Fish Curry

I have tried cooking almost all things which I love to eat but never tried my hands on cooking fish curry in the Kerala style. You call it luxury or luck, but my hubby is a great cook and its only him who cooks fish curry at our home. If we ever bought fish, it means its time for him to hit the kitchen. And this routine has been happening ever since our marriage, probably because of couple of reasons. One of which is, he loves cooking. Second because he never adored my family's preparation of fish except for the Karimeen Pollichathu and fish fries. And of late I have been craving to eat my mom's fish curry, which is a Tengaaracha meen curry(Fish curry made in ground coconut). Thats when, as usual, I picked up the phone and rang up my mummy to check out how to make Tengaaracha meen curry. She was surprised when I asked her this recipe because she knew that her son-in-law only likes his amma's meen curry, which is way too different from any fish curry we have ever had in our lifes. But then I had made up my mind too strong to break this ice and make him like our fish curry too.

Last night when he returned from work I was gleaming with smile and unable to control my eagerness to know how he reacts when he sees the curry . As usual he entered the kitchen and started lifting the lids of the dishes to find out whats cooking? And boy you should have seen the smile on his face!! And finally the magic worked... It was a recipe from my mothers kitchen but prepared according to his likes i.e with lots of red chilly and prepared in pure coconut oil. Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium sized pieces - Fish
• 2 Tbsp - Coconut Oil
• 1 pinch - Fenugreek seeds/Uluva
• 2-3 Shallots, sliced
• 1 small piece - Ginger
• 2 cloves - Garlic
• 1 sprig - Curry leaf
• 1 piece - Kokum/Kudumpulli, washed
• Salt to taste
• Water

For paste

• 1 handful of - Grated Coconut
• 1 tbsp - Coriander powder
• 1 tbsp - Red chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

For seasoning

• 1 Tbsp - Coconut Oil
• 2 pinch - Mustard seeds
• 1 sprig - Curry leaf
• 1-2 Shallots, sliced

Method:

• Prepare a very fine paste of coconut, coriander powder, chilly powder and turmeric.
• Heat a meen chatti(traditional utensil made of clay used for preparing fish) and pour the oil. When hot put the fenugreek seeds and let it splutter. Add the shallots, ginger, garlic, curry leaves and saute for 2 minutes or till transparent.
• Now add the coconut paste and saute well till oil separates. This will take 4-5 minutes
• Add required water, salt, kokum and fish pieces and cover it for cooking. Thicken the gravy according to your wish and turn off the gas
• Heat a small kadhai with oil and splutter tne mustard and saute in the shallots and curry leaves and pour on top of the fish curry(do not stir) and cover it with lid till you serve.
• Serve with rice or kappa(tapioca)