Meen Vevichathu/Kerala Style Fish Curry Adapted from "The Suriani Kitchen"

I don't think i need to give any introduction about my love for the bounty from sea.I wont be bored for eating fish three or four times a day i mean appam and fish molee for breakfast and fish curry and fish fry for lunch and tuna cutlet for tea.So that said if you are not a strict carnivore or fishetarian (Is there any word of this sort?) please donot dare to open my lunch box or venture into my kitchen.

                      

Recently i bought a copy of The Suriani Kitchen from flipkart.It is more like a storybook than a cookbook with a lot of stories and anecdotes.A very different take from the usual cook books that have only recipes featured in them.The Author, Lathika George is a bombay born Syrian Christian who moved to Kerala in her teens.She rightly says that "Meals are a celebration of the spices, herbs, seafood, meats, pulses, grains, nuts, and every edible leaf and seed that grows in this fertile land.”

Even though i have my own version of meen vevichathu,I wanted to try the recipe that was mentioned in the book. Donot be intrigued by the use of rice flour,it does wonders to the final taste.I have used King Fish in this recipe,You could substitute it with any fish of your choice.

Recipe

Source :The suriani Kitchen Pg.No. 86

Ingredients

1. Fish 1 kg cut into squares
2. Oil-1/4 cup
3. Shallots - 8
4. Ginger paste - 1 Tsp
5. Garlic - 10 Cloves thinly sliced
6. Garlic Paste  - 2 tbsp
7. Curry leaves - 3 Sprigs
8. Rice Powder - 1 tbsp
9. Cocum - 4 , 2 inch pieces soaked in water
10. Water - 2 cups
11. Salt - As required

For spice Paste

1. Kashmiri Chilly powder - 3 tbsp
2. Turmeric Powder -1/2 tsp
3. Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp
4. Fenugreek - Roasted and ground - 1/2 tsp

Grind the above ingredients to a fine paste with a little water.

Method

1. Heat the oil in a deep pot,add the sliced shallots and fry for two minutes.When they are lightly browned reduce the flame a bit and add the ginger,garlic paste and curry leaves and saute for two minutes til the raw smell goes.
2. Lower the heat and add the ground spice paste and the rice powder.Continue frying for one or 2 minutes.
3. Add the cocum,water,salt and the fish at this stage and simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on.
4. When the fish is cooked drizzle a bit of coconut oil over the curry.

Notes:

1. I have adapted the recipe verbatim and the dish turned out to absolutely delicious.
2. It goes well with rice,moru curry and a thoran(vegetable stir fry).
3. If you donot get kashmiri chilly powder , replace it with usual one but be cautious on the quantity as the normal ones tend to be spicier than their kashmiri counterparts.
4. Kashmiri chilly powder lends a wonderful hue to the curry.
5. Cocum or kudam puli is not to be substituted with sambhar puli.
6. I used /double Horse brand rice powder.

Am sending this to Pari and Runner girl in the Kitchen's Only cooking from cook books event.

Also sending this to made with love mondays

Fish Curry-My all time favourite

After getting to hold fresh Aavoli(Pomfret) I could not make up my mind whether i need to stick on to making meen vevichathu or the varutharacha meen curry.When I was deeply engrossed in this useless thinking( I know which curry i would make) i heard my phone ringing. It was  FT, the conversation started like this.

FT :Entha molu paripaadi..

Me:Hey onnum illa...just prepping for lunch

FT: Innu ethu meen aano kittiye??(Small fishes means a normal day)

Me: Oh aavoli kitti...ennalum enthu cheyyanam ennu ariyilla...ethu curry undaakiyal kollam ennu thinking deeply..

Even before i finished completing the sentence pat came the reply...enthoot chodhyama idhu..??D nee nalla naadan thrissur styleil naalikerathinte paal pzhinju curry vacho (cook a fish curry in thrissur style --meaning cooking  the fish in coconut milk).My confusions cleared.

So that's how i happened to make this curry.Even though this is a drool worth delish curry i abstain from making this version of fish curry for the simple fact that it requires oodles of coconut milk...not that am a coconut milk hater but the health conscious me pops out suddenly and vanishes in no time of course. Mummy prefers this curry for the reason that this curry goes well with Idiyappam and Putu and she has been making this curry since i was a toddler..Enough of my stories.Hope you get to try this and let me know.

Ingredients

1.Fish- 1 Kg

2.Ginger- One inch Piece chopped

Garlic - 6-8 Pods

Green chilly - 2 slit lengthwise

Chilly powder-3 1/2 tsp(I use kashmiri chilly powder)

Turmeric powder-3/4 tsp

Water- One cup

Salt-As  required

Coconut milk extracted from one coconut (dilute it by adding 2 cups of water)

Kudam Puli- 3 pices 

3.Curry leaves -One handfull

Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp

Coconut oil -1 tbsp

Curry leaves -One handfull

Shallots- 10 

Method

1.Wash the kudam puli in water and soak it in 1/2 cup of water for ten minutes and keep it aside.I Prefer soaking in warm water as it speeds up the process

2.In a kadai(Chatti) add the items given under 2.add the water that was used for soaking the kudam puli too.

3.Now add the fish pieces.

4.Have the kadai in low flame and keep stirring occasionally to avoid the coconut milk from curdling.stirring should be done carefully so that the fish pieces don't break.

5.cover and cook till the gravy becomes semi thick.it should be neither watery nor thick.

6.Check for salt and puli.if you feel like the taste of kudam puli is tad too much remove one piece from the gravy.

7.In another pan add coconut oil and splutter mustard seeds curry leaves and shallots and saute this til the shallots becomes translucent.

8.Pour the seasoning in the curry and rotate the chatti so that the curry acquires the flavors from the seasoning too.

9.Serve with rice.

Notes

I use manchatti or earthenware  to make fish curry.I believe this enhances the flavour of the dish even though i don't know how and why.

If you find that the kashmiri chilly powder is not available u can substitute it with the normal chilly powder too but make sure that it does not make the curry too spicy.

I prefer using coconut oil as it really adds an extra bit to the dish.

Nice combo for idiyappams too.