Meen Kulambu

I have tried numerous fish gravy recipes both chettinad and non-chettinad and was never satisfied with the taste.The recipe which I got from www.samai.in does give the taste of chettinad fish curry and it tastes yummy.Hence saving it for future reference.

Ingredients:
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Fish - 300 grams .I tried it with Anchovy
Mustard seeds and Urad dal - 1/2 tspn
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Onion - 1 (small size) or 1/2 of a medium size onion
Green Chili - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tspn
Tomato - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
Tamarind - small gooseberry size
Sugar - less than 1/4 tspn or to ur taste
Salt - to taste
Oil - as required (Sesame oil is preferred)
Roast and Make a paste of:
Dry Red Chilies - 2 to 3
Coriander seeds - 1 ½ tspn
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn
Fennel seeds(Perunjeeragam) - 1/4 tspn
Peppercorn - 1/4 tspn
Toor dal (thuvaram paruppu)- 1/4 tspn
Fenugreek seeds (Vendhayam) - a pinch
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Coconut - 1 tspn

Recipe:
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Cut Onion, Green chili, Tomato into small pieces. Soak Tamarind in water for 15 minutes. After that extract a cup of tamarind juice from it. Keep all this aside.
Heat 1/2 tspn of Oil in a pan. Add Dry red chili, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Fennel seeds, Pepper corns, Toor dal, Fenugreek seeds, Curry leaves and Coconut then roast them till they are almost brown. Then remove from heat and let it cool on then grind into a very fine paste by adding little water.
Heat 2 to 3 tspns Oil in a pan. Add Mustard seeds and Urad dal, once it starts spluttering add Curry leaves, Onion and Green chili, fry till they are golden brown.
Add Ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes out. Add Tomato and mash it with the spatula.
Then add Turmeric Powder, ground paste (from step 2) and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add Tamarind juice, 1 cup of water, Salt and Sugar to it. Bring this curry to boil once, then reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. At this stage curry becomes thick.
After that add Fish pieces and cook for 5 minutes or till the fish and gravy are cooked.