Meen Pathichathu / Kerala style Red Fish Curry

After a long day of stress with initial over excitement which ended up in disappointment , I decided to make something which I am comfortable with , which am sure would come out well....a spicy red hot fish curry again , as myself like any malayali will be happy to have rice with fish curry for every meal...

My disappointment was because of my - failed Swiss roll's -  I made yesterday with over excitement. Excitement because its been sometime that am thinking of making Tiramisu and also making Jam Roll's / Swiss Roll's which my NA loves , so thought to mix both of it and generate a different recipe "Tiramisu Roll's"  though not a new dessert , I was a bit over confident with just 2 eggs which I never realized until I set all other things and started making the cake and then it ended up like this one here.

My cracked Tiramisu Roll's 

I was so excited that I didn't bother that the original recipe need 4 eggs and I made it with 2.

Determined to make these sometime soon .....

We had slight snowfall here and also a bit of rain ..... Rain always reminds me of Kerala :) 

but my plants here are not very happy with the climate.

Waiting for some sunlight all through this way........

Soccer man doesn't like this Fish curry /Meen Pathichathu much as it doesn't have coconut milk in it (People in Angamaly - Thrissur (towards the North part of Kerala) cannot imagine of a fish curry without coconut milk)
Its a star dish from my place ,  from the Middle - to Southern part of Kerala another reason for his dislike .......
though he likes it much he never admits :)

Because we crave for some variety fish here , we explore all Asian store's in search of some fish we know in our place and this time we got King Fish ....happy happy 

Ingredients 

King fish or use any other Thilapia/ Mackerel - 1/2 kg - cleaned and sliced 

Small Onion 10 to 15 no's crushed  / or use Medium size Onion - 1 finely chopped 

Ginger - 1 small piece crushed 

Garlic - 3 to 4 no's crushed and finely chopped 

Green Chili - 1 no's or (more as per your tolerance level) 

Curry leaves - 1 spring. I didn't have curry leaves :(  

Coconut Oil - 2 and 1/2 table spoon 

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Gamboge/ Cocum - 3 to 5 (or more as you like) 

Salt to taste and water 

Powder Ingredients

Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp

Kashmiri Chili - 2 table spoon 

Fenugreek Powder - 1/4 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Kudampuli /Cocum or Kokum - Tamarind grown in tropical Climate.

Method 

* Mix the cleaned and sliced fish with salt and keep aside.Soak the Cocum/ Kudampuli in 1 cup warm water for 10 minutes.

*Dry Roast the powdered ingredients - Chili powder , Kashmiri chili powder , turmeric powder and fenugreek powder , roast these stirring continuously for 5 to 7 minutes in medium heat , pour a little water to it and mix. Switch off the heat and keep aside.

 

Make sure the powder is not over roasted , just heat it till you get the smell of nice roasted chili powder ,  do not wait till the sneeze :) 

* Heat Oil in a Chatti/Madka or any other pan , when heated add the fenugreek seeds , wait for 2 to 3 minutes then add the crushed ginger , garlic and chopped onion (or crushed small Onion if using) , saute these for 5 to 10 minutes till they are more than golden brown. 

* Add in the dry roasted Powder paste to the well fried onion mix and again saute these in low heat for another 3 minutes.

* clear the pan with some water and pour it to the onion mixture , add the soaked cocum water too and close with a lid , wait for'em to start boiling. I added all together 2 cups water , as this curry is made in Madka/chatti , it absorbs more water and hence makes the curry thick.

* Add fish and cocum to the curry , once it starts to boil and cook for another 5 minutes in medium heat.

*Switch off the heat once the fish is cooked , takes almost 5 to7 minutes in medium heat if cooked in this Chatti/Clay pot , they stays hot even after the heat is switched off.Cover and keep for sometime.This fish curry stays out till one day or more if placed in a cooler place. 

This fish curry taste best the next day.

Cheers

TN