Sitting around in this cold winter weekend pondering what to cook, my thoughts travelled to the warm winds blowing inland from the ocean on the west coast of Maharashtra where I resided.
I could smell so vividly the aroma of fish being cooked by the fisherwoman residing very close to where I lived. All of a sudden I thought that fish is what I need to cook to overcome this nostalgia.
So I made this fish curry with Tilapia, yellow rice and complimented it with masala shrimp and potatoes. It is a delicious and hearty meal and once you make it I assure you it will be on the the top of your sea food choices.
This fish curry is a typical Indian curry which is easy and fast to cook once you have everything ready. The main ingredients are shredded coconut, coconut milk, earthly spices and kokum. What is Kokum? The English word for Kokum is Garcinia Indica and is dark purple in color. It adds a tangy and sour taste to the curry. You can also substitute tamarind paste for Kokum.
Fish Curry
Ingredients
- 6 Tilapia Filet
- 1/2 cup freshly grated coconut Buy the packet from the frozen aisle in the Indian store. You can also buy unsweetened coconut powder from any grocery store.
- 3 cups full fat coconut milk
- 4 dried red chilies
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 4 Kokum 1/2 teaspoon of tamarind paste or you can add more if you like
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 3/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon Thecha chili garlic paste. I bought it from Indian grocery store but you can buy the chili garlic sauce from the Asian aisle in any grocery store and add 2 tablespoons of it
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Shan fried fish masala available in Indian grocery store or Amazon
Instructions
- Take the shredded coconut add half cup of water and blend in a blender. In a heavy bottomed pan add 1/2 cup of oil
- To it add cumin seeds and curry leaves and stir for a minute till the cumin seeds crackle
- Now add whole red chilies and ginger garlic paste
- Add blended shredded coconut and stir well. Add all the dry spices
- Fry for a couple of minutes and add the tomato sauce
- Stir it in well and add the coconut milk
- Add the Kokum. Add 2 cups of water cover and cook for 10-12 minutes
- Now add the fish and cook for another 8-10 minutes till fish is done
- Add chopped cilantro and turn off heat
- I added dried cilantro as I did not have fresh cilantro,
- I completed the meal by adding rice, masala shrimp and potatoes. The recipe for masala shrimp and potatoes will follow.
- Serve with yellow rice or rotis and salad .
This turned out really delicious! I will definitely be using your website as I experiment with Indian cooking