here are the two versions that I normally cook, both equally tasty. The sri lankan version has less spices and easier modes of preparation, especially wonderful with really fresh fish.

Fish moolie, Sri Lankan style (the closest version to what my mom used to cook)

300g fish, sliced into 1 inch steaks (use any firm white-fleshed fish-I used tenggiri, though red snapper would be good as well)

30g ginger, julienned

30g garlic, pounded

4 green(preferred) or red chillies- sliced or pounded in the pestle & mortar if you prefer more heat

1/2 tsp freshly ground black/white pepper

1 tsp turmeric powder

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

2-medium tomatoes quartered

1 large onion, sliced

1 cup thin coconut milk

1 cup thick coconut milk

1 cup water

Salt, to taste

Oil, about 3/4 cup

coriander leaves, for garnish

(*most of the time, I like throwing in 1/2 a tsp of fenugreek(halba) seeds too but that's just my personal preference. I just love the fragrance it gives to fish dishes/curries.)

Method:

Marinate fish steakswith a pinch of turmeric,salt and a tsp of lemon juice and keep it aside for 10 minutes.Heat oil in a large pan, add curry leaves and then sliced onions, saute till transluscent. Add ginger,garlic,pepper corns.Saute for a couple more minutes before adding the fish pieces.Stir around gently in the pan, so as not to break up the pieces of fish. Add in thin coconut milk and water as required. Cover the pan and allow the fish pieces to simmer till almost done. Then add in the thick soconut milk and tomatoes and cook further for about 5 minutes more. Add in the rest of the lemon juice, salt to taste. Voila, fish moolie is ready to be served!

Fish Moolie, Malaysian style adapted from Rose's kitchen

Ingredients:
600g mackeral fish or promfret
2 big onions, sliced
3 red chillies, sliced
3 green chillies, sliced
6 slices ginger
1 stalk serai (lemon grass)
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp lime juice
400ml coconut milk
Ingredients to blend:
4 slices lengkuas
4 buah keras
5 slices kunyit
1 stalk serai
Seasoning:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Method:
1. Cut fish into pieces, wash and pat dry then rub with 1 tsp salt and a dash of pepper. Deep fry fish until golden brown in colour.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry sliced onions and ginger. Add blended spices and stir till fragrant.
3. Add in coconut milk, lime juice, crushed serai and fried fish. Stir well and bring to a boil. Add seasoning to taste.
4. Lastly add in sliced red and green chillies.

This is the version I would cook when I have galangal/lengkuas in my fridge. It is also a wonderful variation that my family equally enjoys.

These are the greens I served with the fish moolie pictured above. The sambal belacan didn't make it into the picture though. LOL