Fish Tikka – How to make tandoori fish tikka in oven

Fish Tikka
Fish Tikka – a Restaurant style fish preparation… to be very precise, a punjabi dhaba style dish. There is nothing fancy here except the look, all your ingredients comes from the pantry.. all you need is an oven to bake… same recipe can be used for pan fry too.
Ingredients
  2   Catfish fillets (10 pieces)
  ¼ teaspoon   Turmeric powder
  1 teaspoon   Red chilli powder (kashmir chilli powder)
  2 teaspoons   Coriander /dhania powder
  ¼ teaspoon   Garam masala powder
  ¾ teaspoon   Salt
  1 teaspoon   Ginger garlic paste
  2 teaspoons   Lemon juice
  2 teaspoons   Yogurt/curd
  2 pinch   Red food colour
  3 teaspoons   Oil

Lets see how to make this fish tikka….

  1. Wash and cut fish in desired size.
  2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl (Turmeric powder, Red chilli powder, Coriander powder, Garam masala powder and salt.
  3. Then add ginger garlic paste, lemon juice, yogurt and colour.
  4. Use your hand to mix well untill you get a thick batter.
  5. Now add the fish and toss to coat the masala evenly.
  6. Let this mixture marinate for for few hours…in refrigerator or for atleast 30 minutes at room temperature.
  7. Take a baking sheets and line up by placing them leaving  little gap between each piece.
  8. Drizzle little oil over the top.
  9. Preheat oven to 400 F and bake for 10 minutes, then remove and turn the fish pieces.
  10. Bake again for 10 more minutes.
  11. Finally set the oven to broil and place the baking sheet on top rack to make them crispy and darken the colour.
  12. This should take only a couple of minutes, don’t not leave it for more than 2 minutes, it will burn the fish pieces. This step is included just to add that extra touch to the dish, that includes nice dark brown colour on the sides and crispy edges.
  13. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with lemon wedges.

Some fish recipes to try….

  1. Malabar Fish Curry
  2. Meen Varuval
  3. Chettinad Meen Varuval

Notes

  • Serves 4
  • I have used Everest Garam masala for this recipe.
  • Cat fish is used for this recipe you can also try with fish of your choice.
  • Tilapia fish works, salmon works or any fleshy fish works for this recipe.
  • You may also use the ingredients and pan fry too.
  • Drizzle some lemon juice before serving … to make it more tasty.

Comments

26 responses to “Fish Tikka – How to make tandoori fish tikka in oven”

  1. Hafsah Avatar
    Hafsah

    Hi Mullai,
    I was wondering if this recipe will work well with either salmon or talapia fish

    1. Mullai Avatar

      Hafsah, any fleshy fish will work. Tilapia is one good fish, its less stinky and suits any preparation. Thanks.

  2. deepuarun Avatar
    deepuarun

    Hi mullai, I tried many of ur recepies.It came out really well….can i make this fish tikka with king fish or pomphret?pl suggest me.

    1. Mullai Avatar
      Mullai

      Deepu, king fish might work but not sure about pomfret as its not that fleshy. Pomfret can be broiled as a whole fish as deboning is quite difficult. Thanks for your feedback.

      1. deepuarun Avatar
        deepuarun

        Thanks mullai,

        As u said let me try it out  with king fish .

  3. Mrs Dhinesh Avatar
    Mrs Dhinesh

    Hi Mullai ,

    I jus joined your site , but through my sister i came to know about this site . I even tried many receipes from your entries . Can i try out this with KING fish ?

  4. Vandana Ajay Avatar
    Vandana Ajay

    Hi Mullai,
    I just joined this site, and after reading just a few recipes, am impressed. Will definitely try out a few and let you know. You are a STAR!!!

    Regards,
    Vandana

  5. paaru Avatar
    paaru

    how do we do this in a combination oven? anu ideassss?/

  6. DJ Avatar
    DJ

    Guys, Try Basa for fish tikka. It will blow your mind! You will not go back to any other fish to BBQ fish tikka or even baked fish.

  7. bvani Avatar
    bvani

    Hi Mullai,

    I would like to try this recipe.. but i have only basic model microwave over which has manual timer and temperature settings. pls help me how to cook this dish…

    1. Mullai Avatar
      Mullai

      Bvani, this preparation is not possible with basic microwave, you need a grill attachement or broil attachment. Sorry.

  8. Ron Avatar
    Ron

    Hi Mullai Akka,

    Want to try this recipe.Bt i currently hav pollak fish..I doubt wheather the fish woud do for this tikka item.
    Advise me.And what is bakng sheet.Do u mean aluminium foil.
    Plz Advise
    Thank U..
    Rohini

    1. Mullai Avatar
      Mullai

      Ron, baking sheet is any oven proof tray, you can also place aluminum foil over that to avoid sticking. I haven’t tried Pollock, so don’t know about the taste. If its fleshy and less stinky then go ahead and make a small batch.

  9. dblakshmi Avatar
    dblakshmi

    mullai,

    what i generally do is, use all the dry powders of your ingredients list + tandoori powder (except yogurt and lime,gg paste), mix well in a cup and roll every piece into that. the fish is uniformly coated with the masala on all the sides, then put them on dosa tawa and cook. then garnish with onion and lime.

    regards

    dblakshmi.

  10. dblakshmi Avatar
    dblakshmi

    Hi Mullai,

    I have once made this recipe with tilapia fillet, almost the same ingredients except for food color and lime. i thought lime would break them. I baked them. it turned too soft. my son (6 yrs old) commented ‘way too soft’ ,so i stopped baking fishes. i hv not bought catfish. i love to eat fish but scared of the smell. i found tilapia has the least fish smell.
    After seeing the pic of this, i again want to bake the fish(tilapia) today. tell me what has to be done to have the fish in the right consistency, not too soft not too hard.

    regards

    dblakshmi

  11. sophiaprasanna Avatar
    sophiaprasanna

    Mullai,I just finished making ur Fish Tikka, it came out great…..my daughter loved it too….
    just that i forgot to add the food colour…will do it correct next time….
    Thank u sooooo much….u are great.
    Luv
    Sophia

  12. NithyaVimal Avatar
    NithyaVimal

    I tried this out yesterday , just replaced the Cat Fish with Tilapia fillets and it turned out to be fantastic, and Guess what I am doing it again today 🙂

    Many Thanks to you – This is one of the quickest dishes to make, without compromising the taste 🙂

  13. Thamizh Avatar
    Thamizh

    Hai Mullai!!

    Iam a new member to ur site.. though i enrolled long back did not try any should say.. just wanted to stick on some healthy recipe over the weekend n made fish tikka.. it was splendid.. ur work is worth an applaud!!

  14. preethika Avatar
    preethika

    Hi Mullai…i tried this dish yesterday..it came out well ..but it wasnt as crispy or browned as in de pic…i broiled for a min and 10 secs afraid of burning the whole thing..may be that was de reason..but thanks for such a wonderful recipe.
    Preethi

  15. arunkumar.natarajan Avatar
    arunkumar.natarajan

    i too tried without yogurt and colour(Vinyger) , Vinyger is bad for health . Its really good.So my score is 9 9 9

  16. Bala Gan Avatar
    Bala Gan

    Mullai, can you give the suggested weight for the fish. We do not eat cat fish and I would like to substitute for another kind.

    Thank you for your hard work on this site…it’s a fantastic resource!

    1. Mullai Avatar
      Mullai

      Bala, each fillet should be around 4 oz or 112 grams. So adjust accordingly. You made my day! thanks for visiting.

  17. kraechel Avatar
    kraechel

    Hello Mullai.. today I want to tell u all the recipes that I tried from Spiceindiaonline.com

    I have preparing fish tikka with salmon.. its excellent…we really enjoy it inspite of being done in negligible oil..

    Thank you

    Raech

  18. Mullai Avatar
    Mullai

    Well, you have the answer in your question. TRY ! try! try! is all that it takes. Many attempts, quite a lot of flops and atleast 2 to 3 trials before the recipe actually appears here.

    Thanks,
    Mullai.

    1. jayasri Avatar
      jayasri

      hi mullai

       am a great fan of urs….everyday am visiting ur site for cooking

      coz am married only 6 months b4 …only by the help of ur recepies only i got appreciation everyday from my hubby……….i tried ur fish tikka also

      asusual i put sorry sorry u put sixer in that also

      great effort by u for us

      neengal pallaaaandu vetriyudan vaazha en ulamaarndha vaazhthukkal

      have a good day

  19. Nithya Avatar
    Nithya

    Wow…Mullai u're rocking … Mullai ,,,I love u…hahaha(Kidding).. I want to come to ur place and see..how come u try all these receipes and bring out the sooper taste… Love, Nithya