Easy Fish Curry for Beginners By Petrina Verma Sarkar Updated on 12/18/21 Easy Fish Curry for Beginners The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck Prep: 10 mins Cook: 25 mins Total: 35 mins

Easy Fish Curry for Beginners

By 

Petrina Verma Sarkar

 

Updated on 12/18/21

 There are so many iterations of fish curry, you might get lost figuring out which is the best to try first. This traditional fish curry recipe is made with whole paanch phoran seeds and gets a bit of a kick from red chilies. The ingredients used here show a mix of both eastern and northern Indian culinary influences, so it's a good place to start before graduating to regional specialties like Goan or Mangalorean fish curries. Serve it on a bed of hot plain boiled rice.

Ingredients

8 dry red chiles

• 2 tablespoons cumin seeds

• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds

• 2 large tomatoes, cut into chunks

• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder

• 1 teaspoon garam masala

• 3 to 4 tablespoons coconut powder

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1 teaspoon paanch phoran seeds

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• 10 to 12 curry leaves

• 1 large onion, ground to a paste

• 1 tablespoon ginger paste

• 1 tablespoon garlic paste

• 2 cups hot water

• 1 walnut-sized ball of tamarind paste

• 2 pounds (1 kilogram) fish, cut into 1-inch-thick slices

• Salt, to taste

• Chopped coriander, to taste

Steps to Make It

1. Gather the ingredients.

   

2. Heat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat and roast the dry red chiles, mustard, and cumin seeds until they begin to release their aroma.

   

3. Cool and grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder, blender, or by hand using a mortar and pestle.

   

5. Grind the toasted spice powder, tomatoes, turmeric, garam masala, and coconut into a smooth paste. Set aside.

   

6. Heat the oil in a wide heavy-bottomed pan and add the paanch phoran and curry leaves. When they stop spluttering, add the onion paste and fry until light brown.

   

7. Add the ginger and garlic pastes and fry for 3 to 4 minutes.

   

8. Add the tomato and spice paste and fry until the oil begins to separate from the masala.

   

Download File

Add 2 cups of hot water and the tamarind paste to the masala and mix well.

Bring the gravy to a boil and then simmer.

Gently add the fish to the gravy and cook until done.