Fish pickle or Meen Achar is a spicy – tangy tasty dish, which is quite popular in Kerala Cuisine. It is a perfect side dish for rice and always has a prominent place in lunch boxes.
Usually King Fish is used to make the fish pickle, but you can choose any firm flesh fish for this recipe. Unlike King fish, Salmon’s flesh is soft and even if it is fried it has a tender texture which melts in our mouth.
This fish pickle / meen achar recipe is filled with fried salmon fish pieces, fried green chilies, ginger, garlic and curry leaves, which is blended well with vinegar, sesame oil and spicy masala. It is a simple recipe, full of flavors from the soft yet firm salmon pieces and garlic cloves marinated in spicy masala gravy.
This fish pickle recipe is much healthier and lot tastier than any store brought pickles. We can store the salmon fish pickle in an air tight (glass) jar or container in room temperature for up to a month. It stays longer if stored in refrigerator (up to 3 months).
How to Make Salmon Fish Pickle?
Clean the salmon by removing the skin and bones, if any. Pat dry the flesh using a kitchen towel or napkin to remove the excess water. Cut it in to small cube shaped pieces and transfer to a bowl.
Marinate the salmon pieces with turmeric powder, fenugreek powder, salt, Kashmiri and red chili powder, crushed ginger-garlic ( or paste ) and white vinegar for half an hour. Marinating the fish help its flesh to absorb more flavors.
Boil 1 cup of white vinegar in a sauce pot. Once it starts to boil, turn off the heat and keep aside to cool down to room temperature.
After half an hour, fry the marinated fish pieces in a frying pan on medium heat. The flesh of salmon is soft and tender. So do not disturb the fish pieces for a minute or 2 while frying. Also remember not to over crowd the pan. You can fry the fish pieces in batches.
Stir the fish pieces lightly using a spatula and fry both sides till it gets crispy, and turns the color to golden brown. It takes about 8 to 10 minutes on medium heat. Transfer the fried fish pieces to a bowl.
Once finished frying the fish pieces, reduce the heat to low, and fry curry leaves and green chilies until it gets crispy. Remove this to the same bowl were the fried fish pieces are. Then in the same oil, fry julienne ginger for about 2 minutes. Do not burn the ginger pieces. Remove this to the bowl with fish. Finally, fry garlic cloves until it turns brown in color and transfer to the same bowl. Cut the bigger garlic cloves into two for quick frying.
In a small bowl, mix turmeric powder, kashmiri and red chili powder, fenugreek powder and salt to make the masala paste for the pickle. Make it to a thick paste by adding water little by little. You can skip this step and add the masala powders directly to the oil while making the gravy. Reduce the heat to low before adding the powders. Otherwise the masala will burn and leaves a strong taste.
Heat a pan and add sesame oil. Splutter mustard seeds and fry dried red chilies. Add asafoetida and the masala paste or powders and fry for a minute. Add 1/4 cup water and cook the masala until the raw smell goes. Add the fried fish pieces along with green chilies, curry leaves, ginger and garlic. Mix until well combined. Turn off the heat and pour the cooled down vinegar to the pickle and mix everything.
Allow the pickle to cool completely before transferring to a jar or container.
How to Store the Fish Pickle?
The Jar or container using to store the pickle must be clean and dry. The lid has to be air tight. If not, cover the container’s mouth tightly with a clean cotton cloth. The purpose is to prevent any moisture content from spoiling the pickle.
Adding more sesame oil to the pickle will also help the pickle to last longer. Strain the sesame oil that is used to fry the fish and set aside to cool completely. Once the fish pickle is transferred to the jar, pour the cooled down oil till it cover the top of the pickle and cover the jar’s mouth tightly.
Not enough leftover Oil? Take half a cup of sesame oil and bring this to boil. Cool it down and add this to the pickle.
Carefully stored pickle will last for a month in room temperature and for up to 2 to 3 months in fridge.
Which Oil to use for Salmon fish pickle?
The preferred oil to use in fish pickle/ meen achar is gingely oil or sesame oil.
Why? Because it balance out the heat from the chilies and gives a distinctive taste to the pickle. The quality of the pickle depends on the quality of the oil. Sesame oil contains natural antioxidants, which function as preservatives, and is an excellent source of Omega – 3 and Omega – 6 essential fatty acids.
In some recipes, vegetable oil is used to fry the marinated fish. Using sesame or coconut oil for frying the fish adds up the flavor. In this recipe, I used sesame oil to fry the fish, ginger, garlic, green chilies and curry leaves.
Why Boil the Vinegar for Pickling?
The heating process helps activate the flavors and bind them together. It also helps with speeding up the pickling process. So there is no need to wait for weeks or months to try/taste the pickle. We can start serving this Salmon Fish Pickle from the same day it is pickled.
Can We Reduce the Spice Level?
Is this pickle too spicy for you??? Reduce the heat level by adding half of the measurements of kashmiri and red chili powders.
Or, only use Kashmiri red chili powder in your recipe and avoid adding the Red chili powder.
Add a teaspoon of sugar, while frying the masala paste, to balance the flavors.
Please Try this Recipe and let me know how it turned out for you in the comments and Rate this recipe…
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SALMON FISH PICKLE RECIPE
Equipment
- 2 Glass Bowls
- 1 Knife
- 1 Chopping Board
- 1 Frying Pan
- 1 Sauce Pan
Ingredients
To Make Fried Fish:
- 1 Kilogram Salmon fish (2 pounds/ lb)
- 1 tsp Salt or as per taste
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp Fenugreek powder
- 2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chili powder
- 1½ tsp Red Chili powder
- 1 tbsp Crushed Ginger-Garlic
- 2 tsp White Vinegar
- Coconut oil / Sesame oil enough to fry
- 6 Green Chilies
- 3 sprigs Curry Leaves
- 1 tbsp Julienne cut Ginger
- 10-15 cloves Garlic (sliced if big)
To Make the Masala Paste and Gravy:
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp Fenugreek powder
- 2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chili powder
- 1½ tsp Red Chili powder
- 1 tsp Salt or as per taste
- ½ cup Water or as required
- 2 tbsp Sesame / Gingely oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 5 to 6 Dried Red Chilies
- 2 tsp Asafeotida powder
- 1 cup White Vinegar
Instructions
- Clean the salmon and remove its skin and bones. Pat dry the fish using a cloth or paper towel. Cut it into bite-size pieces.
- Combine the ingredients to make fried fish (ingredients from 1 – 8) together and marinate the fish for half an hour.
- Into a sauce pot, pour 1 cup white vinegar and bring it to boil. Once it starts to boil, turn off the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. (Refer Note: 1 )
- Heat a frying pan on medium. Then add coconut/sesame oil, enough to fry. Once the oil is hot, fry the marinated fish pieces in small batches. Do not disturb the fish pieces for 2 minutes. Then, lightly stir the fish pieces and fry each side until it gets crispy and golden brown in color. It takes approximately 8 to 10 minutes to fry both sides. Transfer this to a bowl.
- Reduce the heat to low. Fry green chilies and curry leaves in the same oil until crisp. Remove this to the bowl with fried fish.
- Then fry julienne cut ginger until it becomes light brown ( do not burn ) in color and move to the bowl.
- Finally, add garlic cloves and fry till crisp and golden in color. Transfer this to the bowl with fried fish and set aside. ( Refer Note: 5 )
- In a small bowl combine the ingredients to make masala paste (turmeric powder, fenugreek powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, red chili powder and salt). Add water little by little to make a thick paste. ( Refer Note: 2 )
- Place a heavy bottom pan on medium heat. Add sesame oil. Splutter mustard seeds and fry dried red chilies.
- Add asafoetida powder and masala paste to the oil. ( Refer Note: 3 ) Fry it for a minute and add 1/4 cup water. Cook till the raw smell goes.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the fried fish along with fried curry leaves, green chilies, ginger and garlic. Combine everything well.
- Turn off the heat. Pour the cooled down vinegar to the fish masala and mix well. Allow the pickle to cool completely to room temperature.
- Transfer the fish pickle to an air tight and cleaned jar / container. You can use this immediately. But it tastes better after a week. ( Refer Note: 4 )
Video
Notes
- Boiled vinegar helps to blend the flavors together. It also helps with speeding up the pickling process.
- Making a masala paste for the gravy prevents the masala powders from burning while frying in oil with mustard seeds and dried red chilis. This step is completely optional.
- If you are adding masala powders in to the oil, instead of masala paste, reduce the heat to low before adding the powders. This will minimize the risk of burning the masala powders.
- We can store the salmon fish pickle in an air tight (glass) jar or container in room temperature for up to a month. It stays up to 6
- Optional Step: Strain the sesame oil used to fry the fish pieces. Once it is cooled completely, add this to the fish pickle, that is transferred to the jar or container. Sesame oil acts as a preservative and helps to store the pickle longer months in refrigerator.
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