Fish Pickle/Meen Achar

I am a huge pickle fan and this is one of my favourite pickles.You can use any kind of fish with or without bones.You could even use the tiny ladyfish/Natholi ,deepfry them whole and then proceed to make the pickle.I have even tried it with Sardines/Mathi.

Ingredients:

1. Fish cut into small pieces - 2 pounds
2. Chilly powder - 5 tsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Green chillies - 10 /15 cut into rings
5. Garlic - 5 whole pods peeled
6. Ginger - a big piece chopped
7. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Vinegar- to taste
9. Oil- to deep fry the fish
10. curry leaves - 2 springs

Method:
Marinate the fish in a mixture of 1 tsp chilly powder, a bit of turmeric powder,salt and a little vinegar.
You need to deep fry this until crisp(the more crisp the more longer it will stay without going bad- at our place it never lasts long enough to get spoiled :) so I don't fry too much).
Heat some fresh oil and add mustard seeds when it splutters you can pour in the oil that you used to fry the fish in and saute the ginger,garlic and green chillies until just a little soft- if the garlic is huge like in my case it was saute it first for few minutes before adding the rest of the stuff.
Then add in chilly powder and turmeric powder and saute.
Add the fried fish and mix .
Add vinegar and boiled water and bring to a boil and then turn off the flame.
Adjust salt ,vinegar ..you can really tell if the taste balances only after a day or so after the fish and garlic pieces absorb the masala. Enjoy !!