South Indian Fish Curry - Version 2

There are tons of delicious tasty fish curry recipes on the Internet. I like to keep my fish curry simple and easy and of course never compromise on the taste. Nobody wants to cook for a long time in the kitchen with lots of other works piled nowadays. This second version of South Indian fish curry doesn't require any coconut milk or chili powder. The spiciness comes from the green chilies and the homemade fish curry powder. I have given a link to Homemade fish curry powder that is an easy to do spice powder and a must in our kitchen because the flavor of fish curry will be only prominent and tasty with the use of it. I would never substitute that homemade fish curry powder with the store bought one as it will definitely ruin the authentic flavor of the curry. I know it is time consuming to prepare the spices and blend them into fine powder, but think of fresh, healthy ingredients that go into the powder that will create magic in your curry. It is just a matter of one day process, because I have only given a small batch recipe that you can prepare effortlessly. So. don't panic. Give a try and leave a comment. 

South Indian Fish Curry - Version 2

 INGREDIENTS:

Whiting/ Lady fish/ Kilanga Meen - 400g

Green chilies - 4 to 5 (reduce the number of chilies, if you don't like spicy food)

Curry leaves - a sprig

Medium sized tomato - 2

Medium sized red onion  - 1

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Salt - to taste

To make paste :

Homemade fish curry powder - 4 tablespoons(follow this link for the curry powder)

https://abbylakshmi.blogspot.com/2021/02/homemade-south-indian-style-fish-curry.html   

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Medium sized red onion  - 1

To Temper :

Fenugreek - 1/2 teaspoon

Fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon

Vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons

METHOD :

1. Here I have taken Whiting or Lady fish, but you can use any variety of fish. My mother has cleaned them and washed with salt, a tablespoon of rice flour and water. Since, they are small variety, we will keep them whole. The reason to use rice flour or any kind of flour in hand is to remove the fishy smell.    

Whiting/Lady Fish/Kilanga Meen

 

2. Next step is preparing fish masala paste. You will need one medium sized red onion, 4 tablespoons of homemade fish curry powder and turmeric powder. Blend all of them together with some water to form a thick paste. 

3. Heat up a pan, temper fenugreek and fennel seeds until slightly golden brown. 

4. Chuck in diced onion, green chilies and chopped tomatoes and a sprig of curry leaves. Stir all until onion is translucent and tomatoes are slightly mushy. At this stage, I like to add some salt to speed up the sautéing process.

Chopped tomatoes, diced onion and green chilies

5. Here, I have used small gooseberry size of tamarind and squeezed it in one cup of water to extract the juice. Strain the pulp and add the tamarind juice to a clay pot.

6. To the same clay pot, add the fish, masala paste and also tempered ingredients from the pan. So now, we are going to cook the fish curry in this clay pot. The rule of thumb for adding water is make sure your fish is completely submerged in that scrumptious curry pool. The curry should neither be too thick nor watery. Don't add too much of water or else it will become pool of water than curry. 

Tamarind juice, fish masala paste and fish

7. Close the lid while cooking the fish. This should be cooked on low flame for a good 15 minutes. If you further simmer it, then the fish will break. Once the fish is cooked, switch off the flame.

8. Serve hot with anything like rice or chapati. 

Thank you

Abby