Basic Fish Curry Recipes

INDIAN FISH CURRY

Steps:

• Mix the mustard, pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons of canola oil in a shallow bowl. Add the fish fillets, turning to coat. Marinate the fish in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Combine the onion, garlic, ginger, and cashews in a blender or food processor and pulse until the mixture forms a paste.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Stir in the prepared paste; cook and stir for a minute or two. Add the cayenne pepper, turmeric, cumin, coriander, 1 teaspoon salt, and sugar. Cook and stir for an additional five minutes. Stir in the chopped tomato and vegetable broth.
• Arrange the fish fillets in a baking dish, discarding any extra marinade. Top the fish with the sauce, cover the baking dish, and bake in the preheated oven until the fish flakes easily with a fork, about 30 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

FISH CURRY | INDIAN FISH MASALA

Steps:

• Marinate fish with ½ tbsp ginger garlic paste, ⅛ tsp turmeric, ¼ tsp red chilli powder & ¼ tsp salt.
• On a flat fry pan, heat 1 tsp oil. Fry fish pieces slightly until the raw smell goes away just for 2 to 3 mins on both sides. You can also sear the fish. Keep this aside. (refer picture below)
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pot and add cumin. When they sputter, add onions and saute until lightly golden.
• Next add ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes & ½ tsp salt. Saute until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
• Next add coconut, fennel seeds (optional), red chili powder & turmeric. Fry until the mixture turns fragrant & raw smell has gone away.
• Cool this & add to a blender jar along with 2 to 4 tbsps water. Blend to a smooth or coarse paste to suit your liking. (refer notes). You can also use a immersion blender. Keep this aside.
• Add 1 tbsp more oil to the same pot used earlier. Heat up on a low flame.
• When the oil turns slightly hot, add curry leaves & green chilies.
• When they splutter, add the ground onion tomato paste and garam masala. Fry until the mixture smells good. If you feel it is not hot enough for your taste, then add more chilli powder at this stage & saute.
• Pour 1 ¼ to 1½ cup water. Mix and bring it to a boil. Cook until you see traces of oil on the surface and the gravy thickens a bit.
• Gently slide the fish pieces and cook covered on a medium heat.
• Carefully flip or turn the pieces to the other side after 3 to 4 mins.
• Cook until the fish pieces bulge a bit. This is the indication they are cooked completely. Taste the curry and add more salt if needed.
• Optionally garnish fish curry with coriander leaves if desired.

SUPER-QUICK FISH CURRY

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a deep pan and gently fry the onion and garlic for about 5 mins until soft. Add the curry paste and stir-fry for 1-2 mins, then tip in the tomatoes and stock.
• Bring to a simmer, then add the fish. Gently cook for 4-5 mins until the fish flakes easily. Serve immediately with rice or naan

FISH CURRY

Steps:

• In a grinder grind the onions, ginger, 2 bay leaves, red chili, mustard seeds, cumin seed all together.
• Preserve some cut pieces 1 cup) of onion.
• Cut small pieces of tomatoes.
• Make small pieces of fish fillets, about 3 inches in length.
• Clean them properly if you are using the whole fish and make it into small pieces.
• Take a big plate, put the fish in it and sprinkle 2 teaspoon of salt, two teaspoon of turmeric powder and the garlic paste.
• Mix all of them properly.
• Allow to marinate for 1/2 hour.
• Take a pan or a wok (preferable), heat it and put oil to deep fry the fish.
• Once the oil is much hotter, fry the fish, 3-4 pieces at a time, 3-4 minutes on each side.
• Keep all of them in a separate plate.
• When all the pieces are fried, clean all the black residues from the oil in the wok with the spatula and put 2 tablespoon of fresh oil in the it.
• Then put a pinch of cumin seed, a pinch of mustard seed, 2 red chili, 2 bay leaves, a pinch of aniseed (all together is called panch-phoran) and allow them to splutter.
• Then put the cut onion pieces and allow it to just a little brown.
• Then put all the ground paste,tomatoes,left over turmeric powder and salt to taste.
• Keep stirring it until the paste becomes a little brown (it takes around 10 minutes).
• You can also identify it by looking at the wok, that the paste will start leaving the oil and paste will now no more stick on the wok.
• The paste is now perfectly fried.
• Now pour 3 cups of water to it, or as much thick gravy you want.
• Once the gravy comes to boil, start dropping the fried fish pieces and allow to boil for 15 minutes.
• Switch off the gas.
• Use coriander leaf for garnishing.
• This dish should be served with fresh steamed rice and squeeze some lime some juice on top.

EASY FISH CURRY

Steps:

• Grind the curry paste ingredients with a little water in a blender until smooth.
• Put the oil in a pan and heat till it shimmers.
• Add the seasoning and fry till the mustard seeds start to pop.
• Add the curry paste, mix and let it boil until thick.
• Add the powders and salt to taste.Mix well.
• Simmer covered until the raw smell goes. Spices should smell cooked.
• Open when thick enough to eat.
• Put cleaned thick fish slices into the curry.
• Add tamarind paste and simmer for 5 more minutes.

BASIC FISH CURRY

Steps:

• 1. Prepare the onion paste. Place the fish in a bowl and coat well with the turmeric and cayenne pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate at least 1 and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.2. Prepare the fried onion paste. Put the paste in a large nonstick wok or saucepan over medium-high heat, add the coriander, cumin, and paprika, and stir about 1 minute. Add the yogurt, a little at a time stirring constantly, to prevent it from curdling, and cook until it is well incorporated into the sauce, about 3 minutes.3. Add the tomatoes and cook until they start to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the fish pieces and salt and cook, stirring, until the fish is firm, about 5 minutes.4. Add the water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and simmer until the fish pieces are just flaky and opaque inside and the sauce is thick, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish, mix in the cilantro and garam masala, and serve.VARIATION: To increase the quantity of the dish, boil, peel and coarsely smash 2 small potatoes and add along with the fish pieces. Or mix in 1 cup of thawed frozen peas when you addFrom "1,000 Indian Recipes." Copyright 2002 by Neelam Batra. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.