Chilli, chilli, chilli and salt

Passport & Plate - Baked fish with Lonumirus (chilli paste)

Maldives | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 4 photos

Ingredients
1 baby snapper/red snapper
1/4 cup scraped coconut, lightly toasted
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ginger (crushed)
1 onion
2 birdseye chilli (you can use habanero as well)
1/2 cup curry leaves
1/2 cup mint
1 lime
1 cup dried chilli
2 teaspoon smoked paprika

 

How to prepare this recipe
- Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees. Prepare baking tray. Grease and line with baking paper.
- Place coconut, garlic, ginger, onion, curry leaves, mint, chilli, and paprika in a food processor. I used a big food processor so the grinding process was a bit tricky. You can use a small one and halve the quantities if it does not fit. The result would be a finer paste, which is still fine.
- Squeeze the lime in and grind the ingredients till it they make a coarse paste.
- Prepare the fish. Score the fish on both sides. Smear the fish liberally with the 'lonumirus' paste. Put the paste in the cavity as well.
-Bake the fish for about 20-30 minutes. The flesh should be coming off the bone easily and should be soft and moist.
- This is traditionally enjoyed with a fish broth and rice. But this can be accompanied by salads, cous cous or even roti. You can refrigerate left over chilli paste for up to two weeks.

 

The story behind this recipe
Lonu means salt, mirus means chilli. The perfect dish to describe Maldives, a country surrounded by the ocean and where the curries are spicy. This dish was completely out of my comfort zone. I had bought a big new food processor and volunteered to make this for dinner with friends as my contribution. I usually steer clear of making traditional food, especially things that involve copious amounts of chilli. The first time I made it I sent a photo to my grandma, and she called and laughed, saying it didn’t look the way it was supposed to! I have a feeling she’ll still say the same looking at my fish. The hardest part about the recipe was the fact that my grandma did not give me any quantities, just the ingredients. I am not an instinctual cook. On the other hand, that’s all my grandma does. I really admire that about her and I regret not learning from her when I lived with her. Now I scribble down her recipes when she calls me and try and replicate it, without having her here to taste and critique. I like this dish, because it’s versatile. I can make it to eat it with traditional fish broth and roti, or make it with cous cous and salads, and make the chilli paste a bit more agreeable to the Australian palate.