Malabar Style Fish Stew

Malabar Style Fish Stew

A tasty fish stew, made of less spices and coconut milk. Best with steamed rice / pulao / ghee rice / appam / idiyappam .. Basic recipe from Mrs Rasiya Lateef !!!

Serves: 3 – 4

Ingredients

500 g good quality fish pieces (nemmeen / aavoli / karimeen..)

150 g oil (to fry the fish)

For the paste:

3 green chillies

10 cloves garlic

1 – inch piece ginger

½ teaspoon salt

Method

Make a fine and thick paste of above ingredients in a small mixer bowl.

Wash and clean fish pieces. Drain out water completely. Wipe each fish pieces with a soft kitchen towel. In a bowl, marinate fish evenly on both the sides with green chilli – ginger – garlic paste. Cover and keep aside for minimum half hour.

Heat oil in a kadai / frying pan. Deep fry fish pieces light golden in color on both the sides. Drain and place on kitchen towel to absorb extra oil. Do not use leftover oil to make fish stew.

Other ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

3 cloves

2 cinnamon stick (1 – inch size)

2 onions, finely sliced

3 green chillies, slit lengthwise

1 – inch piece ginger, finely chopped and crushed

10 garlic cloves, chopped and crushed

8 curry leaves

1 big size tomato, cut into cubes

3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

75 -100 ml / ½ cup water

100 ml thin coconut milk

Lightly fried fish pieces

½ teaspoon pepper powder

2 – 3 tablespoon thick coconut milk (optional)

Method

Heat oil in a pan / kadai. Add cloves and cinnamon and fry on a low heat for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Add sliced onions and fry until light pink.

Add slit green chillies, curry leaves, ginger and garlic. Stir well for 2 – 3 minutes.

Add cubed tomato and stir well. Add salt and 75 – 100 ml water. Cover with a tight lid and cook on a medium to low heat for 10 – 12 minutes or until thickens / all the ingredients well blended.

At this stage, add thin coconut milk and boil on a low heat for 5 minutes.

Now add lightly fried fish pieces and pepper powder. Cover again and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes. Switch off the heat.

Finally, add 2 – 3 tablespoon thick coconut milk (optional) if you need a thick creamy gravy. Consume fish stew after half an hour. Serve with rice / pulao / ghee rice / appam / idiyappam / brown bread …