Chettinad Fish Curry - Meen Kuzhumbu | Fish Recipe

Fish curry is one of the most preferred one for all seafood lovers and we to prepare them in most  days of a week.Some days fish curry sometime veg gravy and fish fry.This chettinad curry stands for its unique fresh masala.



Ingredients:

• Fish-5 big pieces( i used paarai variety(malabar trevally))
• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Onion-1
• Tomato-1 medium size
• Garlic -5 pods
• curry leaves- few
• turmeric powder-1\4 tsp
• Tamarind-small lemon size
• Salt to taste

To roast & grind:

• coconut grated-1\4 cup
• pepper corns-1 tsp
• red chilly-3 to 5
• corinader seeds-2 tsp
• fennel seeds-1\4 tsp

Method:

1.Clean the fish well.soak tamarind in water and extract juice of it.cut onion and tomato.

2.Except coconut dry roast all under "to roast and grind" for 2-3 minutes and lastly add coconut and switch off.Saute the coconut for few seconds .allow to cool well and grind it to a fine paste.

3.Heat oil in pan/earthware pop out mustard seeds followed by onion and garlic pods,saute for a while.then add tomato and saute till it mashes well.

4.Then add the ground paste,tamarind juice water,turmeric powder,salt and required water and bring to boil.

5.When it begins to boil add fish pieces,check for salt and cook till the fish pieces is cooked well( to check the correct consistency of the kuzhambu (my mother's method) if it sticks the back of the laddle its done).

Serve with hot steamed rice.

Note:

1.you can use chilly& corriander powder instead of using it whole.If using powder be careful not to burn them while roasting,better switch of and roast with the heat that persist in the pan.

2.Make fish kuzhambu in earthware for a unique taste.

3.Adjust spice level accordingly.

4.You can make this kuzhambu with out coconut too.In that case saute some onion and tomato,grind and add to get some gravy.

5.Use small onions/shallots if available.