"Almost" Oil Free Fish Curry!

Ok...I know, I know..the post title looks weird, but I promise you, I have a really good reason for that. This particular fish curry was born in "Malabar", a district in Kerala, specifically in a place called "Ponnani". Th reason I call this almost oil free is because, the making involves absolutely no oil. However, the final tempering process does involve a bit of oil as you will see in the Method below. Whatever the case, it's a really simple curry to make, and tastes awesome too, especially the next day, since it contains tamarind. However, I would recommend not keeping it for more than 2 days since it does contain coconut milk. Then again, I don't think the curry will last 2 days..he he! I got this recipe from "Mazhavil manorama" and the aunty who prepared it was Sushama aunty. So aunty, if at all you are reading this, this one's for you!

INGREDIENTS 

• 1 kilo fish- I used Salmon, but you can also use Black Pomfret, Kingfish, Trout or any other fleshy fish
• 1 teaspoon ginger, chopped finely
• 5 garlic pods, chopped finely
• 12 shallots, chopped finely
• 2 tablespoons red chilly powder
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Tamarind, the size of a small lemon, soaked in 1/2 a cup of warm water (Valan puli)
• 1 cup thick coconut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (perinjeerakam)- optional
• Few curry leaves
• Salt to taste

Tempering

• 2 tablespoons oil
• Few curry leaves
• 5-6 shallots chopped finely

METHOD

• Make a paste of the chilly, coriander and turmeric powders and set aside.
• Before placing the saucepan on the stove, add the ginger, garlic, the curry paste, few curry leaves, the tamarind pulp, the fish fillets and the salt to taste.
• Pour a little water in the bowl containing the curry paste and add this to the pan so as not to waste any of the paste.
• Place this on the stove, and wait for it to boil properly, before reducing the flame and cooking it for 10-12 minutes on a low flame.
• Grind the shallots with a few curry leaves coarsely using a mortar and pestle or a grinder. It need not be a fine paste.
• Mix the above mixture with the coconut milk and add to the curry. Once coconut milk, the curry should not boil, it should just become warm.
• Check for salt levels.
• Meanwhile, in a frying pan, add the ingredients under "Tempering" and fry till shallots turn brown.
• Add this to the curry as a garnish. You can also mix this in slightly as it gives more flavour to the curry.

Tada, fish curry is ready! So now do you know why I said it's almost oil free? I had this with rice and pickle as you can see below. You can also have this with chappathys, appam or bread. Whatever, it tastes delicious!

So, what do you think? Try it out and let me know, okay? God bless!