South Indian Fish Curry

I remember as a young kid being sent to the Indian shop to buy fish curry whenever my aunt had a cold....the hotter and spicier the better. It was supposed to bring her some relief and I guess it must have worked.

The fragrance from this curry brings back those memories. This is not a sweet curry as it has no coconut milk but definitely a much healthier dish. It is tangy and very fragrant from the different types of spices.

Ingredients
500 gm fish steaks
2 Tbsp tamarind paste
415 ml water


1 -3 Tbsp oil
1 tsp white or black mustard seeds
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised
½ tsp salt (to taste)
1 tsp sugar
1 tomato (quartered)
5 okra/ladies finger (optional)
1 spring curry leaf

Spice Paste (grind together)
2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground fennel
1½ tsp chilli powder
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
1 small onion
2 clove garlic

Method
1. Knead tamarind with water. Strain and set aside.

2. Heat oil in wok and fry paste and mustard seeds over medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until paste is fragrant and volume has reduced by about one-third.

3. Add tamarind liquid, lemon grass, salt, sugar, okra and tomato and simmer for 4 minutes.

4. Add fish and curry leaves and simmer for 6-7 minutes or until fish is cooked through. Season to taste.

5. Serve with rice or roti.


Note
1. Mackeral is suppose to be the best fish for this dish. As I can't get that here, I have substituted with a fat round fish and sliced it into thick pieces.

2. Chilli paste can be used in place of chilli powder. Add more or less to suit your 'spicy' tolerance.

Tip
I always grind my dry whole spices with the coffee grinder as ready ground spices can get stale and taste dull very quickly.
Do the sniff test, if your ground spice do not smell fragrant, toss it out.

Recipe : Shiok Exciting Tropical Asian Flavors by Terry and Christopher Tan (adapted)