South Indian Fish Curry
Fish curry is very popular in the Malabar region of Kerala in India. This recipe of south Indian fish curry takes a little processing time with the coconut milk but the results are so much better. Fresh coconut milk gives the curry a very creamy texture. You can use the coconut milk that you get in cans these days but I would recommend doing it the old fashioned way to get the best out of this recipe.
Fish: 1 kg
Coconut: 1 grated
Tomatoes: 2
Green chillies: 4-5
Ginger: small piece (1 inch)
Garlic: 2-3 cloves
Tamarind: medium lemon size
Turmeric powder: 3/4 teaspoon
Chili powder: 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder: 3 teaspoons
Shallots: 2
Curry leaves: 2 stems
Oil: 1.5 teaspoons
Red dried chilli: 1
Cut fish into 1 inch steaks. Fish like mullet and jack mackeral are great for curry but you can use any fish, even shrimp for this recipe.
Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water. Squeeze the tamarind to extract the juice. Keep this aside.
Make coconut milk from grated coconut: For this you need to put the grated coconut in the blender and add about 1 cup of water. Blend and squeeze the milk out of the blended coconut. Once you are done, you can put the fiber back into the blender, put half a cup of water and blend again, and squeeze out as much juice as you can. So now you have fresh coconut milk.
Take half of the coconut milk and blend with ginger, garlic, turmeric, coriander powder and chilli powder in your blender.
Now add this mixture to the remaining coconut milk. Add the tamarind juice. Cut tomatoes into small pieces. Split the green chillies. Add the tomatoes and green chilies to the coconut milk mixture.
Boil this till the curry thickens. Add fish pieces and let it cook for 5-7 minutes. If you are cooking shrimp, cook for about 2-3 mins only.
For Tempering the curry:
Cut shallots into small pieces.
Heat the oil in a pan. Add shallots and dried red chilies. Saute till the shallots turn brown. Add curry leaves.
Add this to the fish curry.
Ready to eat with hot rice! Do let me know how it turns out for you.
Preserving The Essentials 