Village Style Fish Curry/Gramathu Meen Kulambu

Gramathu Meen Kulambu/ Village Style Fish Curry

Serves: 6

Calories per Serving:192; Carb- 10g; Fat- 9g; Fiber- 1g; Protein – 19g

Preparation time: 10M Cooking time: 20 M Total time: 30 M

Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients:

½ Kg Fish

20 Shallots (10 if large)

3 Tomatoes

2 tsp Chilli Powder

3 tsp Coriander Powder

½ tsp Turmeric powder

2 tsp Salt

3 fruit tamarind (Lemon sized)

2 cups water

To Temper:

½ tsp Fennel Seeds (Saunf)

½ tsp Fenugreek Seeds(Methi)

5 Pods Garlic

2 Green Chillies

3 Sprig Curry leaves

3 tbsp Sesame Oil

To Roast and Grind:

1 tsp Mustard Seeds

½ tsp Fennel Seeds

½ tsp Fenugreek Seeds

¼ tsp Cumin Seeds

Method:

1. Clean the fish pieces with turmeric, salt and lemon juice or vinegar to get rid most of the fishy smell.
2. Soak the tamarind in one cup water for 10 minutes. To extract the juice, mix the tamarind well with hands and strain them.
3. Grind shallots and tomato together to form a smooth puree.
4. To the puree, add the chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt, 1 tsp sesame oil and tamarind water mix them well.
5. Adjust for the taste and allow it to rest for 10 minutes
6. Heat the remaining oil in a mud pot, once it is hot, add the ingredients given under ‘to temper’ one by one.
7. When the garlic gets roasted and changes color, add the onion tomato masala puree, remaining water and bring it to a boil.
8. Cook this masala mixture over high flame until the desired thickness is achieved.
9. Add the cleaned fish, cover and cook for 5 minutes over medium flame.
10. In the meantime, in a heated pan, add all the ingredients given under ’to roast and grind’ and roast them until the mustard seeds crackle and nice aroma comes out.
11. Grind it to form a powder.
12. Add it to the boiling fish curry and cook covered for another 5 minutes in low flame.
13. Oil will get separated from the curry and it is the right time to turn off the flame.
14. Serve with idly/dosa/rice/millet rice.Tastes Best after 2-3 hours or the next day!

Stepwise pictures:

Notes:

1. In the onion tomato masala mixture, the sourness from the tamarind should be more than what you like. Once you add the fish, it will take up most sourness.
2. If you think you added more tamarind, add some more coriander powder to balance the taste.
3. Use only Mud Pot and Sesame oil for the best flavor.
4. Leaving the onion tomato masala to rest for 10 minutes, gives this curry a depth of flavor.
5. If you don’t have time to soak the tamarind, soak it in hot water, then you will be able to extract juice in 2-3 minutes.
6. I used Vanjaram, but you can make this fish curry with any fish especially small fish like anchovies will taste great.

Micronutrient Values:

Do try this recipe and let me know how it came out in the comment below. Thank you!