My MIL used to make a fish curry which had most of the ingredients. She used to call it matapaadi in tulu language. I like that curry very much. I made few changes to add more flavor to the it. I added Kudam puli(malabar kokum) which gives very good taste to fish curries and onions. If you haven’t tried kudam puli(Garcinia cambogia) you should definitely try. Its available on Amazon.com and in some Indian stores.

Ingredients

2 Mullet Fish (cleaned and cut into 2 inch wide pieces)

 

for Masala

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1teaspoon cumin seeds

¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

½ teaspoon fennel

8-10 pepper corns

7 red chillies dried

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoon of vegetable oil

1 cup coconut grated

 

½ tomato chopped into small pieces

2 pieces Kudam puli(malbar tamarind)/tamarind marble size

1 small onion (chopped into small pieces)

salt to taste

 

Method

Dry roast all the ingredients- coriander, cumin, fenugreek seeds, fennel, pepper corns.

Chop the garlic and roast it golden with a spoon of oil(coconut oil preferred) with red chillies.

Grind the masala ingredients to a fine paste. Add water to make it right consistency for curry. It shouldn’t be very watery, or very thick. Add chopped tomato pieces, kudam puli, salt and fish. Bring to a boil, reduce the flame and cook for 5-7 minutes. In a small pan heat oil and fry the onions light brown. Add the fried onions to the masala. Check salt.

Serve hot with rice/ roti.

Notes: This masala can be used for Tilapia, lady fish, rock fish, mackerel etc. I prefer coconut oil for this curry, but you can use other vegetable oil if you like.

Remove the kudam puli pieces after an hour, left in the curry it will make it sour.