Traditional Keralan Fish Curry

Ben and I took a short cooking class while in Fort Cochin, Kerala, at Leelu Homestay.* Our teacher, Leelu, walked us through a Keralan dinner while we took notes. Then we ate the results! It was one of my favourite meals over the past few months. We made fish curry, sambar (a thin veg curry, ubiquitous in South India), okra curry, thoran (coconut-cabbage dish), and chapatis. Yum! She also gave us her own preferred recipe for garam masala (spice mix).

Leelu says that there are 13-15 traditional Keralan fish curries, which require a different masala mix from vegetable or meat curries; fish masala is only used for fish curries. Here's my rendering of our fish curry recipe...

INGREDIENTS:
1 wide, deep, open pan
500 g fish or prawns
1 piece of fresh ginger the size of a man's thumb, sliced
10 cloves garlic, sliced in large chunks
3 or 4 small shallots, sliced (can substitute with red onion)
10-12 Indian curry leaves, fresh (optional)
4 tbsp coconut oil (can sub. with corn or sunflower oil. don't use ghee, butter or olive oil.)
1 tsp mustard seed
MASALA MIX:
...1/2 tsp turmeric
...1/2 tsp fenugreek - don't go overboard
...4 tsp kashmiri chili powder or another med-hot chili powder
...1/2 glass tepid water
4-5 tsp tamarind, dried and seedless
1 c water
1 tsp salt

Leelu begins: "The secret to Indian cooking is to never, ever turn your stove to high heat. Medium or medium-hot is the highest it should go." With this in mind... on medium heat, put coconut oil in pan. Once oil is hot, add mustard seeds. Let them pop. Now add ginger, garlic, shallots. After a minute, add fresh curry leaves (optional).**

In a separate bowl, make your masala mix. Add masala mix to pan, stir in. After ~3 minutes (stirring occasionally), the spices will darken slightly and the oil will separate.

Add tamarind, which you've been soaking in 1/2 cup of water for the past 10 minutes. Include the water.

Add another cup of water and salt. Leelu notes that the fish will happily absorb salt, but you should be careful when adding salt to a veg curry.

Let the now-watery mixture come to a boil. Don't turn the heat up!

Add prawns/chunks of fish, and gently mix them into the sauce. Don't bust up the fish chunks. It's finally time to cover the pan and cook for 20-25 minutes (fish) or 10-15 minutes (prawns). Leelu recommends prawns. As for fish, your best bet is kingfish or another firm white fish. But you can use almost any fish - for softer fish, reduce cooking time.

I fervently hope that this recipe doesn't taste like shit when I try it at home. Leelu obviously uses fresh seafood, but Dawson is about one million kilometres from the nearest ocean, so let's cross our fingers and hope for the best with frozen stuff.

*Kerala Tourism has hosted some cooking videos by Leelu, which I will certainly check out once I'm back in my kitchen.

**A note on curry leaves. According to a seemingly knowledgeable grocer, everyone in South India throws fresh curry leaves in everything; at the veggie market, the vendors will give you free curry leaves with your purchase! I asked the grocer if I could possibly grow a potted curry plant in Canada and he laughed - no - curry plants need a hot, humid climate. If, by some miracle, you can find dried curry leaves, they would work okay.