Passport & Plate - Fisherman's Fish Curry

mayank07 — Fri, 6 Mar 2015 12:01:18 GMT

Ingredients
Mackerel, called Aiyal in Malayalam, or any type of white fish - about 500 grams
Onion, red - 1 medium
Ripe tomato - 2 large
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 Tbsp
Mustard seeds (black) - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few sprigs
Chili powder - 1 Tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Fish curry powder* - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Coconut milk - 500 ml
Water - 1 cup
Coconut oil - 1 1/2 Tbsp
Palm sugar/jaggery - 1/2 Tbsp
Kokum pieces/tamarind - 1 Tbsp, soaked in a quarter cup of water
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
Green cardamom - 2-3 small pieces
Cloves - 2 small pieces
Banana leaf - 1
Black pepper, powdered - 1 tsp
Salt, to taste
Salty sea air - optional, but recommended

To fully "experience" the recipe in all its authenticity, an earthen vessel will be required - which can be substituted for by a wok, but it just won't be the same!
You'll also require a non stick pan and spatula.

*Fish curry powder can be made at home by putting together a few basic Indian spices -
Dry red chillies - 200 grams
Coriander seeds - 100 grams
Turmeric stick - 10 grams
Black pepper corn - 50 grams
Dried ginger - 50 grams
Cumin seeds - 1 Tbsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1 Tbsp
Dried curry leaves - 1/2 cup
Method - Dry roast each ingredient slowly on a medium warm skillet till you get a warm aroma emanating from the skillet. Since each ingredient has a different burning point, be very careful of the timing, else it'll turn bitter. Grind in batches. Sieve, and grind again, if required. You'll get a fine powder at the end of it.

How to prepare this recipe
Step 1
Skin fish, chop into medium sized squares - not too small, as they need to hold their own while being steamed inside the banana leaves
Slice the onion and tomatoes, finely
Make a thick, smooth paste out of the chili, coriander, turmeric and fish curry powders

Step 2
In a non stick pan, heat 1 Tbsp of coconut oil
Once the oil is hot, add the 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
Wait for the seeds to splutter - they should sing, almost - and add the onions
Saute the onions till they are translucent
Add tomatoes and ginger garlic paste, saute till it releases aroma and doesn't smell raw
Add the masala powder paste, saute till the oil separates, making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom. You can add half a cup of water to it if it does
Remove this from heat and allow to cool
Grind to a smooth paste
Put the earthen vessel over low heat, add the ground paste to it
Pour in the coconut milk, slowly
Add the tamarind paste/kokum water to this
Add the palm sugar or jaggery
Add all the spices, top with fenugreek seeds, and let this mixture simmer over low heat, till all the flavors come together, and the curry thickens slightly
After about 10-15 minutes of cooking, sieve out the whole spices

Step 3
To prepare the fish, rub the 1/2 Tbsp of coconut oil all over the fish pieces. Take the banana leaf, rub a few drops of oil on it too, and, putting the fish pieces inside, wrap it into a tight parcel. Put this over low heat on the non stick pan, and let it cook for 7-8 minutes, turning sides. Remove the fish pieces from the leaf.

Step 4
Put the fish pieces in the curry in the earthen vessel, top with a few gently sauted curry leaves.
Serve with warm red rice.

The story behind this recipe
There's the smell of the sea - unmistakable, overpowering, omnipresent. No matter which sea you're walking next to , or which coast and country you're at, its there. Carrying stories from shores afar. Its reassuring, almost, telling you you're a part of these stories, that they're all a part of each other. Its salty, its oily, its mysterious, and yet, familiar. When you're swimming in a sea, any sea, you can taste it too. And when you eat fish and seafood, it tastes of where it came from, that same strange/familiar taste of the sea.
Thats how good fish should taste. Fresh, salty, simple.. yet, I can hardly trust my fish these days. What with mercury poisoning and water pollution of all sorts, endangered marine life.. I make sure I'm very careful about whats going on my plate, and where its coming from. I spend a lot of time in a landlocked city, and one thing I truly miss are fresh mussels. They take me back to the sea.
Which is why I keep returning to the sea. I spent some time in Kerala 2 years back. Houseboat meandering slowly over the backwaters, docking in for the night at the most quaint coastal villages. At one such village, I got off with the houseboat's in-house cook-cum lifeguard to purchase fresh fish. Right at the coast, hardly a few metres away, was a fishmonger with the freshest produce caught right off the sea. I went a little overboard (hah!) buying ginormous king crabs, mackerel, prawns and pretty much whatever else he had. When we got back to the boat with our bounty, my Malayali cook decided to teach me his simple yet trusted recipe for mackerel in coconut milk. The ingredients are all readily available on Kerala's coastline, and are inspired by the sea and its surrounding coastline - the coconut milk, the banana leaves, the freshly ground spices. The cook and I spent a good one hour in the boat's tiny kitchen, which was open from one side, and from where I could see the endless river. Thats where the fish came from, ending on our plates here.

Discovering my cooking

Passport & Plate - Fisherman's Fish Curry