Karimeen Pollichathu / Kerala-Style Fish Wrapped in Banana Leaves

So all of us were craving for some karimeen pollichathu, a toddy shop specialty which is basically pomfret or pearl fish cooked wrapped in banana leaves. The monsoons have been acting up this year  Considering we are around 3 members in the house, we decided to cut the costs by preparing this at home. Huby immediately turned to me since i was not very comfy with making it on my own. I have experimented with Sardines/Mathi when I was in college, but with karimeen, one couldn't afford to experiment and mess up since it's an expensive fish. Anyway, I decided to give it a shot and at the end of it all, we were all pretty happy :) Ingredients: Karimeen Pollichathu / Kerala-Style Fish Wrapped in Banana Leaves 1. Karimeen (Pearl Spot Fish) - 1 kg 2. Red Chilly Powder - 2 tsp 3. Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp 4. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp 5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp 6. Ginger, Garlic and Green Chilly crushed - 2 tbsp 7. Shallots - 1/2 cup     Big Onion sliced - 1     Tomato - 1 8. Salt - as required

 
Method:
Clean Karimeen and marinate the fish with chilly powder, pepper powder, turmeric powder and salt. Keep some of this masala seperately.
Fry the fish in oil. Do not fry more.
Grind together the seventh set of ingredients.
Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds. Add green chilly, ginger and garlic and saute for a while.
Add rest of the masala used for marinating the fish and fry for some more time.
Add the fried fish to this. Masala should cover the fish.
Heat oil in another pan in a flat vessel and cover the fish and masala together in plantain leaves, each one seperately. Place each piece in the pan.
Cover the pan with a lid. Turn the sides of the fish packet in between until done.
You can even bake the fish instead of frying