Achar means pickle in hindi, this fish tikka is pickle flavoured, hence the name Achari fish tikka. It’s basically another version of tikka, which means a small bite of meat.
Achari fish tikka as the name suggests is a boneless fish marinated in a spicy achari masala along with yogurt, skewed and grilled in oven or tandoor as in the restaurants. It will definitely fascinate the pickle lovers. I bet that the name arouses the curiosity to taste this tikka; I know, it’s kind of intriguing. Trust me, you’ll not be disappointed after trying this recipe.
It involves two parts,
- first part is marination with the required spices for minimum of 3 hours or overnight ( for best results).
- Second, skewing 🍢 and grilling in oven or griddle pan or a skillet 🍳
It’s a big party-favourite, a dish that has to be listed in your BBQ (Barbecue) party. It can be served with green chutney, garnished with onion and lemon wedges. I always love the veggies marinated along with the meat, you can opt for diced onion, colour capsicums, broccoli or cauliflower. Let these veggies marinate overnight along with the fish in the masala; letting the flavours to infuse and resulting in yummy grilled veggies along with the fish.
Don’t forget to scroll down to the Notes, you’ll have a bonus recipe under my kitchen secret. My Kitchen Secrets saves you when you are puzzled with leftovers. Every recipe in this blog has a surprise package in the kitchen secret which will definitely make you awestruck…😲.
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Wash and clean the fish with turmeric powder and salt. Drain the water completely and pat with kitchen tissue to absorb the excess moisture.
Squeeze some lemon and keep it aside for sometime. After sometime, drain the excess lemon juice (if any) out of the bowl.
Then add turmeric powder, salt, ginger garlic paste , Kashmiri red chilli powder for first marination.
Mix thoroughly and leave it for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, dry roast fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, onion seeds, carom seeds in a pan.
Cool and grind it to a rough powder along with black salt.
Heat mustard oil to smoking point and cool it down.
Now for second marination, take thick yoghurt or hung curd in a bowl; add store bought achari masala (which is purely optional), add ground achari spice mix , ajwain / carom seeds and the smoked mustard oil (once cooled down). Whisk it thoroughly.
Then add this to the marinated fish.
Stir the mixture evenly to infuse the essense throughout the fish and keep it aside.
Dice the colored capsicums , onions, and remove the moisture.
And add it into the marinated fish, mix it well , close the lid and store it in the refrigerator for a of minimum 4-6 hrs or overnight.
After marinating time, it may leave some water, discard it. Start skewing in metal skewers or wooden bamboo sticks (get it from stores) with the vegetables in between the fish as in the picture.
Meanwhile preheat the oven for 250°C for 15 minutes. Place the skewers in a butter greased tray or foil wrapped tray (to avoid the fish from getting stuck to the tray), keep the timer for 15 minutes.
During this grilling time keep turning the skewer at least twice for even cooking and smear butter on top of it.
Alternatively, you can grill it in the air fryer.
Smear butter and flip it.
I have shown the results of air fried Achari tikka here.
Once the tikkas are ready, serve with mint yoghurt chutney dip, sliced onion, lemon wedges. ..🍢🍢🍢😋😋
Recipe Card
Prep time: 30 minutes (excluding marinating time)
Cooking time: 25 – 30 minutes
Cuisine: North Indian
Category: Appetizer, Tandoori
Serves: 6
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
Fish cubes (boneless) – ½ kg Mahi mahi
Butter – for smearing
For first marination:
Big Lemon -1
Ginger garlic paste – 1 ½ tsp
Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
For Achari Spice Mix:
Fenugreek seeds / Methi – ½ tsp
Fennel seeds / Saunf – 1 ½ tsp
Cumin seeds / Jeera – 1tsp
Mustard seeds / Sarson – 1 ½ tsp
Onion seeds/ Kalonji – 1 ½ tsp
Carom seeds / Ajwain – ¼ tsp
Black salt – 1 tsp
For second marination:
Smoked mustard oil – 1 ½ tsp
Yoghurt / Hung curd – 1 cup
Achari Spice Mix – 1 ½ tbsp
Achari masala (store bought ) – ¼ tsp (optional)
Ajwain / Carom seeds – ¼ tsp
Instructions:
- Wash and clean the fish with turmeric powder and salt. Drain the water completely and pat with kitchen tissue to absorb the excess moisture. Squeeze some lemon and keep it aside for sometime.
- After sometime, drain the excess lemon juice (if any ) out of the bowl.
- Then add turmeric powder, salt, ginger garlic paste , Kashmiri red chilli powder for the first marination, mix thoroughly and leave it for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile dry roast fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, onion seeds, carom seeds adding one by one in a pan, cool them and grind it as a rough powder along with black salt.
- Heat mustard oil to smoking point and cool it down.
- Now for second marination, take thick yoghurt or hung curd in a bowl add store bought achari masala (which is purely optional), add ground achari spice mix , ajwain / carom seeds and the smoked mustard oil (once cooled down).
- Whisk it thoroughly, then add this to the marinated fish, stir the mixture evenly to infuse the essence throughout the fish and keep it aside.
- Dice the colored capsicums , onion, and remove the moisture and add it into the marinated fish, mix it well , close the lid and store it in the refrigerator for minimum 4-6 hrs or overnight.
- After marinating time, it may leave some water, discard it. Start skewing in metal skewers or wooden bamboo sticks (get it from stores) with the vegetables in between the fish as in the picture.
- Meanwhile preheat the oven for 250°C for 15 minutes.
- Place the skewers in a butter greased tray or foil wrapped tray (to avoid fishes getting stuck to the tray), keep the timer for 15 minutes .
- During this grilling time keep turning skewer at least twice for even cooking and smear butter on top of it.
- Alternatively, you can grill it in the air fryer. Smear butter and flip it. (I have shown the results of air fryer in the pic above 👆).
- Once the tikka are ready, serve with mint yoghurt chutney dip, sliced onion, lemon wedges. ..🍢🍢🍢😋😋
Notes:
- Achari spice mix i mentioned above yields 3 tbsp of powder, you can use it whole if you are marinating 1 kg fish. If half kg fish, use half of the spice mix and retain the remaining mix for your next marination, can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature.
- I also used store bought achari masala ( north indian masala). It’s purely optional, trust me, if you include it gives an extra punch to the marination.
- Water is always the biggest enemy for Tandoori marinations, whichever ingredient you add make sure you remove excess moisture from it.
- When you add home made curd, squeeze excess water from it by tying them in muslin cloth and leave it for sometime, this is hung curd or you can add store bought yoghurt which is too thick .
- If you are using bamboo sticks, immerse them in cold water for 30 minutes before skewing to avoid getting burnt while grilling . If you use metal skewers, just wash, grease it and use it.
- Preheating the oven is most important for baking and grilling, here I have used both OTG oven and air fryer to show the difference in the texture. Use both the top and bottom grill with fan in the OTG oven for even grilling. Can be done in microwave oven in grilling mode.
- Smearing with butter will enhance the flavor, if you are counting calories, then use olive oil to grease.
- If you don’t have any of these oven and air fryer ..you can directly cook on stove top using a griddle pan or non stick pan, grease some oil, place the skewers, add oil as and when required, flip it and it’s ready.
- Most important point about fish especially any seafood doesn’t require long cooking time, it’ll be done in 5- 10 minutes. If you overcook them it may lose its texture and softness. It has to be juicy, keep checking while grilling and remove from oven once done.
- Tikkas are basically done with boneless meat, try avoiding any bones preferably. Here I used Mahi Mahi fish. You can try with Hamour fish or any local fish of your region with less bones which can be de-skinned and available as fillets or boneless cubes.
Now time for my Kitchen Secrets.…😉😍
If you have fish tikkas or marinated veggies left , don’t be concerned…🤔🤔
Here comes my magic wand to convert your North Indian tikka 🍢🍢 to Chinese gravy…🍛🍛😋😋
If you have fish tikka or marinated veggies leftover, you can transform that dish into a completely new form, I bet you, no-one can make it out. This Chinese Fish Gravy will never disappoint your family as its a mixture of sweet, sour and spice flavours.