Amritsari Fish Pakora (Indian style #Glutenfree fish fritters)

Amritsari Fish Pakora (Indian style #Glutenfree fish fritters) A lightly battered fish fry in Indian spices, ginger+garlic paste and gram flour (chickpea) . It’s crunchy and light to eat. Works great as an appetizer.  This Amritsari Fish Pakora recipe doesn’t need beer for marination. Amritsari fish is an absolute favorite fish recipe from the city of ‘Amritsar’ in Punjab which comes in the Northern part of India.

It’s so famous in Punjab, that it can be found in any of the local street food stall or the best of the hotels. Its popularity is similar to Tandoori Chicken.

By now, you must have guessed that since the dish originated from that city, hence it’s named ‘Amritsari‘ which literally means from Amritsar.

Process to Make the Amritsari Fish Pakora:

For this particular dish, we use freshwater fish known as ‘Singhara‘ or ‘Sole‘ which are thick/chunky white fishes(boneless fillet).

However, we don’t usually get these fishes here, so you can use ‘Tilapia/Cod/Trout or even Salmon‘ for this particular variety, whichever white freshwater fish your local grocer carries.

The method is Really Simple & Goes like This:

The recipe takes about 5-6 minutes to prep.

15 Minutes to marinate.

10 Minutes to fry.

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Sounds really simple and trust me, it is that simple with an amazingly distinctive and delicious taste. You might also wonder – ‘How is it different from a Beer Battered Fish?’

The answer lies in it’s ‘marination‘ which is where are the magic happens 🙂 and it’s without using beer.

The Amritsari Fish is usually Marinated in a mixture of :

• Yogurt
• Ginger-Garlic Paste,
• Some Basic Indian Spices
• * Carom Seeds (ajwain)
• * Chickpea Flour (besan) – Glutenfree.

The use of ‘carom seeds‘ and ‘chickpea flour‘ is what differentiates it from any other fish recipes that you might have tried.

To make it extra crisp and airy, I’m adding half a can of ‘Club Soda‘ in it…if you want, you can definitely add beer or just use water.

Once the mix is ready, I mixed the fish and marinate it for at least 15 minutes, if you have more time in hand then definitely marinate for an hour at the max.

You don’t want to marinate for long as the fish and the soda will lose its freshness and you would end up with a not so crunchy fish.

Once the marination is done, you can either deep fry or shallow fry the fish.

Depending on your preference of deep or shallow fry, that’s exactly how you prepare Amritsari Fish.

This particular Amritsari Fish recipe is served as a side or appetizer.

Simply, add some fresh lime wedges, ‘chaat-masala’ and serve asap.

Chaat Masala –  is a salty-tangy spice mix easily found in any local Indian store. You can skip chaat masala if not in hand.

If you don’t have chat masala, you may serve with a sprinkle of sea-salt (just remember to add salt in the marinade accordingly).

To get that perfect crispy taste, it’s fried in medium heat and for that orange-golden color, you can add food coloring.

I would recommend using fresh fish for this Amritsari Fish recipe however you may use frozen fish as well.

Just make sure their’s no water in it and the fish has not been in your freezer for a long time (a week or so is fine).

: You Can also Try these Recipes :

Quick Tandoori Salmon Recipe (Glutenfree Recipe & Extremely Easy)

Popular Tandoori Fish Tikka

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Yield: 4 People

Amritsari Fish (Indian style battered fish)

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Amritsari Fish Pakora (Indian style #Glutenfree fish fritters) A lightly battered fish fry in Indian spices, ginger+garlic paste and gram flour (chickpea). It’s crunchy and light to eat.This Amritsari Fish Pakora recipe doesn't need beer for marination. 

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb Fresh Water Fish Fillet * - Cut into bite size pieces
• 1 Cup Plain Yogurt
• 5 Tbsp Chickpea Flour (Besan)
• 1 tsp Ginger Paste
• 1 Tsp Garlic Paste
• 1/2 Can Club Soda - (You may use water or beer too, as per choice)
• Few Drops of Orange Food Color - Optional
• 2 Fresh Lime
• 1 Cup Olive Oil - For Frying (You can use any light oil)
• *** Spices ****
• 1 Tsp Carom seeds (Ajwain)
• 1 Tsp Red Chili Powder
• 1-2 Tsp Salt - as per taste
• 1 Tbsp Chat Masala - Optional

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, add yogurt, ginger+garlic paste, chickpea flour,color, all the spices.
2. Using a hand blender, mix everything to form a lump free batter.
3. Now add the fish fillet in the batter and evenly coat all the sides.
4. Cover the bowl with cling wrap or plate and place in fridge for 15 minutes (marination).
5. Heat oil in a wok on high flame for about a minute or till you see fumes coming out (you want the oil to heat evenly).
6. Now take out the fish from fridge and very carefully, add 2-3 pieces of fishes in the hot oil.
7. Reduce the flame to medium and fry the fish till they become crisp golden brown (takes about 2 minutes for each fish to cook on both sides).
8. Continue the process till all the fishes are fried and cooked.
9. Place the fried fish in a serving bowl, squeeze some fresh lime juice and sprinkle with chat masala.
10. Serve fresh and hot.

Notes

* This recipe works best with fresh water fish like Tilapia/Trout/Cod

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

5

Serving Size:

4
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 400Total Fat: 46gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 38gCholesterol: 33mgSodium: 780mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 3gSugar: 7gProtein: 12g