Kerala Fish Curry Recipes

FISH CURRY | INDIAN FISH MASALA

Steps:

• Marinate fish with ½ tbsp ginger garlic paste, ⅛ tsp turmeric, ¼ tsp red chilli powder & ¼ tsp salt.
• On a flat fry pan, heat 1 tsp oil. Fry fish pieces slightly until the raw smell goes away just for 2 to 3 mins on both sides. You can also sear the fish. Keep this aside. (refer picture below)
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pot and add cumin. When they sputter, add onions and saute until lightly golden.
• Next add ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes & ½ tsp salt. Saute until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
• Next add coconut, fennel seeds (optional), red chili powder & turmeric. Fry until the mixture turns fragrant & raw smell has gone away.
• Cool this & add to a blender jar along with 2 to 4 tbsps water. Blend to a smooth or coarse paste to suit your liking. (refer notes). You can also use a immersion blender. Keep this aside.
• Add 1 tbsp more oil to the same pot used earlier. Heat up on a low flame.
• When the oil turns slightly hot, add curry leaves & green chilies.
• When they splutter, add the ground onion tomato paste and garam masala. Fry until the mixture smells good. If you feel it is not hot enough for your taste, then add more chilli powder at this stage & saute.
• Pour 1 ¼ to 1½ cup water. Mix and bring it to a boil. Cook until you see traces of oil on the surface and the gravy thickens a bit.
• Gently slide the fish pieces and cook covered on a medium heat.
• Carefully flip or turn the pieces to the other side after 3 to 4 mins.
• Cook until the fish pieces bulge a bit. This is the indication they are cooked completely. Taste the curry and add more salt if needed.
• Optionally garnish fish curry with coriander leaves if desired.

KERALAN FISH CURRY

Steps:

• Peel and finely slice the shallots, garlic and ginger. Trim and finely slice the chilli. Cut the fish into chunks.
• Heat a lug of groundnut oil in a large pan, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves and cook until the seeds start to pop.
• Add the shallot, garlic, ginger and chilli, and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes, or until softened.
• Mix the chilli powder and turmeric together with a splash of water, and stir into the pan. Fry for 1 minute, then add the fish, coconut milk and tomatoes.
• Season, bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked and the sauce has reduced.
• Pick, chop and scatter over the coriander leaves. Delicious served with basmati rice and warm naan bread.

KERALA FISH CURRY

Steps:

• Cut the fish into bite-sized chunks, put them into a large bowl, and rub with a little salt and 1 teaspoon turmeric. Heat the oil in a large, shallow pan and peel and tip in your fine half-moons of onion; sprinkle them with a little salt to stop them browning and then cook, stirring, until they've softened; this should take scarcely 5 minutes. Cut the whole, unseeded chillies into thin slices across (although if you really don't want this at all hot, you can deseed and then just chop them) and then toss them into the pan of softened onions. Peel the ginger and slice it, then cut the slices into straw-like strips and add them too, along with the remaining teaspoon of turmeric and the cumin. Fry them with the onions for a few minutes. Pour the tin of coconut milk into a measuring jug and add a tablespoon of tamarind paste and the fish stock concentrate, using boiling water from the kettle to bring the liquid up to the litre mark. Pour it into the pan, stirring it in to make the delicate curry sauce. Taste and add more tamarind paste if you want to. And actually you can do all this hours in advance if this helps. When you are absolutely ready to eat, add the fish to the hot sauce and heat for a couple of minute until it's cooked through but still tender.