Mackerel stir fry is a quick and delicious dish that’s perfect for busy weeknight dinners.

Canned mackerel fish is a great pantry staple and it is the only canned product I tend to use often.

The easy canned fish recipe is great for quick dinners or a few lunch sandwiches done in a rush.
less oil makes the dish a better and healthier version for you to try.

This canned mackerel or tinned fish recipe can help you with your clean-eating diet as well.

Mackeral stir fry is also known as “salmon theldala” in Sinhalese.

It’s on my once-a-week grocery list and if you’ve tried making my Sri Lankan canned fish curry you’ll know why.

serving ideas for canned mackerel stir fry

For this fish stir-fry recipe, we are using regular tinned jack mackerel

• The fish stir-fry is great with regular white rice, bread, Sri Lankan coconut roti(pol roti) or parathas.
  
• Here are a few side dishes that you can pair with this tin fish stir fry.
  • Sri Lankan dhal curry.
  • Sri Lankan potato curry.
  • Sri Lankan coconut sambol.
  • sweet potato curry(sri Lankan, bathala curry).
  • Sri Lankan spicy dry potato curry.
  • If you are serving it with rice, pumpkin curry, especially a kalupol pumpkin curry will go well with this mackerel recipe.
    
• You can have it with a few slices of buttered bread or better yet, breakfast toasties. 
  
• Slices of cucumber or avocado, a thin spread of cheese or hummus then some of this fish stir fry into a roti or tortilla and you can make the most delicious wraps. 
  
• Make tuna melts with this fish stir-fry, spicy and cheesy, perfect as a snack.
  
• Leftovers can be added to your omelettes or made into fish cutlets.
  
• The fish stir-fry is easy enough to make for a quick dinner and is a perfect skillet meal for those of you who love seafood or follow the pescetarian diet.
  
• If you have a few tortillas, fill them up with this Sri Lankan mackerel stir fry for a quick meal.
  
• You can make sandwiches or stuff a hot dog bun with the fish stir fry.

Cooking the mackerel stir fry for my family

This seafood stir-fry needs no cleaning.

All you need to do is, drain the brine in which the canned mackerel comes in and cook as per the recipe instructions below.

Food doesn’t need to be extravagant, sometimes all you need is just that one basic ingredient, a handful of spices, a splash of colour, and a squeeze of lime to take it to the next level and that’s exactly what I did with this recipe of fish stir-fry.

I used less oil, didn’t cook it for too long and it turned out to be good in the healthiest possible way.

I also like the idea of just making a simple breakfast of bread and butter with a skillet of canned fish stir-fry that takes less than twenty minutes to make.

So make sure to add a tinned fish to your grocery list because, in this recipe, I’m showing you how to turn it into a drool-worthy, spicy yet simple meal you can make any time of the day.

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Getting rid of the “fishy smell” from the canned mackerel

The usual method would be to squeeze a bit of lime into the stir-fry.

For this dish, I used a different ingredient and that was half a teaspoon of garam masala, it makes a world of a difference with both taste and fragrance.

If you don’t have garam masala in hand you can also try adding a piece of cinnamon(small) with two or three slightly bruised cardamom.

This works as well, especially when you have gravy.

More fish recipes

• deviled fish(Sri Lankan, spicy chilli fish stir-fry)
• Canned tuna fish stir-fry(devilled).
• Jack mackerel pepper fish curry(Sri Lankan).
• Sri Lankan Fish curry with coconut milk(thalapath fish curry).
• fish rolls(Chinese rolls).
• fish cutlets(Sri Lankan).

RECIPE DIFFICULTY-EASY

The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients to make mackerel recipe

3 tablespoons of oil

A handful of curry leaves(substitute with a bay leaf)

1 large onion sliced fine

2 green or red chillies

1 large tomato sliced

1″ piece of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of lime juice

1 teaspoon of  pepper powder

1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder(add more to increase the spiciness)

1/2 teaspoon of garam masala powder(add more if necessary)

1 large tin of jack mackerel/ tuna or salmon opened and drained of water

HOW TO MAKE canned mackerel fish stir-fry(Sri Lankan)

Open the canned fish, drain and set aside.

Place a flat-bottomed skillet over a low fire and pour in the oil.

Add curry leaves(substitute with a bay leaf), sliced onions, chillies, and tomato to the pan and cook for 3 minutes or until onions turn translucent.

Add cinnamon, chilli powder, pepper, lime juice and salt to the pan and continue cooking over low heat.

Increase heat to medium.

Add the drained fish and incorporate the fish into all the other ingredients.

As the fish comes in large chunks, break them into smaller pieces so that all the spices mix into the fish. 3-5 minutes.

Add the garam masala to the skillet of fish stir fry and continue combining all the ingredients.

Taste to make sure all the spices are balanced and there is enough seasoning.

If you need to add more spice, add chilli or pepper powder and salt if necessary.

Continue to cook for a minute or two then remove from fire.

Serve warm for best results.

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