Kerala is a coastal state in India where fish and coconut is abundantly available, bringing them both together makes a delicious curry which can be enjoyed with rice , roti, and my favourite with crusty bread. Imagine the bread soaking up all the gravy !

This is a spicy (but not too hot),  and tangy curry, in which you can add your favourite vegetables and make it like the fish head curry.

This curry may look oily, but there is only 1 1/2 tsp of virgin coconut oil in it. If you want you can totally omit the oil. Oil is only needed in this curry if you are keeping it outside longer than 3 hours.

Fish curry tastes better if it rests for minimum 3 hours. You can keep it longer up to 12 hrs if all the fish and other ingredients are submerged in the gravy. You only need to boil it in slow fire again before using. And it taste better too ! 🙂

Preparation time: 15 mts

Cooking time : 20 mts

Serves : 4

Ingredients :

  • 1kg fish  (here I’m using silver promfet ) any fleshy white fish
  • 4 stems of curry leaves
  • 3 green chills slit in the middle
  • 1 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2  tsp salt

Ingredients for grinding : 

  • 1/2 cup freshly grated coconut (you can reduce the coconut upto 1/4 cup)
  • 1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  •  1/2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 small lime size tamarind (you can use tamarind pulp)

Grind all these ingredients to a fine paste with 1/4 cup of water. The saying is, it should be of the consistency of butter 🙂 .

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Layer the fish on top of the curry leaves and add green chillies to it.

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Now add the grinded coconut paste and rest of the water to the fish. Add salt and mix it well.

Sprinkle some more curry leaves on top and add oil. Give it a good mix carefully without breaking the fish.

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Cook it in medium fire till it starts to bubble and then lower the heat to low and cook for another 15 more minutes. Serve with cooked rice or Quinoa.

Notes:

  • This curry is not that spicy but if you want to reduce heat, replace chilli powder with paprika.
  • Do not stir the fish with a spoon or ladle while cooking,  swirl the pot to mix.