BEST! Sri Lankan Devilled Fish (Malu Dewal)

Sri Lankan Devilled Fish (Malu Dewal, මාළු ඩෙවල්)! Devilled Fish is one of the most popular fish dishes in Sri Lanka, where people love spicy foods. This devilled fish recipe is for spicy food lovers. It pairs well with rice as a side dish. It also goes with drinks (or Cocktails) as finger food or as bites and is so easy to make!

Sri Lankan Devilled Fish (Malu Dewal, මාළු ඩෙවල්)!

Sri Lankan Devilled Fish (Malu Dewal, මාළු ඩෙවල්)! Devilled Fish is one of the most popular fish dishes in Sri Lanka, where people love spicy foods.

Fried fish pieces are stir-fried in a sweet, sour, hot, and spicy chili-based sauce. Chopped onion, banana peppers, and tomatoes are also added.

It pairs well with rice (white rice, fried rice, or biryani) as a side dish. It also goes with drinks (or Cocktails) as finger food or as bites.

You will find here an easy-to-make recipe for making Sri Lankan-style Devilled Fish. It includes a step-by-step guide with pictures and useful tips. It is a flexible recipe. Just feel free to experiment with ingredients. Make it more or less spicy to your taste.

What is Deviled Fish?

in Sri Lanka, this dish is called Malu Dewal (මාළු ඩෙවල්), or Fish Dewal (ෆිෂ් ඩෙවල්). In Sinhalese, Malu is the generic word for Fish.

The name ‘Devilled’ is a reference to the heat of the dish. The heat comes from ingredients like red chili powder and chili sauce.

But It’s not all about the heat from chilies. It’s all about balance; sweet, sour, devilishly hot but full of complex flavors.

What makes a food deviled?

The word “devil” is a culinary term. It is used to describe a highly seasoned dish. The dish includes various hot or spicy seasonings, like red pepper, chili sauce, Tabasco sauce, or mustard. These seasonings impart a strong flavor, thereby creating a ‘deviled’ dish”. But, the term always doesn’t refer to something spicy, for example, ‘Devil’s Food Cake’. In that case, the term “devil” is used to describe a dark, rich, chocolate cake.

difference between ‘devilled’ and ‘deviled’?

The terms ‘devilled’ and ‘deviled’ both mean the same thing. The only difference is that ”deviled” is the accepted spelling in American English while ”devilled” is the preferred British spelling.

More Devilled Recipes to Try!!

This is a step-by-step picture recipe for making Sri Lankan-style Devilled Potato. It is one of the most popular Sri Lankan potato dishes. It is known as Ala Thel Dala (අල තෙල් දාලා) or Ala Baduma (අල බැදුම). If you are a potato lover and love spicy foods, you will fall in love with it.

Click Here for the Recipe BEST SRI LANKAN DEVILLED POTATO (ALA THEL DALA)

Sri Lankan Devilled Fish (Malu Dewal)
Helpful Tips

1. When making this kind of stir-fried dish with complex flavors, timing is very important. Do not dump all the ingredients at once.
2. This dish should taste sweet, sour, and hot. Taste for balance and add extra sugar, chili, salt, or vinegar/lime/lemon to balance it out.
3. Use bite-size pieces of firm red or white fish for making the dish.
4. The fish is marinated with garlic, ginger, chili powder, turmeric powder, salt, and vinegar (or lime/lemon juice). This allows the fish to absorb the flavors.
5. Marinate the fish only for about 15 to 30 minutes, not much longer.
6. I made the sauce with Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar. You can also use other ingredients like oyster sauce, hot chili sauce, tomato sauce, Tabasco sauce, mustard, and so forth.
7. If you want to make it red but not spicy, you can add red paprika powder as needed.
8. I used onion, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes as vegetables. In Sri Lanka, banana peppers are commonly used. You can add also chopped fresh green or red chilies to make it more spicier.
9. Don’t cook vegetables too long, so your onion and bell peppers keep a bit of bite whilst being palatably soft. And don’t add the tomato too soon as it shouldn’t be mushy.

Sri Lankan Devilled Fish (Malu Dewal)
step-by-step recipe

Prep Time  15 min
Cooking Time 15 min
Marination 15 to 30 min

Ingredients

For Marinade
400g firm fish, cut into pieces
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tbsp vinegar (or lemon/lime juice)

For Frying Fish
2 tbsp plain flour
Oil for frying, as needed

For Making Devilled Fish
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tbsp hot chili powder
1 tbsp chili flakes
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar (or lemon/lime juice)
1 tbsp sugar
1 onion (yellow or purple), roughly chopped
4 bell peppers (red & green), roughly chopped
5 cherry tomatoes or 1 large tomato, chopped
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 tbsp chili powder, optional

Instructions

Cut the fish into bite-size pieces.

Marinade; garlic paste, ginger paste, chili powder, turmeric powder, salt, pepper, and vinegar (or lime/lemon juice).

Coat generously with the marinade ingredients. Allow the fish to absorb the flavor for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Add the flour and mix well.

Fry the marinated fish pieces until cooked through.

Drain off excess oil and set aside.

Cut the vegetables; onion, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes.

Gather the ingredients for making the sauce (Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar) and for stir-frying (oil, garlic paste, ginger paste, chili powder, chili flakes)

Mix Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar to make a sauce.

Heat the oil and stir-fry the ginger and garlic paste until it starts to release its aroma. Stir constantly for a minute so that it doesn’t burn.

Add chili powder and chili flakes and stir constantly for a few seconds so that it doesn’t burn.

Add the chopped bell peppers, and half of the onion and stir until slightly cooked.

Add in the fried fish pieces and mix well.

Add tomatoes and the rest of the onion and stir for a few seconds.

Make a space in the middle of the pan. Add the sauce and cook until warmed through, for a minute.

Stir-fry all together until the fish pieces are well coated with the sauce.

Season with salt & pepper. Sprinkle with more red chili powder and flakes, if desired.

Remove from heat. Serve hot with fluffy, long-grain white rice, and enjoy!

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