Maslyechi Jeere Miri Kadi - Cumin & Pepper Style Fish Curry

One of my favourite Mangalorean style fish curries is this simple cumin & pepper style curry. Well, although it says cumin & pepper the list of ingredients is not limited to just these two. It would be virtually impossible to dunk the fish pieces in a curry made of barely 2-3 ingredients but among the various types of fish curries we make back home is this style which is prepared for a particular kinds of fish. Most times we prepare the coconut curry where we use copious amounts of freshly grated coconut as the key ingredient in the preparation. The coconut curry is an easy way to make fish curry with virtually any kind of fish available on hand but then our ancestors were wise. They, from various trials & errors have devised ways to cook different varieties of fish, thrown together different blends of ingredients to compliment the nature of the fish being cooked enabling the flavours to complement each other thus making the meal experience a wholesome and enjoyable one.

Most women from previous generations never required a book to note down the recipes. They always knew what kind of curry went well with what kind of fish but since my memory fails me I always prefer to jot it down (you see, this is also the main reason behind the creation of the blog). People like my mum and mum-in-law can instantly tell me what curry I can put together in the shortest possible time for the day’s catch. If you see my recipe index for seafood I have made an attempt to record just this. However, since I am not so good at experimenting with seafood I waited for my trip to Mangalore to learn some fish curries from my mum-in-law. Another one of her masterpieces is this beautiful, flavourful and spicy fish curry.

As I have mentioned in my previous posts the peppercorn is one of Mangalore’s prized crops. My mum-in-law loves to use it in her curries and trust me there is nothing more aromatic than the aroma of freshly ground peppercorn – just make sure you don’t take a deep whiff of it or you are done for! Since the past few years I get my annual quota of fresh peppercorns from my mum-in-law’s garden and I love using my peppermill to grind it instantly – the taste and aroma can activate every taste bud that had previously died due to an overdose of placid, bland food.

This delicious curry was prepared by my mum-in-law with some enthusiastic assistance from me. I never got the chance to try it out in my kitchen here in Dubai as my son simply refuses to eat fish – so we are ovo vegetarians or chickiterians (if there is such a word) most of the week.

We enjoyed this curry so much with some freshly prepared, piping hot boiled rice as you can see in the pictures. Life is good!

Maslyechi Jeere Miri Kadi – Cumin & Pepper Style Fish Curry

Ingredients:

1/2 kg black pomfret/lady fish (kane)/shark (thato)/ silver fish/whiting (erli), ray fish/kite fish(vagole)*see notes
salt to taste
oil for frying
1/2 a medium sized onion finely sliced (for tempering)

For the masala:

5-6 long red chillies (bedgi) (use deseeded if you wish to tone down the spice)
1 teaspoon coriander seeds * see notes
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 medium sized onions
7-8 small cloves of garlic
2 marble sized ball of tamarind
1/2 teaspoon mustard (optional)
2 tablespoons grated coconut

Method:
1. Descale and clean the fish (if not cleaned already). Wash in a 3-4 changes of water. Allow to drain on a colander. If desired marinate the fish lightly with salt.
2. Grind all the ingredients mentioned under ‘For the Masala‘. Reserve the masala water from the mixie.
3. In a pan/kadhai heat some oil and fry the ground masala well. Add the reserved masala water and a little additional water to make a gravy of medium thickness (don’t make it too watery as the fish tends to release some stock making the gravy too thin eventually). Let the gravy come to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the fish pieces gently. Let the curry simmer till the fish is cooked – about 1-2 minutes
5. Turn off the heat and prepare the seasoning – heat oil in a small pan and fry the onions for tempering till they turn golden brown. Add this to the prepared curry and cover the pan immediately to trap the aroma.
6. Serve hot with rice.

Notes:
1. Adjust the number of chillies to your choice. Fish like black pomfret or shark taste nice with a slightly higher level of spice, but do adjust it as per your level of spice tolerance. If you are using lady fish (kane) reduce the spice slightly.
2. The use of coriander is not typical – it is optional and doesn’t make much difference if you add or omit it.
3. If you are using fish such as ray fish (vagole), shark (thato) or sole fish (lepo) temper it with 2-3 cloves of garlic instead of onion.
4. If you are using frozen fish make sure that the fish is at room temperature before cooking – you need to thaw it over several hours. If you force defrost it (using the defrost option in your microwave or shock the fish by placing it in water) it will continue to ooze out water in the curry making your end result very watery. The best way to defrost fish is to place it from the freezer into your fridge the previous night (if you are planning to cook it for the next day’s lunch) and then from the fridge to your kitchen counter in the morning.

Comments

Vidya Nayak Shenoy says

September 9, 2014 at 1:50 pm

Would definately love to try this one

vedant says

September 12, 2014 at 2:26 am

OMG, that red color is so tantalizing in the curry. I'm guessing it's due to the quality and a characteristic of the Bedgi chillies you used no? I think except for the cumin and coriander or maybe they do use both we make a similar curry using lots of pepper in the Goan saraswat community too.

I'm totally J that you get to cart back fresh spices and much more back from Mangalore. I'm always in sheer terror of begin caught by the US customs when we land back here in the U.S. and so fast have managed to, with much trepidation, only cart back some local papad, tefla and solaan:-)

When you say you use pepper from your MIL's garden does that mean it's still green and fresh or is it dried and black? Wondering if that imparts a different taste to this curry.

Will try if I find pomfret this weekend.

Deepa

Shireen Sequeira says

September 16, 2014 at 4:29 am

@ Deepa: I love your comments so much that I actually wait to reply to them at leisure 🙂 As always, thanks for your appreciation and yes, I do use fresh from home Byadge/Bedgi chillies which give that bright colour and awesome taste. You can use kashmiri chillies for the colour too.

And yes, my mum-in-law has pepper vines in her garden – not too many, but just enough to yield an annual supply for both of us – actually peppercorns are used sparingly isn't it? So even 100 grams of it suffices for a long year 🙂 It's not green, they are dried and black…she dries them out before packing some for me.

Fresh peppercorns impart a great flavour to any dish. Do give it a try. Hope your pomfret curry turned out great!

Thanks Deepa once again, I still owe you the reply to your mail. My apologies for the delay!

Preethi says

December 20, 2015 at 3:44 pm

shoud we fry the masala

Sharol says

November 28, 2017 at 5:35 am

Loved ur recipe for fish curry, used this to make shark curry today, Shireen. My aunt recommended to me. I was not at all good at making fish curries until I came across ur website, truly amazing. My family loved it. You should start making ‘You Tube videos’ too of ur recipes for a visual treat, it would be so awesome

- Shireen Sequeira says
  
  November 28, 2017 at 10:41 am
  
  Thank you so much for the lovely comment Sharol! I am so glad that you liked the fish curry recipe! Well, I do have a YouTube channel that I started this year and I have a few videos too! The link is here https://www.youtube.com/user/ruchikrandhap
  
  Also, you can check the video recipes section in my recipe index and you can view all of them!
  
Mavis Moraes says

November 16, 2020 at 3:48 pm

Enjoyed the fish curry made with this masala. It was very authentic, just like how my Grandmother used to make it. Thank you

- Shireen Sequeira says
  
  November 17, 2020 at 9:37 am
  
  Thank you so much for the lovely words!!

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