Garlic Rice With Tomato Gravy And Crispy Fried Fish

Garlic, mint leaves and lemon juice to add interest to plain white rice. Sometimes the simplest dishes are the most satisfying. This is simple garlic fried rice bursting with the flavor and aroma of garlic.
 I love garlic and cook with it a lot. One should be very careful while cooking something with garlic, if garlic is cooked too long; it loses some of its healthful benefits. I have also noticed that it loses some of its flavor if it's cooked too long.

About the crispy fried fish, this recipe is my all time favorite whether I’m making it with garlic rice, for fish sandwiches or just chunky fish fingers.

Overall, this recipe is easy and oh-so-good!

INGREDIENTS

For The Rice:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups long grain rice
• Juice of 2 limes, and zest of 1 lime
• 1/2 cup mint leaves
• 3 to 4 cups chicken broth

For The Tomato Gravy:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion
• 4-5 large fresh tomatoes, blended.
• 2 teaspoons Ginger-Garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1-2 green chilis
• Salt and pepper to taste

For The Fish: 

• 500g thick skinless white fish fillets
• ½ cup white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• Juice of one lemon
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ cups self raising flour
• Oil for deep frying

METHOD

Crispy Fried Fish:

• In a bowl, pour white vinegar and add red chili powder, dip the fish pieces in the mixture, set aside and let it rest for 30 minutes. 
• Drain the fish. Now, add milk, yogurt, egg, lemon juice, salt and pepper to the fish and refrigerate it for an hour. 
• Put the self raising flour in a shallow dish. Gently toss each fish piece in the self raising flour until evenly coated, Put the prepared fish pieces on a plate. 
• Heat the oil in a deep heavy-based frying pan until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped into it. Add the fish pieces carefully and fry for 5–6 minutes, turning occasionally until golden brown and crisp on all sides. (You may need to do this in batches.) Remove the fish with a spatula and drain on kitchen paper.

Tomato Gravy:

•  Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Sauté the onion and ginger garlic paste until fragrant and golden-brown
• Add rest of the ingredients except for the dried oregano. Stir constantly until the sauce begins to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 5 minutes or so to prevent the sauce on the bottom of the pot from burning. Taste and season with additional salt, if desired.
•  Lastly, Add dried oregano and cover the pan with lid.

Garlic Rice:

• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add 2 cups of the broth and the juice and zest of 1 lime
• When the broth starts to simmer, add the rice and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, add the mint leaves, cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the rice is done. 
• Add more liquid as needed. The rice shouldn't be sticky.
• Serve the rice with crispy fried fish and tomato gravy.