Fish Curry with a touch of Tamarind

This is basically a dish from the Southern part of India (state of Andhra Pradesh). I was wondering how it would taste but then I went ahead and made it. It was definitely a little different from the usual fish curried I have eaten and it tasted good. So go ahead and try it..

I used the canned / processed tamarind paste and Catfish fillets (I know I keep coming to this one even though there are plenty of variety out there!!). By now you know I somehow always pick up fillets as it saves me the time of cleaning and cutting the fish :):). You may go ahead and use any fish, and it is better if you get the whole fish..

This dish (unlike many other fish curries) does not need the fish to be fried before it goes into the sauce, so comparatively it uses less oil..The raw fish gets cooked directly with the sauce.

All that you will need :

(Serves 4)

• Fish - about 2 lbs

• Onion - 1

• Ginger - 1 inch piece

• Garlic - 4-5 pods

• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

• Green chilly - 2

• Dry red chilly - 2

• Tamarind paste - 1 Tbsp

• Turmeric paste - 1/4 tsp

• Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

• Garam masala - 1 tsp

• Lime juice - 1 Tbsp

• Coriander leaves - some, for garnishing

• Water - for the gravy

• Salt - to taste

• Cooking Oil - 3 Tbsp

How you can make it :

• Wash and clean the fish, take out the tails / fins etc. and cut into pieces of about 3-4 inches. Now the fish is ready.

• Take about 4-5 garlic pods and mince them nicely. It should yield about 1 Tbsp of garlic.

• Take a piece of ginger of about 1 inch size. Grate it finely.  It should yield about 1 Tbsp of ginger.

• Chop the onion into small pieces.

• Slice the green chillies length-wise into two pieces each.

• Heat up a kadhai, put the oil in it. Keep it on medium heat.

• Once the oil is warm, put the cumin and mustard seeds and also break the dry red chilly and add them.

• In a few seconds, the mustard seeds will start popping and cumins seed will turn brown, so add the chopped onion, grated ginger, minced garlic and green chillies.

• Mix well and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes.

• Add the tamarind paste, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, salt and garam masala. Mix well.

• Pour in about 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.

• Cover it and cook for about 5 minutes so that onions get cooked properly and other ingredients mix well.

• Chop some fresh coriander leaves (a handful). Add it now along with some fresh lemon juice (I have used the ready-made one). Mix well.

• Slowly dip each piece of fish into this gravy, making sure that you are giving enough space to each piece.

• Turn the gas to high and once it starts boiling reduce it to medium. Cover it and give about 5 minutes to the fish to get cooked and soak in the flavours.

• Uncover now, mix and gently turn the pieces making the gravy reach all corners of the pieces. Cover again and give it another 5 minutes to cook.

• Double check that the fish is cooked properly - it should have changed colours and become darker and should be flaking easily.

• Switch off the gas and let it sit for sometime and before you can serve and enjoy it with a bowl of plain white rice!!