Kerala Fish Curry / Meen Curry ( with coconut paste )

Kerala Fish Curry ( with coconut paste )

Serves: 3 - 4

Ingredients

350 g Black Pomfret ( Aavoli ) / Seer fish (Nemmeen / Ayakkura), cleaned and cut into thick pieces ( The slicing is different for frying and fish curry . Some prefer to skin out the fish - in which case the fish should be skinned). (Marinate fish pieces with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder for 1/2 hour )

15 small onions ( chuvannulli / sambar onion / shallots ) thinly sliced or 1 full onion, thinly sliced
1 - inch piece ginger, finely chopped
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 green chillies, slit lengthwise
1 spring curry leaves
5 kudampuli ( kokum ) ( soak kudampuli in 1/2 cup water with 1 teaspoon salt for 1 hour )
1 1/2 teaspoon salt ( or to taste )
1 cup water (1/2 cup water to cook with kudampuli and fish pieces, remaining water for coconut paste )
2 teaspoon cooking oil

For the coconut masala / paste:

1 cup coconut (75 - 90 g), grated
8 whole red chillies ( soak whole red chillies in 1/4 cup water for 1 hour. Reserve water to grind the coconut paste)
1/4 teaspoon methi seeds ( uluva / fenugreek )
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Make a smooth paste of above ingredients in a mixer. Keep aside.

Method

Heat oil in a kadai / meen chutty ( earthen pot ). Fry sliced onions, chopped garlic, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves till golden color.

Add kudampuli along with 1/2 cup water. Mix well.

Add fish pieces and salt to taste. Arrange the fish pieces very carefully. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 8 - 10 minutes. ( There will be a color change in kudampuli and fish pieces). Stirring / disturbing the fish slices during cooking is not required as the cooked fish pieces may break.

Add coconut paste and adjust the thickness with 1/2 cup water. Mix very gently/slowly with a flat spoon. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 10 - 12 minutes or until done / you get a nice aroma. Serve with rice. Other accompaniments - Prawns pepper fry and fish fry / boiled tapioca.

Variations:

One can add 1/2 cup of coconut milk to this preparation ( when it is done ) - which - not only reduces the spiciness / but also increases the taste. Need to adjust salt in this case. The down side is extra fat / calories.

Another variation is to make it more spicy adding more chillies for those who like very spicy fish curry.