Kerala Red Fish Curry

Kerala red fish curry....when you say the same my mouth starts watering. My husband (Shoj), who is basically from Kerala, India is very fond of this curry and so I learned it from his aunt. She makes it very tasty and so easily, but I always take so much time to get the exact taste and texture and the look. But I appreciate my husband who like the way I make it too. So I thought let me put this recipe into my blog so that somebody else like me would try it and would please their dear ones....

Ingredients:

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1 Whole King fish cuts into slices or fillets

3/4 Green Chillies slit

10 Shallots sliced

10 Garlic pods sliced

1inch Ginger sliced

1tbsp Chili powder

2tbsp Paprika powder

2tbsp Coriander powder

1/4tsp Fenugreek powder

1tsp Turmeric powder

4/5 Kudam Puli (Kokam/Kerala fish curry puli)

Salt to taste

Seasoning:

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1tsp Mustard Seeds

2 sprigs Curry Leaves

1/4tsp Fenugreek Seeds

1/4tsp Cumin Seeds
3tbsp Oil (coconut oil - optional)

Method:

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1. Wash and clean the fish peices. Rub with little bit of the turmeric powder and salt and wash it again clean.

2. Wash and soak the Kudam puli in water.

3. In a small bowl mix turmeric powder, fenugreek powder, salt, corriander powder, chili powder and paprika powder with little water and keep it aside as the masala paste.

4. In a heavy bottom pan or a mud pan (usually used in kerala to prepare fish curry) add oil and the seasoning ingredients and wait until mustard seeds splutter.
5. Add the sliced ginger and when it turns pale add garlic and shallots and fry them until they turn slight brown.
6. Now add the masala paste and cook the spice powders on medium low flame until the paste turns to dark red color.
7. Now add kudam puli and the water necessary for the fish curry. mix well and now bring to a boil on high flame.
8. Reduce the flame to medium-high and add the fish pieces and cook for about 15 mins or until the fish is cooked completely by covering the pan and leaving a little space for the steam to escape.
9. Before serving sprinkle with more curry leaves and coconut oil (optional).


Note: This curry is best served a day after it is cooked. So that the fish pieces absorb all the juices of the curry and the tangy/sour taste of the kudam puli. 

MANATHAKKAALI VATRAL KUZHAMBU

Vatral kuzhamvu can be prepared with either chili and coriander powder or sambar powder. In chetti nadu and Brahmin cooking, only sambar powder is used. But in most of the houses in south, chilli powder and coriander powders are used. In some places around Mayuram, Chidhambaram and Cuddalore area, they use ‘kuzhambu podi’ for all the kuzhambu varieties. It is prepared with red chillies, coriander seeds, thuar dal, Bengal gram and a little quantities of other spices like fennel seeds, cumin seeds etc. Here I am posting a simple version of vatral kuzhambu using sambar powder. It tastes divinely with hot rice and ghee!

மணத்தக்காளி வற்றல் குழம்பு

Ingredients:

Manathakkali vatral- quarter cup
Gingelly oil- 2 tbsp+ 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- half sp
Cumin seeds- half sp
Fenugreek seeds- half sp
Asafetida- half sp
Curry leaves- 1 arc
Bengal gram- 2 tbsp
Red chillies-5
Turmeric powder- half sp
Sambar powder- 11/2 tsp
Tamarind- a big lime size
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Soak the tamarind in warm water for half an hour and extract its juice.
Heat a pan and pour the 2 tbsp of gingelly oil.
Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter add the cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds.
When they start to turn golden brown add the Bengal gram, red chillies and the manathakkali vatral along with the curry leaves and asafetida powder.
Fry them for a few minutes.
Add the tamarind juice with the sambar powder and salt.
Le it boil for a few minutes.
When the kuzhambu is thickened, pour the remaining oil.
Keep it on slow fire for 2 minutes.
Serve this with hot rice, melted ghee, pappads and chips!

Baris- dried lentil dumplings - ICC July Challenge

The Sun God, tested my patience a lot today!!!! Phew!!!! Partly my Laziness too. Attempted to do the Baris only day before yesterday!!! :) :). So, all these tests were on my Invitation!!!! :) But anyways, the Baris were worth these sothanai's!!! They tasted damn yummy as raw batter (sure, all of you wud have tasted it!!!), now when all dried, i m waiting to taste them in some curry!!!
My Mother feels that this Baris are same like the Karuvadam, we make minus the fermenting and other extra spices we add. We just Grind the batter, add Ash-gourd and salt. Both are Sun-dried, so it is normally made during those Extra-Sun Months Mar-Apr-May!!!! Though we have good sun even now, but this isnt enough for the baris to bone-dry, these comments are also from my Amma Darling!!!!
Now Coming to the recipe, I have followed a mix of Mamta' recipe and Sharmila's Recipe!!!
Lentil Grinding and Soaking was done according to Mamta's Recipe, wheras the spice mix i took it from Sharmila's.
I m giving you the measurements, which i followed.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Urad dal
1/2 cup grated Ash-gourd
1/2 tsp Methi seeds
2 Green Chillies
1 red Chilli
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Cumin
2 sprigs Curry leaves
A small piece of ginger
Hing a pinch
Salt to taste

Method

I Grinded the urad dal coaresely, then soaked in enough water for the dal to immerse, 1/2 inch above the dal. Added hing and left the dal overnight to ferment. Next day morning, grind Chillies, Pepper, Cumin, Curry Leaves and ginger all together and mix with the Dal mixture. Squeeze out the extra water from ash-gourd add it to the dal mixture. Mix Well. It has to be stiff, dropping consistency. If you drop a blob of mixture in a bowl of water, it should float. 

Grease Two Flat plates with little oil and Place small blobs on the plate. Pray Sun God for his Mercy and Sun-dry them. Mine is 90% Done, But need to dry some more tomorrow morning with the mercy of Mr.Sun.
I didnt want to miss this Month'a ICC, so i sun-dried yesterday and air-dried today :( (since it was cloudy) and took the pics jus now @ 11:30 PM and posting it!!!! Sorry Valli, Amma veedu, Sorgam + Somberithanam, Aug 27th reaching my place, so will come be inline for next challenge!!!! :)

It was a Good Experience making these baris, now i know how much pain both my appa and amma take to make Vadam  of all sorts for us!!! Even now i have Dabba full of these yummies!!!