Goan Fish Curry

A spicy, tangy fish curry from Goa, India's beautiful state on the West coast

Course Accompaniment

Cuisine Goan

Keyword Curry, Fish

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Total Time 30

Servings people

Calories 223kcal

Author Shireen Sequeira

Ingredients

500 grams pomfret or surmai (king fish)
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1-2 green chillies slit and halved
1 tablespoon vinegar
salt to taste

For the masala:

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
6 long dried red chillies I used Kashmiri chillies * see notes
1/2 cup grated coconut
2 inch piece ginger
12-15 small cloves of garlic
2 marble sized balls of tamarind * see notes

Instructions

Wash the fish pieces with salt and allow to drain on a colander.
Heat a tawa/skillet and dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and red chillies. Remove and allow them to cool until the chillies turn crisp. Grind to a fine powder and then add the coconut, ginger, garlic, tamarind and a little water to and grind to a fine paste. Rinse the grinder with 1/2 cup of water and reserve it.
Marinate the fish pieces with half of the ground masala.
Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions till golden. Toss in the green chillies and fry for a minute and then add the remaining ground masala and fry it on a medium heat till the oil separates.
Add the reserved masala water and enough plain water to measure 1-1/2 cups in total. Bring the gravy to a boil.
When the gravy is bubbling, add the marinated fish pieces along with the masala and salt, cover the pan cook the fish on a medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and remove the pan from heat.
Serve hot with steamed rice

Notes

1. Kashmiri chillies are lower on spice than the Byadge (Kumti) variety however if you wish you can deseed the chillies to tone down the spice even further. You can use a blend of the two said varieties too.
2. Depending on how old the tamarind is you can use 1-2 marble sized balls. Old stock of tamarind will be very deep (almost black) in colour and will be quite sour too. If you are using fresh stock then the colour would be pale/chocolate brown and you may need to use a little more. Use your judgement to decide how much you require.

Nutrition