Sura Puttu Recipe. Fish Puttu – stir fried sura meen (shark fish) with veggies and spices. Steamed sura meen shredded and made into a stir-fry. Recipe with step by step pictures.
Sura Puttu or meen puttu is made with a variety of fish called paal sura or milk shark. It is widely available in Tamilnadu and is prescribed as a folk medicine for cold and cough. Its also popularly served to lactating mothers in the coastal regions of Tamilnadu. Its a very soft and flaky fish that is often steamed and made into a stir fry. The first time I had this was in Chennai at Manju aunties place. I first thought that it was muttai poriyal (masala scrambled eggs). One bite and the texture was so different. I had never had anything like that before. In Coimbatore (my home town), sea fish was very hard to come by those days. I had never even heard of this fish till then. This is a staple at her place and I started liking it ever since. This recipe makes for an excellent side dish for lunch along with rice. If you cannot get this fish, any flaky fish like Sea Bass, Halibut, Tilapia, Barracuda will work too!
Here is how to do Sura Meen Puttu:
Salt the fish pieces for 10 minutes. Set aside.
Steam the fish for 10 minutes on a medium flame. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Flake the fish with a fork and set aside. Get rid off the bones if any.
For the stir-fry:
Crush the ginger and garlic using a mortar and pestle into a coarse paste.
Heat oil in a pan and add in the urad dal and mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add in the curry leaves, crushed ginger and garlic mixture, chopped green chillies. Up the green chillies if you want a spicy puttu. Saute for a minute.
Add in the chopped onions and saute for 4-5 minutes on a medium flame till the onions are soft and starting to brown.
Note: If you are adding 250 grams of fish, use about 250 grams of onions for this recipe. The taste of onions goes very well in this recipe.
Add in the turmeric powder and pepper powder. Saute for a minute.
Now add in the fish flakes and mix well to combine. Let the fish slowly heat up in the pan so the spices adhere better. Check for seasoning. If salt is required, add a little at this stage. Remember that we already salted the fish while steaming. So go easy on the salt.
Sura puttu is ready. Serve with rice and curry.
- 250 grams sura fish or any flaky fish
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- ¼ teaspoon urad dal
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- ½ inch piece ginger
- 5 cloves garlic
- 3 green chillies, chopped
- 1 cup onions, chopped
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder
- Salt the fish pieces for 10 minutes. Set aside.
- Steam the fish for 10 minutes on a medium flame. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Flake the fish with a fork and set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan and add in the urad dal and mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add in the curry leaves, crushed ginger and garlic mixture, chopped green chillies. Saute for a minute.
- Add in the chopped onions and saute for 4-5 minutes on a medium flame till the onions are soft and starting to brown.
- Add in the turmeric powder and pepper powder. Saute for a minute.
- Now add in the fish flakes and mix well to combine. Let the fish slowly heat up in the pan so the spices adhere better. Check for seasoning. If salt is required, add a little at this stage. Remember that we already salted the fish while steaming. So go easy on the salt.
- Sura puttu is ready. Serve with rice and curry.
Which curry matches with this dish ? Tamarind based ?
Yes. You are right!
Thanks for sharing such great recipe. I use to take this saute shark flakes from Chennai. More than 8 years I have left my hometown. My mom cook this suraputtu very often and I never paid attention about preparation. Now I Lear it from your blog and tried myself.
Thank you.