FISH CURRY

                                   

                                   FISH CURRY 

“Fish” is probably the most important source of proteins for humans throughout recorded history. You can easily find the lovers of fish curry in any part of India. Be it Kerala, Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Goa, the list goes on and on. I have been to these places and never missed any opportunity to grab the local fish curry. If you don’t have control over your diet while eating fish and somehow done the overeating then need not to worry, the beautiful thing about fish is that it digests very quickly. This is the uniqueness of fish over other non-veg dishes like meat, chicken etc.

As fish is quite popular across India, the difficult part is that each and every state has its own taste of fish curry. In Kerala you will find the gravy a bit thinner and less spicy whereas in Bengal the gravy you will find in general will be thick and a bit spicy. Same story for Bihar too. So, here I will try to keep it as simple as possible. The recipe down here is a mix of Bihari and Bengali kind.

A special credit goes to my dear friend “KUMAR UTKARSHA aka CHAK”. He is the main “cook” behind this dish. 

Ingredients (For 1 KG Fish):

• 1 KG fresh “ROHU” Fish. Check out with local vendors and ask them to provide good fresh fish if possible. The real trick is to buy a fresh piece. If you didn’t get this right then the whole of your dish is going to be ruined. Some peoples are an expert in buying fresh fish. Take advice from them or take them with you to buy. If you are from the coastal area or have any river by your city then you don’t need to worry, you will get the best fish there.

• 3-4 medium sized Tomatoes.

• 10-12 Garlic Cloves.

• Mustard oil for frying the Fish (Amount of oil has to be that much such that every fish piece should be fully dipped in it).

• 3-4 Teaspoon Ginger-Garlic paste (For Marination).

• 3-4 Teaspoon Turmeric powder.

• Spice mix for curry: -  
• 4-5 medium spoons of Mustard seed (sarso).
• 1-2 teaspoon Black Pepper powder.
• 1-2 teaspoon Cummins seed (Jeera) or Powder will also do.
• 2-3 teaspoon Coriander Powder. 
• 1 teaspoon Fenugreek seed.
• 1 teaspoon Ajowan (Ajwain).
• Red chili as per your taste.

The above spice mix must be grind properly to get a very well powdered mixture. If you don’t have a mixer grinder, then you are in a bit of trouble. Mustard seeds has to be grinded well otherwise the taste of curry will not taste that good. You can find some shops from where you can take this spice and ask them to grind them. It requires a bit of effort but trust me when you will taste that curry then you will realize that it was worth it.

Note: - Be very careful with Mustard seeds. If you add more than what is required then the gravy will taste “Bitter” and whole your gravy will be wasted. So watch out while adding mustard seed. 4-5 medium spoons are enough for 1 KG fish curry.

                             Enough with the precautions. Let’s cook now!!!!

• Wash the fish very well. If possible wash it with Besan (Gram Flour). It will remove that unpleasant smell of raw fish.

• After washing it well, add Turmeric powder, salt to taste, ginger-garlic paste, red chili powder and keep it aside for few minutes.

Add ginger-garlic paste. It will help in getting fish crispy.

Mix well with salt and Turmeric Powder.

Yeah. You are doing it right!!

• Heat a deep frying pan (Kadahi).

• Pour in mustard oil. The quantity of mustard oil must be same as explained above. Fish pieces should get properly dipped in it.

Thick iron kadahi is preferable.

This is exactly how you have to do the frying stuff.

• Add 2-3 piece at a time, lower down the flame and let it cook. Avoid continuous checking of it, otherwise pieces can break.  Please be safe and careful while putting the fish in heated oil. Burn scars don’t fade away easily. Just saying!!!

• When the pieces will turn to dark brown color from both sides then take it out.

I am no expert on color identification. But, i think this is shade is known as brown. Isn't it?

• Repeat the procedure for all the remaining pieces and you are ready with fried fish. This is also quite popular dish among people. As per my observation 50% of the fish is kept for curry and rest 50% is consumed as fried. Starter and main course both with a single source. Beat that!!

The toughest part is done. Now let us make curry for these.

Now for the gravy part:

• Chop the tomatoes and garlic in small pieces.

These are the main ingredients to make gravy. Onion is a big "NO" for Fish Curry.

• Take a pan and heat it.

• Pour in some mustard oil in it.

• After the oil heats up add chopped tomatoes and garlic into it. Lower down the flame and cover it. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Check after 2-3 minutes if the mixture is not sticking to the frying pan base.

Cover it and let it cook for 5 minutes. Mix it after 5 minutes. Repeat it 2-3 times.

• You will see that tomatoes are getting cooked and slowly removing water.

• Take spice mix curry and dilute it well in water. Make sure the mixture remains on the thicker side.

• Pour the mixture into the pan. Keeping the flame lower mix it with cooked tomatoes.

• Cover the pan and continue to cook on low flame for 10-15 minutes.

• Now you will be able to see that oil is getting separated.

Now is the time to add the remaining fish pieces (50%) into this gravy.

• Add water according to your requirement. But make sure that it must not get too dilute, otherwise it will not taste that good.

• Add the fried fish pieces into the curry. Cover it for 5 minutes.

• Server it with steamed rice.

Need i say more??

It tastes best with steamed rice and lemon slice. There is a famous saying in “Darbhanga (Bihar)” that: - “Jab nimbu ka ras machli ke jhor me mil jata hai to WO amrit ban jata hai”. I was curious to try it and one day I did. Believe me, people of Darbhanga is not wrong at all. It tastes amazing with lemon juice.

Credits:-

Pic Courtesy:- Sujit

Quote from Darbhanga:- Anup

Cooked by our swagger Utkarsh aka CHAK!!! :P