Preparation time : 30 minutes
Cooking time : 25 minutes
Serves : five members
Description
Every Friday night , was fish day at our boarding school. The entire mess would stink of fish and we kids would grumble and have dinner. One week it would be fish curry and the following week fish fry. Fish curry weeks were the worst. I remember on one such Friday, we entered the dining hall and I could see deep dark red colour curry over the lump of rice on all our plates. Or else it’s always a pale yellow – brown fish curry. That second, all our faces lit up with smiles before the prayer as the dining hall also didn’t have the fishy smell. As we started our dinner, it was fish curry but made in a different way and yum for sure. The entire dining hall was in a festive mood, rejoicing and enjoying the good fish curry. Out of a sudden we had our head mistress Mrs elsamma Thomas making rounds during dinner. As she neared our table, she asked us how the fish curry was? We all in a chorus shouted out saying its yum. She smiled and told us she had made the fish curry her self as she bought fish from Kerala after a two day holiday there. I was not smart enough to know what went into the curry she had made then but that one Friday’s fish curry till date does spark in my mind every now and then letting me crave for it always. This recipe was shared by a fellow foodie friend shuja Thomas on her blog. I just took note of it and gave a try. My, my, it was the same Friday night fish curry that our head mistress had made for us. My lost craving was put to an end with shuja’s recipe being bang on perfect. My first mouth full of rice and this fish curry sure took me to those cold night Friday dinners of our’s in school.
Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Fish | 1/2 kg |
| Red chilly powder | 3 teaspoons |
| Coriander powder | 1 teaspoon |
| Turmeric powder | 1/2 teaspoon |
| Coconut oil | 4 tablespoons |
| Mustard seeds | 1/2 teaspoon |
| Garlic | 2 cloves chopped |
| Ginger | 1/2 inch piece chopped |
| Small onions | one hand chopped |
| Ginger and garlic paste | 1/2 teaspoon |
| Fenugreek powder | 1/4 teaspoon |
| Curry leaves | few |
| Gambooge / kudam puli | 4 soak in one cup water with little salt |
| Salt | to taste |
Method
- Heat a clay pot with coconut oil .Add Mustard seeds , once they crackle.
- Top with chopped Ginger, garlic, small onions and curry leaves. Sauté to translucent.
- Add the Ginger and garlic paste. Sauté to crisp.
- Mix red chilly powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder with little water to get a paste consistency.
- Add this over the crisp Ginger, garlic paste. Cook until oil floats on top.
- Add soaked kudam puli, salt and two cups of water, bring to boil.
- Drop cleaned fish pieces and sprinkle fenugreek powder.
- Cover and cook in low flame for ten to fifteen minutes depending on the variety of fish used for the curry .
- Swirl the clay pot in intervals of five minutes each when cooking after the fish is added.
- Add a few more curry leaves and drizzle coconut oil all around the edges of the clay pot. Swirl and Simmer further for three to five minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve after a few hours ( or best the next day ) as the curry tends to thicken when kept in a clay pot.
- Adjust water consistency accordingly and serve with hot boiled rice.
Notes
- Avoid small onions and coriander powder and make the same curry in case you want to keep the fish curry for a couple of days at room temperature.
