About a decade ago, on a trip to Dhanushkodi, our car got stuck on the beach sand. I drove the car and I bumped it onto a pole and the car slid onto the sand (yeah! I can do things like that). We were stranded in the middle of nowhere for about 3-4 hours. We ended up reaching a fishing village nearby who helped us to get the car back on road. It was an unforgettable trip! Here is a picture of the children from the village.
On our way back we had stopped for a very late lunch at a small shop that cured dry fishes and also served simple meals and tea. We had fish curry with rice. The fish curry was made fresh to order with a home ground masala and was ready in minutes. The curry was simple and delicious. I got the recipe for the masala that day. I kept it inside my journal and forgot about it. After many years, I found it. Here is my adaptation of Fisherman’s Fish Curry. The original Fisherman’s Fish Curry recipe did not have coconut milk as far as I can remember. I add it as it creates a creamy curry. So its totally up to you to add the coconut milk or to skip it.
Here is how to do the Fisherman’s Fish Curry.
Grind the masala ingredients with water to a fine paste. Set aside.
Take a pan and add in the sesame oil (gingely). Add in the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Let it pop. Add in the ground masala and saute for five minutes.
Add in a cup of water and tamarind paste. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Having home made tamarind paste can be such a time saver in our busy schedules. I make it once a month and store it in my refrigerator. It makes life easier to have tamarind puree at moments notice.
Here is the recipe for tamarind paste.
Add in the fish pieces and cover the pan with a lid and allow it to simmer for another 6-7 minutes. Tear the curry leaves roughly and add it to the pan. Add in the thick coconut milk and let it simmer for a minute more.
Do not allow the curry to simmer for a long time after adding coconut milk.
Remove from heat and serve Fisherman’s Fish Curry hot with rice.
- 1 Onion
- 1 Tomato
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 5 Dried Red Chillies
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Seeds
- 2 tablespoon Fresh Shredded Coconut
- 3 teaspoon sesame (gingely) oil
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 4 tablespoon tamarind paste
- 3 sprigs curry leaves
- ½ cup thick coconut milk
- 500 grams fish steaks
- Grind the masala ingredients with water to a fine paste. Set aside.
- Take a pan and add in the sesame oil (gingely). Add in the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Let it pop. Add in the ground masala and saute for five minutes.
- Add in a cup of water and tamarind paste. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add in the fish pieces and cover the pan with a lid and allow it to simmer for another 6-7 minutes. Tear the curry leaves roughly and add it to the pan.
- Add in the thick coconut milk and let it simmer for a minute more. Do not allow the curry to simmer for a long time after adding coconut milk.
- Remove from heat and serve hot with rice.
Just tried out this curry today and it was simply delicious!!! I have never had a better fish curry ever, not even in a hotel or restaurant. It was just amazing!!!
This recipe is just too too too good.
Thank you so very much.
Thank you
I made this curry over the weekend. It was outstanding, thanks so much for the recipe! I used Chilean Sea Bass, which is firm enough (and oily enough) to stand up to the masala – and I doubled the recipe since it was for about 6 people.
The only change I made was in steps #2 and #3 – I felt the masala needed a lot more sautéing before I added the water, and then after I added water, I simmered it (closed) for about 10-15 min. It seemed to need that much time to get rid of the “raw” smell, and to get the gravy to the right color.
And I made it about 8 hours before we ate, so everything had time to settle and soak in – also a good idea. Will definitely make this again!
Thank you so much!
Tried this recipe last night with some fresh pollock, because I was so happily amazed by the Chicken Kurma recipe I had tried from this website earlier. I forgot to measure the tamarind pulp I added and so the resulting curry was a bit more sour than I would have preferred. Also, I used coriander powder instead of coriander seeds, and not knowing how much powder corresponded to 1 tsp coriander seeds, I put 1.25 tsps powder. The dish was nice but not spectacular, and tasted a bit like my Paati’s vattha kuzhambu. I wonder if it might be better to dry roast the pepper, coriander seeds, red chilli and coconut before grinding them to a paste with the tomato, garlic and onion, to release more aroma?
I am sorry this recipe did not work for you. Dry roasting will definitely give a different taste. This is a very rustic curry and sure you can customize to your taste preferences.
Madam…which onion have to be used? Big or small onion?
Big one Rajkumar!
May I know wat fish is used in this curry.im a great fan of your recipes… Simply love them. Thank you
I used pollock fish but you can use any lite fish steaks. It works well.
Looks so yummy.i want to try
Madam is Tammy. I want Tamil nadu style masala puri(pani puri). Pls send the recipe.