Anchovies Fry (Nethili Meen Fry)
Anchovies marinated with spices and deep fried in oil to perfection. Crispy, crunchy and flavorful nethili meen fry recipe. It serves as a perfect appetizer and good for side dish too.
Nethili aka Anchovy fry is a very popular dish in South India, be it at home or at restaurant menu. It’s the favourite dish of many. It is prepared by marinating the fish with spices like chilli powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder, coriander powder, ginger garlic paste, rice flour, cornstarch and then deep fried until brown and crispy.
Nethili fish fry is a simple and super easy recipe prepared with handful ingredients which are easily available in our pantry. So now you can make this restaurant style anchovies fry at home and serve it as a starter, snack or side dish with meal.
Anchovies fish fry is an amazing fish fry which is loved by all age groups. It is ridiculously delicious and so crispy which will make you ask for more.
This restaurant style nethili fish fry is one of my personal favourite among the many fishes and sea food I love. Even my husband and my kiddo love this as much as I do so we can say its a family favourite dish.
Anchovy is also called nethili or chooda or netholi in different parts of India. Anchovies is a small fish variant. It has tiny bones which are soft. The center bone is not hard as in other big fishes. We need not remove the bones while eating because when fried the bones become crispy and can be eaten as such.
Nethili meen fry aka nethili varuval is a quick fish fry using anchovies. You can also called this nethili meen fry as nethili 65, it is just like the Tamil Nadu’s famous chicken 65 and prawn 65 recipe. The fish tastes heavenly and spicy which a fish lover should definitely try. This fish fry is so addictive that you can’t stop with few. I am sure you going to love this one!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
● Quick and easy
● Needs handful of pantry staples
● Crispy and crunchy
● Can be served as a starter, party appetizer, snacks or side dish with meal.
● Perfectly golden fried under 10 minutes.
● Flavorful
● Ideal for all age groups including kids.
Coming to the recipe, I have used fresh large size anchovies aka nethili fish. I have cleaned the fish well and removed the head and tail too. You can keep the head and tail intact if you wish. Fresh fish taste much better than frozen one. Along with spice masala powders I have used ginger garlic paste and combination of rice flour and cornstarch/cornflour for adding crispness and crunch to the fish. The fish is marinated with the spice mix and kept marinated for a minimum of 30 minutes. Then the fish is deep-fried. You can shallow fry as well.
You can use other small fish for this recipe. The dish tastes best when served with a side combo of steamed rice or as a starter with onion rings, lemon wedges, green chillies and fried curry leaves.
PRO TIPS
● Marinate the fish for longer duration. This will allow the spices to penetrate nicely into the fish and make it more flavorful.
● You can fry the fish ahead of time to avoid rushing at the end moment for any party or gatherings. Just fry the fish for few minutes. You dont need to make them brown and crisp. Just before serving heat oil and drop the previously fried fishes and fry them for a minute. You will get a crisp and crunchy fish.
● Fry the fish on medium flame, just increase the flame to high just few seconds before taking off. Be sure to stir constantly. This will brown evenly and make it crisp.
I made a simple recipe video of this amazing anchovies fry recipe for my readers which I have shared below. Please do watch and SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t yet. It will mean a lot to me and motivate me to come up with more videos for my readers. As always looking forward to your feedbacks!
NETHILI MEEN FRY VIDEO TUTORIAL
I hope you’ll try this authentic South Indian nethili meen fry recipe and do share your thoughts about the recipe with me here.
FEW FISH RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE
● Rohu Fish Curry
● Shallow Fried King Fish
● Pan Grilled Green Masala Fish
● Fish Fingers
● Pan Seared Pepper Fish With Mashed Potato
● Green Chilly Masala Fish
● Karimeen Pollichathu ( Pearl spot in Banana Leaf)
● Fish And Prawn Tandoori Platter
● Garlic & Herbs Prawn With Chili Garlic Yogurt Dip
● Easy Pan Fried Fish
● Easy Fish Fry
● Fish With Spinach (Zero Oil)
● Fish With Fermented Bamboo Shoot (Naga Fish)
● Masor Tenga
● Fish Head With Cauliflower & Potato
All of these recipes are super easy to prepare, ready in no time, and will never disappoint you.
Here’s how I made the amazing anchovies fry.
Ingredients to make anchovies fry:
500 gms anchovies fish/nethili meen
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp kashmiri red chilly powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp pepper powder
2 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp corn flour
Juice of half lemon
Salt as per taste
Oil for frying
For Garnishing
Few curry leaves
Green chillies
Onion rings
Lemon slices
Step by step pictorial instructions to make anchovies fry:
In a mixing bowl add in the ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, chilly powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder, rice flour, corn flour, lemon juice and salt. Mix well and make a thick paste. Please do not add water.
Now add in the cleaned anchovies. Mix well together the masala paste and the fish. Marinated for atleast 30 minutes.
Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is heated, reduce the flame to low and frist fry some curry leaves until crisp. Remove and keep aside.
Now carefully drop the fish one by one onto the hot oil. Do not over crowd it.
Fry the fish on medium flame for about 3-4 minutes. Then flip over and fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden and crisp. It will take totally approximately 6-7 minutes. Flip over in between for evening cooking.
Remove them and continue the same process with the remaining fish.
Serve hot with fried curry leaves, green chillies, onion rings and squeeze of lemon juice.
NOTES:
● This recipe can be used in other small fish varieties also.
● You can also use egg white of one egg.
● Adjust the chilly powder according to your heat preference.
● You can skip the cornstarch and increase the rice flour a bit if it is not available.
● If you don’t have much time for marination, you can keep marinated for few minutes and fry it. But the longer marination the better in taste.
Nethili Fish Fry
Equipment
- Frying pan
- Ladle
Ingredients
- 500 grams anchovy/ nethili fish
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 2 tbsp Kashmiri red chilly powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp pepper powder
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
- ⅓ lemon juice
- as pper taste salt
- ½-1 cup oil
For garnishing
- 1 Sprig curry leaves
- Few nos Green chillies
- Few nos onion rings
- Few slices lemon
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl add in the ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, chilly powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder, rice flour, corn flour, lemon juice and salt. Mix well and make a thick paste. Please do not add water.
- Add in the cleaned anchovies. Mix well together the masala paste and the fish. Marinated for atleast 30 minutes
- Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is heated, reduce the flame to low and frist fry some curry leaves until crisp. Remove and keep aside.
- Now carefully drop the fish one by one onto the hot oil. Do not over crowd it.
- Fry the fish on medium flame for about 3-4 minutes. Then flip over and fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden and crisp. It will take totally approximately 6-7 minutes. Flip over in between for evening cooking.
- Remove them and continue the same process with the remaining fish.
Video
Notes
Well, if you make this nethili meen fry, please do leave a feedback in the comments box below or snap a photo and tag Akum Raj Jamir on Facebook and akumrajjamir on Instagram with hashtag #atmykitchen. I would love to see your creations.
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. I hope you liked the recipe. Your valuable feedbacks are always welcome, I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you.
Happy Cooking!
Love Akum
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