Chand Eating Chand ๐ 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 ๐ 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! ๐จ Okay, absolutely no guilt for eating this one. Taking the cudgels for my fellow brethren ๐ #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
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