Kottayam Fish Curry (Meen Mulakittathu)
Ingredients
- 1 kg barracuda medium sized pieces
- 9-10 shallots/small onion finely sliced
- 1 inch ginger finely chopped
- 3 large garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 ½ tbsp red chilli powder adjust to heat preferences
- 1 ½ tbsp kashmiri chilli powder adjust to heat preferences
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 4-5 sprigs curry leaves
- ½ tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
- 3 pieces of black kokum/kudampuli
- Salt to season
- 4-5 tbsp coconut oil.
Instructions
- This fish curry is traditionally made in an earthen pot which lends a unique flavour to the dish. If you do not have one, a regular kadai or pan can be used.
- Clean the fish and cut into small pieces and keep aside.
- Heat oil, crackle mustard seeds and then add fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Next add chopped shallots, ginger and garlic and sauté till the onions turn light golden brown.
- Make a paste with red chilli powder, kashmiri chilli powder and turmeric powder and add to the above and sauté again till the oil clears.
- Add 1 cup water and then put in the kokum pieces and salt and bring to boil.
- Add the fish pieces and cook till done. Stir in between and add more water if necessary. The gravy for this dish is meant to be a thick one just coating the fish pieces.
- Garnish with curry leaves.
Notes
To get the red hot colour to the dish without being super spicy, I used a mix of red chilli and Kashmiri red chilli powder.
This curry has better flavour when eaten the next day. The sourness deepens as time passes so check the flavour after a couple of hours and remove the kokum pieces if necessary.