Meen Pollichathu is a favourite dish of Keralites and is sought after by tourists as well. Ingredients (for 1/2 or 1 kg of fish): Onions (big) - 1 or 2 (slice it long) Green chilli - 2 (cut it into long pieces) Ginger - a piece (cut it into long pieces) Coconut - half (grated) Oil - 2 tablespoon Chilli powder - 1 or 1 and a 1/2 tablespoon Coriander powder - 2 tablespoon Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon Curry leaves Method Grind the coconut with a bit of water, squeeze it and strain the milk, and keep that 'thala paal' separate; add a cup of water to the coconut again and squeeze and strain it again and collect that milk in a separate bowl; do the same once more. Put a flat, but quite deep pan on the stove, pour the oil and when the oil is hot, add the sliced onions, green chilli, ginger and curry leaves, and stir until it is light brown. Then add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, and chilli powder to it and stir for few seconds and then add the coconut milk (not 'thala paal'), and when it starts boiling, add the fish pieces, cover it and cook for few minutes in medium flame (make sure that it wont overflow), and then let the water evaporate until the gravy is quite thick; then add the 'thala paal' and take it off before it boils, so that it wont go watery again. Serve when hot. Note 1: You can use desiccated coconut instead. Soak two cups of it in boiled water for half an hour and then use. I don't know if the taste will be different, but the fresh coconut that we get here also are not good, as it is imported from Fiji, Malaysia, Srilanka, etc. and so takes months to reach here in the ship. Note 2: Actually this curry is made by placing a banana leaf on the pan, and adding all the ingredients to it and cook it and serve, which has a real distinct, nice taste.