Vanjaram Vepudu ~ Simple Fish Roast
Living along the sea coast has its advantages. One of them being regular availability of freshly caught sea food, especially fish. Today I bought Vanjaram (spotted seer fish) and prepared a simple roast with minimal spices. Nehal and Satish relish it and so do I. 
There are few things I love more than a nicely roasted fish, hot off the pan.
You can explore with different spices but go slow on the amount of spices you’d add to the marinade. You wouldn’t want the spices to overpower the flavor of fish. I have avoided garam masala but a pinch can be added. Do not omit lemon since its the key to the bright flavor of fish roast.
Vanjaram Vepudu Recipe
Prep: 6-7 mts, Marination: 20-30 mts, Cooking Time: 22-25 mts
Serves 4 persons
Cuisine: Andhra
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8-9 medium sized fish fillet, washed
1 1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
juice of one lemon
pinch cumin pwd
large pinch coriander powder
pinch turmeric pwd
1 1/2 tsps red chilli pwd
salt to taste
1 1/4 tbsps oil
few curry leaves
1 Combine ginger garlic paste, lemon juice, salt, red chilli pwd, turmeric pwd, cumin pwd and coriander pwd in a flat dish. Apply this marinade lightly to the fish pieces and keep aside for 20-30 mts.
2 Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add few curry leaves, place the marinated fish and fry for 14-15 mts on low to medium flame.
3 Once its nicely browned, flip over gently to the other side and roast fish for another 10-12 mts till browned.
4 Serve hot with onion rings and lemon wedges.
By sailu • Nov 25th, 2009 • Category: All Recipes, Andhra Recipes, Featured, Indian Seafood Recipes, Non-Vegetarian Recipes
hello sailu gaaru….ummm…again a mouth watering recipe from u. meeku telusaa sailu gaaru….daily intlo pani avvagaane computer on chesi mee website e first choostaanu. maa intlo fish ante andarki istam. fish fry ithe mari istam. pappu chaaru lo fish fry super kada. nenu eppudu korrameenu fish e chestaanu…bcos adhi health ki manchidi ani vinnanu. so i dont know abt other fish varieties. vanjaram fish gurunchi ardham avvatledu andi. vere names unte chepthaara please? and marination elaa cheyaalo kuda cheppandi please…thank u and all the best.
I’ve updated the recipe regarding marination. Vanjaram is known as Mackerel fish.
Makes me drooooool, sailu!
Hi Sailu,
though i dont like fish the pic made me drool….
శైలజ గారు,
Many Thanks for the recipe. మా ఇంట్లో వంజరం చేప సాధారణంగా ఇగురు కూర చేస్తుంది నా భార్య శ్రీదేవి. ఫ్రై చేయాలంటే బంగారుపాప గాని లేక బొంత చేప గాని వాడుతాము. చందువా అయితే ఇంకా బెటర్. ఈ సారి మీరు చేసినట్టుగా వంజరంతో ట్రై చేయాలి. Thanks again for a nice recipe and beautiful pix.
హరి
వంజరం తో చాల రుచిగా ఉంటుంది, హరి గారు. ట్రై చేయండి.
Hi! Sailu,
Thanks for yr wonderful recipes. U have excellent collection. I keep checking for yr latest recipes and keep trying them. Fish fry pic looks yummy!
My husband loves fish. But I am afraid to cook them because of the smell. I only cook Tilapia. Can you give some hints on how to get rid of the fishy smell.
Wash with salt, turmeric pwd and vinegar thoroughly to get rid of the smell.
lovely, lovely recipe.. reminds me of the fish roast i had at a friend’s place.. will definitely make this
Love the color of the fish roast… delicious…
Hi Sailu garu,
Thanks for another excellent sea food recipe. what other fish we can try to fry in this way? your guidance is required please.
You can try with Tilapia and Pomfret too.
Hello Sailu Garu,
The pictures attest to the fact that you are a cook par excellence. I got married an year ago and am new to cooking. Whenever I want to cook something special for my hubby dear, your site is my encyclopedia. I have a request. When ever you say measures like a cup etc can you give the approximate value? or you could put up the pictures of your measures and we could do the approximations. I understand it is a cumbersome task but would be of great help to novices like me.
Thank you.
Happy to learn the blog has been of help to you. I receive a lot of queries on the measures used in the recipes. I hope to do a post sometime.
oh my! You are making me hungry Sailaja, lovely click!!
My fav too with rasam. Friend of mine adds curry leaves powder and the taste is too good. I see you adding the leaves. Looks great.
OOO this looks beautiful and delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe - I am looking forward to trying this!
Lovely Fishy pics….. Mouthwatering I must say….. Simple & easy…..
Yum!!!!!!!!!!!
Ash….
Sailu,
Thanks for another wonderful recipe. Over here in the UK, we get frozen King Fish which I thought was vanjiram but from your post, I gathered I was wrong since maybe Vanjiram is called seer fish..
Anyways, if I need to make pulusu or fry using frozen fish, is it still possible. How long do I need to defrost it for. Also, it comes with the outer grey skin. Do we need to remove the skin. Excuse my ignorance but have never cooked fish before.
Yes, Priti, you can use frozen fish to prepare pulusu and fry. I guess, it would be convenient if you bought frozen fish fillet without the skin for easy preparation, especially for roast recipes. You need not remove the skin. Regarding defrosting, keep the fish in a ziplock bag and place the bag in some warm water (without heating over stove top). King fish and Mackerel fish are quite similar but not the same. You can use Catfish, Tilapia, Mackerel, Pomfret, Koramenu varieties for preparing fish fry.
sailu garu, your recipes are too good and taste like mom dishes. thanks for these delicious dish recipes.
Hi Sailu,
I am a malayalee, your recipes are good. i often visit your site, as i have married a telugite. your fish fry is good. We make fish fry with all the ingredients, shown by you, but extra we add curry leaves a bit, pepper powder, to grind the masala. thanks
hi sailu garu
naku fish antey chala chala ishtum neynu india lo vunnapudu regular ga thineydhanini..when i came to US i tried salmon i didnt like it and till now i didnt try any fish. can u clarify what r the fish names we get in US in telugu and what type of fish tastes similar to andhra fish….frozen fillets thisukunna regular fish la vuntundha? give me an idea abt fishes in US. then i can use regularly. thanx for ur effort….
Usha garu, I have never lived in US and am not sure about the fish varieties available there and I do not remember if I have ever cooked or eaten frozen fish.
This looks easy and delish. Great dish!
Hi Sailu..
This recipe certainly looks very delicious …. i just wanted to know which fish fillets is good for health and non smelly .. i am new to cooking fish …we get Hoki,gurnard,blue code & salmon kind of fishes here in NZ. !!!!
Most fish are smelly, use vinegar to clean them well and remove any odour. A few healthy fish types are tilapia, catfish, mackerel, salmon and sardine.
Hi Sailu garu,
Nice delicious dish. How to prepare cumin powder? Do we need to fry cumin seeds and powder it or is it the raw cumin seeds powdered? Your help is appreciated.
Aparna
Aparna garu, lightly dry roast the cumin seeds and make a fine powder.
Fish in US:
You can find frozen King Fish and some other imported ones in some of the Indian grocers in NJ. I get these from KhanMarket in Parsippany NJ.
You can also find Trout, Tilapia and Haddock, whole or as steaks or filets in American supermarkets. Tilapia works well for the above recipe.
If you are looking for fresh eastern fish, Chinese super markets are also a good bet.
Salmon is not a good fit for our recipes.
I dont know the equivalent telugu names though.
Microwave Defrosting of Fish:
If your microwave has a fish defrosting option, then you can use it, but check it in the half way point to make sure it does not over-cook.
Problem with this is, if it over-cooks the fish then spices dont get absorbed well afterwards.
Leaving it under running cold water for 15min, is a better way, though it is not environmentally friendly. I never tried the immersed defrost option suggested by Sailu, I will try it next time.
Hi sailu
looking so yummy……
i love vanjaram sooooo much…i’m from vizag too..as i see the pics i would really wanted to be back to my lovely place…but again i’m missing all those fresh seafood in the states…you r really doing such a wonderful work.
god bless you
Hi Sailu,
I like you site, your recipes and most of all your style of writing. I also run a recipe blog and would love to have you as a guest on it. I know time would be of premium but if ever you get a little bit of time, please email me a recipe with photos and I will feature you on my website.
BTW I love fish fry and have a partiality for Vanajaram!
Keep up the good work.
Bhavani
Sailu garu, a picture speaks volumes. the pic is feast to the eyes!!! Vasavi and myself love fish but we could not work out our fish recipes yet to perfection.. your recipe sounds very interesting and simple.. I will spend tomorrow for sure searching for spotted seer fish..
Thanks lot!!
hi sailu,
excellent recipe for my husband. i tried it out for rohu, it really came out damn good.