Kerala Style Fish Masala
You probably know by now that how much I love South
Indian food. Well...we all pretty much love dosa and idli and their curry
leaves flavoured curries to some extent but when it comes to me...I stretch it
a far too long. For me....masala dosa and idlis are not the limit....I want to
explore all the nooks and corners of their food habits and cultures.
Kerala Style Fish Masala
Generally if you look at their fish curries, you will find
that they dump raw fishes into their curries...in stark contrast to the Bengali
practice, where we first marinate them with turmeric powder and salt and then
fry them until crisp before adding them to the curry. But this recipe is different
from their general counterparts.
Here a special spicy marinade is prepared for the fishes.
These fishes are then shallow fried and then added to the curry. Also, in some
recipes there is no use of curry leaves in this curry. Only thick coconut milk
and, c’est tout!! Also its very spicy and rich...so if you are not okay with
that go slow with the dry red chillies, red chilli powder and oil. Trust
me...the taste will be equally good at that time too.
Kerala Style Fish Masala
Serves 4-6
For marinating the fish:
4 fat cloves of garlic
½ inch stick of ginger
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Kashniri red chilli powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
A few black peppercorns (6-8)
10-12 dry red chillies
Salt
1 tbsp salt
Method:
6 thick pieces of fish
3 medium onions – chopped
1 tomato – chopped
3-4 fat garlic cloves – minced
1 inch ginger stick – minced / paste
1 can of coconut milk
1 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
1 and ½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp dry fenugreek leaves
A handful of fresh coriander leaves – chopped
2-3 tbsp oil
Method:
Dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and dry red chillies for a minute.
Dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and dry red chillies for a minute.
In a grinder put together the garlic cloves, ginger
stick and all the dry roasted spices, with little water and make a smooth paste of it. Pour
this paste in bowl and whisk in the red chilli powder, turmeric powder and
salt.
Rub this paste over all the pieces of fish. Let them
marinade in this paste for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, heat the oil in a kadai and fry the
marinated piece of fish until they become crisp from outside.
Take the fishes out of the kadai after they are nicely
fried.
Throw in all the chopped fishes into the remaining oil
and sauté them on medium heat until they become lightly golden.
Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté to get rid of the
strong garlic flavours.
Next add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they become
all mushy and oil starts to separate from the curry. Sniff the curry to be
sure. If the curry does not smell like tomatoes anymore, your curry is ready.
Add a dash of water and throw in the turmeric powder, red
chilli powder and coriander powder.
Pour in the coconut milk and give a good stir to mix
everything well.
Adjust the salt.
Let the gravy come to a boil and then put the fried
pieces of fish into it.
Put cover and cook for 10-12 minutes, so that the pieces
of fish can absorb all the flavours from the curry.
Open the lid and sprinkle the dry fenugreek leaves.
Simmer on medium flame till the gravy thickens and oil
starts to float on top of it.
Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Finally finish off with the handful chopped fresh
coriander leaves.
Put off the flame
Serve hot with rice / roti.
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