Fish on a weekday is always a big No for me. I have the mindset of pushing non vegetarian dishes to the weekend. Few Myths about non vegetarian dishes had hard struck a nail on my mind set that those are tough and time consuming dishes and take double the time to clean off those messes. And recently I realized that I need to change that mindset when I found my dad making a quick entry to the kitchen and preparing fish curries on a weekday morning.
Can you imagine that? Possibly you could.
But i am an old brat who cannot think of fish on a weekday. Impossible.
I was like dumbstruck to see that he had already started the job and I had no choice of delaying it for a weekend. I now know I have to dive right away to learn from him. He gives me a tasting sip twice to check for salt and pepper and spice and we both correct if any spice is added to the dish. Its fun to cook with him. You know why?
He takes care of the important phase: Ingredients – Quantity – Preparation. So cooking is easy and ends in EXTRA TASTY SPECIAL dishes. My job is to assist him in sauteeing (my favorite cooking task), grinding, wait till the cooking goes(iam impatient here), tasting (my task and i end up drinking half a cup of curry in the name of tasting), washing utensils(:( not my task but i end doing it)
Ok. Let me stop babbling and let’s talk about this insane weekday fish curry. Iam all the way obsessed with fish curries as you can see me way too ahead with a bowl of rice in my hand and Spicy Tangy Sardine curry from Grandma’s Kitchen and Crown Gold Fish curry and Tropical Mackerel Curry.
Fish curry and rice and me – Inseparable triplet. But a tempered fish curry is unimaginable for me. I did ask my dad without a second thought ” Are we going to do a tempering for fish curry? Sounds strange…”
Dad: Yep. This one needs tempering with mustard and fenugreek seeds. Aroma of Fenugreek seed is the highlight of this fish curry.
He is correct. The aroma of roasted fenugreek seeds gives an indian touch and i felt as if iam in the coolest mountain hills of Kerala amidst the mist and the green environment which surrounds the woody cottage. Wow.
Coming back from my dream. Roasted ground fenugreek seeds adds pungency which is what is expected from the curry. Roasted spices and the coconut adds to the creamy curry.
Dad’s Fish Head Curry for piping hot rice in 3 Easy Steps for a busy Weekday
Ingredients
Ingredients for Curry Paste
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon fenugreek seed
- ½ cup coriander seeds
- 1 onion diced
- 1.5 cup grated coconut
- 1 lemon sized tamarind
- 2 cups water
- 4 green chilli
- salt as needed
- 2 cups fish
Tempering
- oil
- mustard seed
- 1 cup shallots sliced
- curry leaves
- 1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds
- 3 red chilli
Instructions
Curry Paste Preparation:
- Heat oil in a skillet. Add fenugreek seeds and saute till they turn light brown in color. Add coriander seeds and saute till they turn light brown. Add onions and coconut and saute till they turn light brown in color. Turn off the stove and let it cool down to room temperature. Grind the mixture to a smooth paste. Add water if necessary while grinding.
Stock Preparation
- Combine tamarind pulp, water, green chili, salt and cook in a large flat skillet and cook in high heat for 10 minutes. Add fish, curry paste and cook for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Tempering
- Heat oil in a small pan. Add mustard and let it splutter. Add fenugreek seeds, onion, red chilli and saute till onions are well fried
- These 3 steps can be done in parallel and that will reduce the time
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