Chand Eating Chand 😄 After a trek up the hill to Hadimba temple , I couldn't help but feel like doing some deep fried therapy. What better for a Mallu than Machli ? Close to the Mall road, there are a few vendors selling chicken and fish pakoras. I had a choice between Malhi( Wallago Attu/ Boal / Attu Vaala) , Trout & Roopchand .I chose the latter as it was humongous. Now here is the interesting thing . Roopchand is red bellied pacu which is native to Amazon . How it made it into Indian waters is a big puzzle , probably by some unscrupulous farmers. Now found all over the country, most of it is sourced from Godavari , where it risks being an invasive species. It is fleshy, tastes quite like a sea fish.No wonder it is also called Chinese Pomfret because we attribute all knock offs to China 😄 The fish was smeared in a red chilli , turmeric , salty marinade and deep fried. I personally thought it could have tasted better in a typical Kerala marinade with shallots, black pepper, red chillies, turmeric and curry leaves. The grated radish was a nice sweet relief. The mint green chilly chutney would work better if it was worked into a mayo with a touch of sweetness. Pacu is often mistaken for piranha and what creeped me out a bit was their human like teeth which they use to break nuts. So much so that they mistake human testicles for nuts and is believed to bite it off! 😨 Okay, absolutely no guilt for eating this one. Taking the cudgels for my fellow brethren 😆 #foodloose #chandeatingchand #roopchand #pacu #fish #rupchanda #machli #pakora #redbelliedpacu #amazonian #orinoco #freshwater #manali #ballcutter #himachal #streetfood #pescatarian #pisces (at Manali, Himachal Pradesh) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIct7LCl0XV/?igshid=1je1r6sy55qdz
