Thursday, May 6, 2010

Nadan meen curry / Fish curry

Meen curry is a regular of almost every household in Kerala I guess.. n why not, when we get fresh n 'pidakkunna' fish over here and also it goes well with rice, our main staple. There are different recipes for simple fish curry; however, I am gonna give you one way of making easy fish curry, without roasting coconut n all..You may use any fish for this recipe however, I like it best using seer fish or king fish (naimeen/ayakoora) or pomfret (aavoli) or Indian mackerel (ayala).

Ingredients :

King fish : 8 medium sized pieces
Fenugreek (uluva) : 1/2 tspn
Curry leaves : 2 sprigs
Salt : as required
Coconut oil : 3 tbspn
Raw mango : 1/2 a mango

Grind the following together with a little water to make a smooth paste;

Coconut : 11/2 cups
Turmeric powder : 1 tspn
Chilly powder : 2-3 tbspn
Shallots : 15 nos.
Green chilly : 5 nos.
Tamarind(puli) soaked in water: ball to the size of half a lemon is to be soaked
  • Take a manchatti / claypot (meenchatti). When hot, add 2 tbspn coconut oil and then add fenugreek n saute for a while under medium flame until you get that smell of uluva.
  • Add the ground paste and saute thouroughly. Add about 1 cup of water and required salt. Add mango cut into vertical pieces like you do for aviyal.You may replace mango with diced tomato(1 no.) if you wish.
  • When its starts to boil, add the fish pieces gently into the pot and then the curry leaves and cook covered until the fish pieces become tender. Add the remaining oil through sides of the pot.
  • Check sourness, add more tamarind water if required acc. to your choice. 
  • Check salt, add more water or if too loose a consistency, cook uncovered for some more time to match the consistency of your choice. And be ready to have your lunch baby!
Titbits
- Remember, if fenugreek seeds exceed its required amount, its more than enough to spoil the curry; hence, never exceed the limit with the expectation that the curry will turn out to be more rich n tasty. 
- Keep in mind that stirring frequently with spoon would reduce the taste of the curry and also might break the fish pieces. 
- The older your fishpot, the greater would be your fish curry.
- You may even add split drumsticks cut into 3 inch pieces to add-on to the taste. 
- Its best to use an arakallu (grinding stone) to grind the ingredients for THE right taste. 
- Adding tomato or mango increases the sourness, its almost equivalent to adding tamarind.


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