Fish Curry (Kerela Style)

This is last night's story - dinnertime episode. 

As usual I was about to make the Oriya style fish curry (medium/heavy gravy + potatoes in it) with the fresh Catfish I got - my idea was to eat it with chapati. But my hubby dearest was like 'why don't you make something different today, like baking the fish.....'...Since I hadn't got fillets (and moreover I didn't have couple of things I needed for baking - thyme leaves/cilantro, pepper sauce etc.), I was not too enthusiastic on baking the fish. 

Now, I had spoken to my very good friend (from Kerala) in the morning, and co-incidentally we had spoken about some fish fry ---- so putting 2+2 = 4, I suddenly decided to give the fish a royal 'Mallu treat'. And yes, whatever ingredients I thought I would be using, they were all readily available with me.

Trust me, the Mallu-way fish was way better than I thought it would be. Me and Abhishek (my hubby) ended up eating the extra portion of rice I had cooked and also all of the fish curry (supposedly a portion made for 3-4 people)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here is that Spicy & Tangy Catfish curry for you, and yes it is topped with flavours of Coconut !!!

All that I use:

(Serves 4)

• Catfish - 1 lbs

• Garlic - 4 pods

• Ginger - 1/2 inch

• Onion - 1 (medium sized)

For the gravy -

• Garlic paste - 2 tsp

• Ginger paste - 2 tsp

• Red chilli powder - 2 tsp

• Coriander powder - 2 tsp

• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

• Curry leaves - few

• Tamarind paste - 2 Tbsp

• Shallots - 2-3 Tbsp (chopped)

• Grated Coconut - 2 Tbsp

For the seasoning - 

• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

• Fenugreek seeds (Methi) - 1 tsp

• Shallot - 1 Tbsp (finely chopped)

• Curry leaves - few

• Oil - 2 tsp

• Salt - to taste

How I make it:

1. Put all the ingredients for the gravy in the mixer-grinder and grind it to a smooth paste, by adding a    little water. 

(I have used desiccated coconut, but best taste would be with freshly grated coconut. Also that I have used bottled tamarind paste - you may make paste out of fresh ripe tamarind).

2. Wash and clean the fish. Cut them into medium sized pieces.

3. Take those garlic pods, piece of ginger and the onion and finely chop them. Keep aside along with a few curry leaves.

4. Take a kadhai, put the gravy paste in it. Add the fish + chopped (onions + garlic + ginger) + curry leaves. Toss and turn the fish pieces (as they are completely raw now) and make sure they are completely immersed in the paste/gravy. Add some water to the kadhai to let the fish soak completely in the gravy. Bring it to a boil on high heat.

5. Once it starts boiling, lower the heat to medium. Add salt to taste and let the fish get cooked by simmering in the gravy. 

You may cover the kadhai to preserve the aromas.

6. In 15 minutes, the fish should be tender and nicely cooked.

This is how it will look. Turn the heat to low now.

7. Seasoning - Heat oil in a small pan as we need to prepare the seasoning now. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Once they start spluttering, put the fenugreek seeds + chopped shallot + curry leaves. 

Keep the flame at low at all times (else the seasoning ingredients will burn). Fry these for a minute (the chopped shallot would be golden brown by now).

8. Now uniformly add this seasoning to the fish curry in the kadhai.

In fact, now also, you need not stir.

9. Just a minute on heat, and we are done. It's ready to be served!!!

Goes best with plain white rice - steaming hot. I have tried it with plain wheat chapati as well and it isn't a bad combination either.

Note - Don't stir the fishes in the dish while they get cooked. They are already too soft and we don't want to break them into smaller chunks. For this same reason, in the beginning itself we have made sure that the pieces are well immersed in the gravy. This will do the needful in getting the taste deep into all corners of the fish!!

Palak Mutter (Green Peas in Spinach Gravy)

Palak Mutter is an evergreen curry not just because of the color of peas and spinach, its also so rich & nutritious due to the Vitamins that Spinach adds to the curry.

It is a very quick and easy recipe to follow, with a healthy & tasty dish awaiting you in the end.

All that I use:
(Serves 4)

• Boiled green peas – 1 cup

• Fresh Spinach leaves – 500 gms

• Onion – 1 medium sized (chopped)

• Green chilies – 4 (chopped)

• Turmeric powder – 1 pinch

• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

• Garlic pods – 4 to 5 (chopped)

• Dry red chilies - 2

• Cooking oil – 3 tsp

• Cream – 2 tsp

• Salt – to taste

• Coriander leaves – to garnish

How I make it:

• Heat a non-stick pan. Add 1 tsp oil on it.

• Once the oil is hot, add the chopped (green chilies + garlic) and the red chilies. Stir them for about 30 seconds on medium heat.

• Now put in the chopped onions and fry them till they are golden brown. keeping the flame on medium heat.

• To get the flavors, add that pinch of turmeric powder.

• Stir nicely and in a minute add the spinach leaves.

• Add salt and little water and cook it for around 8-10 minutes, that would be till you can see the spinach leaves losing color and turning light green.

• Switch off and let this cooked mixture cool naturally. It should take about 10 minutes.

• Pull out the grinder and put this mixture in it. Grind it to a smooth paste. Add very little water while you grind this as we don't want to lose the thickness. This gets our gravy ready.

• For the next round of cooking, you may rinse the same pan with plain water and use again. Once the pan is hot, take the remaining 2 tsp oil.

• Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds.

• Let them splutter nicely before you add the boiled peas to the pan. Let them fry on low-medium heat for 1-2 minutes. 

You may add some more chopped green chilies if you may like.

• You would now see that the peas get even softer, so add the spinach paste. 

If you find the gravy to be too thick, please don’t hesitate to add little water. Add salt if needed.

• Cover and let it simmer for about another 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring in between.

• Add the fresh/canned cream that you have. Stir it nicely and in a minute switch off.

The curry is now ready to be eaten, and goes equally well with plain white rice or Indian breads like plain Roti, Naan, Kulcha etc.

Best way to serve is by adding a little speck of cream (yet again) and chopped coriander leaves.