A Chettinad style fish curry, with a lovely ground paste…
How was Eid for all of you? I must say that I was pretty much impressed as to how the Muslims over here celebrate it as much as they can despite it being a working day. We went early for the Eid prayers to the nearby community center. Here, the Eid prayers are done at various times in order to accomodate the crowd in the limited space. After that, we came home and had our breakfast of ela ada and cutlet with some chai. We then went around to distribute the cakes we had baked for a few neighbours. We came back and after a little resting – we had slept so late the previous night – my sister made fish biriyani and chicken fry, while I made Kunafa with the dough I had bought along with me in my luggage. We had a barbeque later, so we carried chocolate cake as snack. We had a lovely time and the climate was absolutely fantastic. It was a memorable and different Eid, to say the least… 🙂
Of late, the past few days have been pretty lazy. We have been just going around for some little shopping and the only trip we took was to the Art and Space Musuem in Chantilly. We wished that we spent a little more time there by going earlier, it was amazing. They had planes from the early 20th century that were totally in shapes and sizes unimagineable.
I have a lot of posts in my drafts to complete, but I am really not in a mood to sit and post. I just want to take it slow. Fish is not something that my girls like to eat, however I make sure I still fry fish every day for lunch and try to force the girls to eat them. Much to my dismay, they never give in to my forcing. My sister is also getting increasingly frustrated with how choosy my girls are with eating. I have never been a mother who danced to their likes with regards to food, and still they turned out to be like this. 😕 I have no clue where I went wrong… You can find all the fish recipes on my blog over here…
I love lovely paste like fish curries and this Chettinad style curry is one of my favorites. The aromatic spice paste that goes into this curry is the highlight of it. It is not difficult to make at all, since the ingredients are all readily available in any Indian pantry. The base of the curry is completely made with shallots and tomatoes. Any curry with shallots is always super delicious, when compared to cooking the base with regular onions. So please put your laziness aside and peel all those shallots. 😉 This recipe works best with gingelly oil and hence the mention. I hardly use gingelly in my cooking, yet I keep a small bottle at home for such recipes, since the correct flavor with only come with the correct oil. Yes, I agree gingelly is a little heavier but the end result is always delicious. I used shark fillets in my curry, but you can use any of your choice. If you are looking for a different fish curry for your lunch, then go ahead and try this one…
Chettinad Meen Kuzhambu | Chettinad Fish Curry
Ingredients
FOR MASALA
- 1 tbsp gingelly oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 3 dry red chillies
- 1 sprig curry leaves
FOR CURRY
- 1 tbsp gingelly oil
- 1/2 cup shallots peeled, sliced
- 2 green chillies slit
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1 small pc tamarind lime sized, soaked in 1 cup hot water
- 400 gm fish steaks cleaned and drained
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the masala by heating the oil, and add all the ingredients into the hot oil. Cook for a few minutes till aromatic. Allow to cool.
- Add little water and grind to a smooth paste.
- To prepare the curry, heat oil in a saucepan. Saute the shallots and green chillies till wilted.
- Add in the tomatoes and cook till wilted. Sprinkle water if it sticks to the pan.
- Squeeze the tamarind well and discard the waste. Pour the water and bring to boil.
- Add the fish and salt and cook on low flame till half done.
- At this stage, add the paste and cook till the fish is well done. Adjust seasoning.
- Serve the curry hot with rice.
Salam, it has been long I havent come here, such a lovely Eid you and family had. Our Eid was quiet but meaningful still. Love fish too, should look for your recipe snd try simetimes.