Kerala Fish Curry / Manga Chertha Fish Curry (Fish curry with Raw Mango & Coconut paste)

Kerala Fish Curry / Manga Chertha Meen Curry ( Fish curry with raw mango & coconut paste )

A tasty fish curry, goes well with rice !!!

Serves: 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 )

1 tablespoon oil

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 or 6 nos

6 thin slices of raw mango (1/2 – inch thickness and 4 cm long)

1 1/2 teaspoon salt ( or to taste )

1 cup water (200 ml)

For the coconut masala / paste:

1 cup coconut (75 - 90 g), grated

10 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 ) or 1/2 teaspoon methi seed powder / uluvapodi

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

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

Method

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

Add mango slices along with 1 cup (200 ml) water and salt to taste. Mix well and cook for 4 – 5 minutes until it boils.

Gently add marinated fish pieces. Arrange the fish pieces very carefully. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes until half done / color changes in fish pieces and mango pieces softens. 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 ¼ cup (50 ml – 75 ml) water. Mix very gently/slowly with a flat spoon. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 5 - 7 minutes or until done / you get a nice aroma / slightly thickens. Serve with rice. Other accompaniments - Prawns pepper fry and fish fry / boiled tapioca.

Tip: Keep aside this curry for half an hour before consuming. Then it will absorb all the flavors and also you will get the real taste of mango.