Today, I cooked fish for the first time ever.
Call it beginners luck, but this turned out great :).
In the spirit of sharing all good things :), here’s the recipe, so you can try it too. I call this the fusion fish curry, as the spices and style has borrowed elements from various regions of India.
What you need:
- 1 kg fish cut into 1″ thick slices (this curry tastes best with Rohu but you can use any fish with firm white flesh)
- 4 tbsps vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil
- 1 tbsp mustard seeds
- 2 tbsps cumin seeds
- 8 dry red chillies
- 1 tsp paanch poran seeds ( a uniform mix of cumin, fennel, nigella, fenugreek and mustard seeds – skip the nigella seeds, if you are unable to find them in our locality)
Trivia : Paanch poren, is typical of east Indian cuisine and is used generously in Bengali dishes.
- 10-12 curry leaves
- 1 large onion ground to a paste
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 2 large tomatoes cut into cubes
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 3-4 tbsps coconut powder
- Walnut-sized ball of tamarind soaked in 1/2 cup of hot water
- 2 cups hot water
- Salt to taste
- Chopped coriander to garnish
Putting it all together:
- Heat a heavy-bottomed pan on a medium flame and roast the dry red chillies, mustard and cumin seeds till they begin to release their aroma. Cool and grind to a fine powder.
- Grind the tomatoes, turmeric, garam masala powder, coconut and above powder into a smooth paste. Keep aside. Squeeze the soaked tamarind well to remove all the pulp.
- Heat the oil in a wide heavy-bottomed pan and add the paanch phoran and curry leaves. When they stop spluttering, add the onion paste and fry till light brown.
- Add the ginger and garlic pastes and fry for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the tomato and spice paste and fry till the oil begins to separate from the masala.
Note: Do not rush the above stages, this is the time the curry base develops flavour, so allow the spices to roast/cook on slow heat till well done.
- Add 2 cups of hot water and the tamarind pulp to this masala and stir to mix well.
- Bring the gravy to a boil and then simmer.
- Gently add the fish to this gravy and cook till done, about 10 mins.
- Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with plain boiled rice.
