Recheado Masala Paste is the must-have paste in the Goan kitchen.
The spicy, tangy paste is used to stuff mackerel fish, prawns and stuffed okra. Learn how to make recheado masala paste with the recipe below:
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One of the most important spicy paste condiments from the sunny Indian coastline state Goa is the recheado masala.
The famous paste is spicy hot, sour and very flavorful.
How to use the paste?
The Masala is used to flavor fresh seafood such as mackerels and prawns (hence recheado prawns and recheado mackerels) before stir-frying the catch of the day in a pan with oil and infusing the spicy red paste flavors into the protein-rich sea fare.
You can cut open raw bhende (Okra/Lady Finger) and other veggies and prepare stuffed recheado okra with the thick red paste too.
Goan households often have their recipes, which might vary a bit in spice amounts and choices of spices.
Therefore, recheado masala recipes tend to turn out entirely different in flavor and consistency.
Personally, I don't like all the variations I had come across, however, my mother in law's recipe is spotless and definitely a keeper.
How to make it?
The recipe is easy to follow, and you can make it at home.
You just need a good blender and all the fresh ingredients, which can be easily found anywhere in India.
Some ingredients are Kashmiri Chili (Red dried chili as seen in the back of the picture), Indian Cumin (not Caraway seeds please!), Peppercorns, Mustard seeds and so on.
Oh and there are two peculiar ingredient additions to the paste which are crucial or the recheado paste wouldn't come out as it should.
One is coconut vinegar (white wine vinegar will do too) and Coconut Feni.
Feni is a high percentage transparent spirit made in Goa with either coconut or cashew.
I compare it often to vodka or schnapps, just that feni has a unique and different — and maybe unexpected — aroma.
Vinegar and feni are essentials in the recheado masala recipe because they increase the shelf life of the paste and give it the extra flavor kick.
If you don't get feni in your area, then you can use vodka too.
📖 Recipe
Recheado Masala Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Inch Ginger Fresh
- 5 Pieces Garlic Cloves
- 25 Kashmiri Chili Pepper red dried
- 3 Bird's Eye Chili Pepper to add some heat
- ¼ Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Whole
- 5 Black Pepper Ground
- 1 Inch Cinnamon Stick
- 5 Cloves Whole
- pinch Fenugreek Seeds
- ¼ Teaspoon Brown Mustard Seeds
- ¼ Teaspoon Turmeric Ground
- pinch Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Sugar
- 2½ Cups Distilled White Vinegar and maybe more is needed
- ¼ Cup Feni Liquor optional
Instructions
- Peel your garlic and ginger. Cut your ginger into chunks. Discard the chili stem.
- Keep all the spices soaked overnight in the vinegar with the feni in a plastic or glass bowl. Not in a metal bowl since the ingredients might react with the metals.
- Blend all the ingredients ginger, garlic, chilis, cumin, peppercorn cinnamon clove fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric powder, salt, sugar, vinegar and coconut feni to a fine paste. If the paste is to thick add some more vinegar, it depends which consistency you want at the end. The paste should not be completely liquid.
- Do not add any water because that will reduce the shelf life of the paste.
- Store the smooth paste in a jar and keep in the fridge for further use. Fry with fresh fish or prawns.
Nutrition
🍱 Storing
Store recheado masala in a dry and cool place.
Keep the jar with the paste in a dark place, you can place it in a paper bag to keep it away from the light.
You can store the paste for months if you like.
Prepare a 500-milliliter jar full, store it and use it always just before frying the fish or prawns, as seen in my recheado prawns recipe.
It's that simple!
