Fish Curry in Coconut Milk - Trissur style

 

 

  Today we have a Trissur style fish curry recipe to share with you all. The recipe was shared by one of my dear friends, Preetha Jayesh, who is an expert in cooking Trissur style nadan dishes. She makes the best sambar, chicken stew, dal preparations and fish curries. I will post all her yummy Trissur recipes over time hopefully. This recipe is not the authentic one, it is her adapted version. The authentic recipe calls for smoothly ground coconut and tamarind instead of kudam puli, I will share that recipe soon. I used tilapia but you can use any kind of fish for this recipe. You can even try out this recipe with prawns, it is equally delicious!! It is so easy to prepare and goes really well with rice. Try it out friends!

Ingredients

1. Fish - 3 fillets ( I used tilapia)
2. Ginger - 1.5 inch, chopped
3. Pearl onion / kochulli - 5 + 5, chopped
4. Green chillies - 2, slit
5. Curry leaves - 1-2 sprigs
6. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp
7. Chilly powder - 1.5 tsp + 1 /2 tsp
8. Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp
9. Coconut milk (thick milk) - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
10. Kudam puli (gamboge) - 3 or to taste (Soak the kudam puli pieces in water for 15 mts. Tear them to smaller pieces)
11. Salt - To taste
12. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Method

1. Clean and cut the fish fillets to desired size. Marinate them with 1/2 tsp chilly powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and enough salt for at least 20 minutes.

2. In a claypot or any deep pan, add the chopped ginger, 5 chopped pearl onions, two slit green chillies, few curry leaves, 1.5 tsp coriander powder, 1.5 tsp chilly powder and kudam puli pieces.  Pour around 1.5 cup water and boil this gravy until it reaches a thick consistency.

 

3. Now bring down the heat to medium-low and add half of the coconut milk. Mix well and add the marinated fish pieces. After adding the fish pieces, swirl the clay pot to mix everything well. Cover with a lid and cook the fish pieces at medium-low heat for around 15 mts gently swirling the pan in between. When the fish pieces are done, add the remaining coconut milk and a few curry leaves. Adjust the salt and switch off. Taste-check the gravy, if it tastes very sour, remove one or two kudampuli pieces.

4. Heat coconut oil in a small pan and add the  remaining chopped pearl onions. Brown them and add on top of the fish curry. Do not omit this step as it gives a nice aroma and flavor to the fish curry. Cover the pan with its lid and keep aside for at least 15 minutes for the flavors to set. Serve with rice. Enjoy!!

 

 

Tips:

 

1) In step 2 , you can crush the ginger, pearl onions and curry leaves (njeruduka) with your hands adding a tsp of coconut oil. This gives a wonderful aroma and extra taste to the gravy.

 

2) You can replace kudam puli with other souring agents such as tamarind or mango slices.