Kerelan Fish Curry

Surely the best way to taste authentic Indian is to eat in an Indian household. Oooh but it gets better than that when Leelu, a Kerelan housewife teaches you how! So to start off with the first of many recipies this is her Fish curry. We used Tuna here and it was fresh and cheap but it's too expensive at home I think I would go for a white fish. This recipe is best cooked one day prior to eating.



• Finger of ginger
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 5 shallots
• Kerelan Curry leaves (the ones I was talking about before, vibrant fresh ones, not your standard dried curry leaves)
• coconut oil (1 tbsp)
• tsp black mustard seeds
• Marsala - 1/2tsp turmeric  + 1/2tsp Fenugreek grinded +4tsp chilli powder
• taramrind
• 500g Tuna or firm fish of your choice

Finely chop the ginger, garlic and shallots. Heat a pan to medium heat and add coconut oil, when hot add mustard seeds to the pan until they pop. Once the popping starts then add the chopped ingredients. If you have Keralan curry leaves you can add half now.

Now (and this is the best thing I learnt from Leelu) mix your Marsala (spice mix) with a little water so it doesn't burn in the pan. Now add to pan and cook until mix separates slightly.

Now add 4 tsp of tamarind with 1/2 a cup of water and add to the pan. Add 1tsp salt and boil, after 5 minutes check for seasoning. You may also need to add another cup of water to the pan. Now add the tuna pieces, cover and cook for 20 minutes on a medium heat.

This recipe can be made with prawns, just use a little less water and cook for half the time.