Amritsari fish is popular street food and a popular appetizer at many restaurants and parties. Amritsari fish are fish fritters seasoned with simple spices. Gram flour and egg are used for binding and carom seeds give the fritters a distinct flavor.
Punjab Cuisine
Punjabi cuisine includes both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Home-cooked and restaurant Punjabi cuisine vary significantly. Restaurant-style Punjabi food has large amounts of ghee, butter and cream, while home-cooked food uses lot of whole wheat, rice, and other ingredients flavored with masala. Regional differences also exist in Punjabi cuisine.
People of Punjab prefer stuffed paratha and dairy products. Some of the exclusive food of the state is makke di roti and sarson da saag. Other food popular food from the region is tandoori chicken, butter chicken, chicken tikka, bhuna gosht (lamb), Amritsari fish, dal makhani, rajma & rice, choley, kadhi pakora and phirni. Info for the state and the cuisine is from wiki.
About the recipe
To showcase the food of this state, I made Amritsari fish. Amritsar is the largest city in the state and is home to Golden Temple, a prominent Sikh Gurdwara. Amritsari fish is a popular street food. I found two recipes for this fish. Both recipes are pretty much the same, except one uses malt vinegar & yogurt and the other doesn’t. I liked both the recipes but liked the fish without vinegar the most. However, I found the fish fritters with vinegar much better the next day. I will share the recipe without vinegar and in the notes section, will mention about the malt vinegar & yogurt recipe.
On the day I made this recipe, I made an easy one pot meal. I had some leftover huli powder and made bisi bele bath which does not require a side curry. So that day it was BBB with Amritsari Fish!
Ingredients
- Tilapia Fillets
- Seasoning - Chili powder, salt carom seeds, ginger garlic paste, chaat masala.
- Lime Juice
- Gram flour ~ besan & egg for binding
- Onion Slices and Mint leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Wash and cut fish into 1” X 2” pieces or as desired. Pat dry the fish on a paper towel.
- Take fish into a bowl, add chili powder, salt, carom seeds, ginger garlic paste, lime juice, gram flour and mix well.
- If time permits, marinate for 30 minutes to an hour. I set it aside for 10 – 15 minutes.
- Heat oil in a pan for deep frying the fish pieces.
- Just before frying, add egg to the fish mixture and mix well. Once the oil is hot, add a few pieces at a time to oil and deep fry until golden brown or done. Fish cooks very fast, it should take 2 – 4 minutes on medium to medium high flame.
- Once the fish is fried, remove from oil and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle chaat masala when the fish is still hot.
- Serve hot as an appetizer, evening snack or as a side dish.
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📖 Recipe
Amritsari Fish Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound Tilapia Fillets or 2 Fillets I used tilapia but any fish can be used
- 1 tablespoon Chili Powder adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoons Salt adjust to taste
- ½ - ¾ teaspoons Carom Seeds ~ Ajwain I used ½ tsp.
- 3 tablespoons Ginger Garlic Paste
- 3 - 4 teaspoons Lime Juice
- ½ - ¾ cup Gram Flour ~ Besan
- 1 Egg
- 1 - 2 teaspoons Chaat Masala or as need to sprinkle on the fish
- Onion Slices and Mint leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Wash and cut fish into 1” X 2” pieces or as desired. Pat dry the fish on a paper towel.
- Take fish into a bowl, add chili powder, salt, carom seeds, ginger garlic paste, lime juice, gram flour and mix well.
- If time permits, marinate for 30 minutes to an hour. I set it aside for 10 – 15 minutes.
- Heat oil in a pan for deep frying the fish pieces.
- Just before frying, add egg to the fish mixture and mix well. Once the oil is hot, add a few pieces at a time to oil and deep fry until golden brown or done. Fish cooks very fast, it should take 2 – 4 minutes on medium to medium high flame.
- Once the fish is fried, remove from oil and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle chaat masala when the fish is still hot.
- Serve hot as an appetizer, evening snack or as a side dish.
Notes
- The recipe called fry frying the fish twice. First time fry it until almost done and the second time until golden brown just before serving. I fried it only once.
- Nutrition - Values listed below are approximate.
Nutrition
Vaishali Sabnani says
well presented with beautiful clicks.
Jayanthi says
looks so irresistable.. perfect as a party appetizer too
Manjula Bharath says
wow thats an fantastic clicks usha .. you have combined this with south BBB very nice to know 🙂
Chef Mireille says
this is very similar to fried fish bites we make in the caribbean but we use shark - I am sure these would be just as delicious
themadscientistskitchen says
Wow that delicious. I like your sense of adventure. BBB and fish on the same day? This is yum recipe. Will try it with cauliflower or mushrooms.Thanks.
nalini says
Wow!!!!Such a fabulous click,I cannot take off my eyes from the first click..
Pavani says
That is quite a North-South combo Usha with BBB & Amritsari fish. This marathon has sure widened our culinary boundaries 🙂
Srivalli says
The pictures are amazing Usha..and it's nice to know you managed two states..:)
Varada says
Wow! You tried Bisi bele bhaat and two versions of these fish on the same day! You must have been on a roll. Nice pictures.
Sowmya says
very well captured clicks!!
pradnya says
these look very beautiful and loved the way you have captured them..
Priya says
I want to taste those irresistible fish bites, they are just awesome, very hard to resist Usha,i think frying twice doesnt make a big change na, coz urs looks very crispy as well.