Fish Curry with Mango

Continuing with the lunch with my friends inspired by Nigella Express, I was so glad this fish curry took so little time to cook that hot, Saturday afternoon. The prawn and mango curry in Nigell's book, looked great but then I realised that the recipe called for using Thai red curry paste and since this was not particularly a rushed meal but a planned lunch for friends, I decided to do something from scratch instead. Also, using ripe mangoes in a curry is not something which everyone likes, so I decided do it a little differently.

I was reminded of a recipe on Sig's blog and went looking for it and found her Prawn and Mango Curry - replaced the prawns with fish, the kudumpalli with regular tamarind and I was all set. The fish curry was nice and creamy and went very well with the steamed rice, rasam and beans porial combination. Its a lovely dish to make at short notice and doesn't need a lot of preparation. But it was a bit different from what I had set out to make, so I will be making it again.

The raw mango I bought turned out to be quite ripe and sweet instead of sour. And since I went easy on the tamarind thinking it would turn out to be very sour what with the raw mango added, the curry was actually not sour at all. I had toned down the spice levels too, so next time I'm going to try this with more tang and spice - this version turned out a little bit too tame for my liking.

Fish Curry with Mango

350 - 400 gms sole fish (surmai) fillets - cut into curry pieces, about 1.5 inches wide
Tamarind - marble sized ball dissolved in 300ml of water (if the raw mango isn't sour enough, use a lemon sized ball)
Red chilli powder - 1-1.5 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
1 cup sliced raw mango
5 green chillies - sliced
curry leaves
salt to taste

Grind to a paste
Coconut - grated 1.25 cup
Garlic - 2 cloves
Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp
Shallots - 2 chopped

Seasoning
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard
3 dry red chillies
1/4 tsp methi seeds
curry leaves

1. Marinate the cleaned fish fillet pieces with the red chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder for about 15 minutes to half an hour.
2. Extract tamarind pulp from the soaked tamarind and filter. Alternatively, use 1 tbsp of tamarind paste.
3. Transfer the marinated fish to a cooking pan - add the tamarind pulp, green chillies and curry leaves and one cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce flame and cook on low for 10-12 minutes till the tamarind loses its raw smell and the fish is cooked.
4. Meanwhile, grind the coconut, coriander powder,shallots and garlic; add to the fish curry when the fish is cooked and continue cooking for another 5 minutes on a low flame. Transfer to serving bowl.
5. In a small pan, heat the oil for the seasoning and then add the mustard; when it pops, add the fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and red chillies. Pour over the fish curry and serve with steamed rice.