Red Snipper Fish Gravy

With kids school closing today, families are looking forward for the long weekend of US & Canada Day celebrations..Stores are flooded with new BBQ equipments and Summer camping and outdoor activity supplies. Truly you can smell the vacation spirit in the air. And all is well if weather co-operates without those thunder storms and gusty winds. We managed one outdoor BBQ in the past two weeks, but the second one was ruined with an un-invited stormy rain. Hopefully the Canada day fireworks won't face that.

Before we march into a new month, I have to stick to the theme of June "Seafood", in particularly "Fish" I posted different varieties of preparations of fish on my space. Today's recipe is yet another fish gravy..not much different from a regular one in procedure wise but quiet different in the sense of fish used. Red Snipper or yerra para(Telugu) or Shankara(Tamil) is a commonly available fish in South India and hence the traditional gravy recipe is used here too.

Ingredients:
3-4 Medium sized Red Snipper Fish, scales removed & cleaned from internal organs, cut into two parts
2 Tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Fenu greek
4 Garlic cloves crashed or chopped
1Medium size Onion,
4-5 Green Chillies
10- 12 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Ginger paste (optional)
3 Tbsp Tomato puree or 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1/2 Turmeric powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp Chilly powder
1 lemon size tamarind ball soaked in 2 cups of warm water and juice squeezed.
1/2 cup Coconut Milk(fresh or canned)
Salt to taste
Coriander to garnish

Procedure:
Heat a skillet, add oil and then allow Mustard to splutter and add fenugreek seeds, and once the seeds emit smell add the chopped garlic and saute'
Add Onions, green chillies, curry leaves and cook until the onions turn translucent and fully cooked.
Add ginger paste if desired and fry
Add tomato pureeor paste, and mix well till raw smell is gone.
Add all the masala powders and fry well.
Now add Tamarind pulp and salt.
Bring this boil and add the Red snipper fish pieces.
Once the fish is almost cooked add coconut milk and allow it to boil on high heat for a minute or two.
Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves
Remove from heat.
Served with hot Rice/Roti or Parota.

Happy Summer!!!!!

Shallots in Tangy Stew or Small Onion Gravy

--AKA Sambar Vengayam kuzhambu/Chinna Ullipaya Pulusu--

Continuing the `Pulusu` special..this shallot gravy is yet another creation from my mom, which she use to frequent in my childhood. As a practise, I usually add shallots when I make sambar, but once in a while for a change I manage to make this spicy tangy onion gravy. The sweetness of  tendorly caramalized shallots is complimented by spice of red chilly powder and sour of  tamarind juice. The result one aromatic gravy that you can`t wait but to gobble with rice.

I must mention though, that the best sides for this gravy with plain rice are Boiled Stir fried Eggs, Fried dried salt Fish or if you don`t have them handy, our keeper papads/appalam would do. So friends and readers who have not yet attempted this south Indian, Andhra special gravy, don`t forget to pick a small bag of shallots when you grocer next, in an Indian/Asian store and try it for a change.


The recipe is no different from a regular tamarind gravy/pulusu/kuzhambu recipe. It more an idea of making the gravy with the main ingredient as the whole shallots.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb or  a small pkt of Shallots/sambar vengayam/chinna ullipayalu
1 Tbsp - oil
1/2 Tsp - Onion seeds/Kalonji
3-4 Green Chillies
10-12 Curry leaves
2 Tbsp -Tomato Puree
1 tsp - Red Chilly powder
1 tsp - Cumin powder
1 tsp - Coriander powder
Soak Lemon size Tamarind/Puli/Chintapandu ball in 2 cups hot water
Finely chopped coriander leaves - a small bunch

Method :
In a pan or kadai, add oil, when heated add Onion seeds.
Fry a little and then add the green chillies, shallots, curry leaves and keep stirring till onions turn their color.
Now add the tomato puree and cook for about 1 - 2 minutes.
Add all the masala powders, mix and cook another 2 minutes or till the mixture leaves the container.


Now squeeze the Tamarind/Puli juice from the soaked tamarind & water into the cooking mixture.
Mix this well and bring it boil,
Once the gravy seems to attain a good consistency add the coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Methi Masala / Fenugreek Leaves Gravy

AKA Menthukura Pulusu / Venthaya Keerai Kuzhambu.....

Regular calls to Amma(mom) back home, are not complete without an exchange of a recipe or what was the menu that day, how my Father liked it, or how my visiting brothers enjoyed her dishes. So much so that the making of this dish is totally inspired by her. Nearly every time she cooked it and my call came in, she would say how good it turned out and that I should give it a try.

Well, this is a common gravy/pulusu in Andhra, but somehow I always throw methi into dal to makes things easier rather than cooking it separately. But honestly this is one gravy you would really want to try if you havent' yet especially if  hail from Desh and love the combination of sour and sweet. The flavour is enhanced by adding fenugreek seeds and to the tangy tamarind gravy a hint of sweet is added to balance the taste that your taste buds will remember. Too bad that I end up eating extra rice when this is on my menu :(


Ingredients :
1 Bunch Fenugreek leaves /Methi
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp Fenugreek seeds
3-4 Garlic cloves, cut thin.
1 medium onion
2-3 Green & Red chillies each
8-10 curry leaves
1 smal lemon size Tamarind ball
2 Tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp each of chilly, coriander (CC)powders
1 tbsp crushed jaggery, you can substitute with sugar too
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish


Directions:
Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup warm water for about 1/2 hour. Squeeze the juice into 2 cups of water. Keep aside.
Separate the fenugreek leaves from their stems, wash and chop them . Keep aside.
Heat oil in a wide pan/kadai, allow mustard to splutter, add fenugreek seeds, wait for a few seconds till a little color change and roasted fenugreek aroma comes out.
Add garlic and saute' till color changes slightly.
Add both the chillies, curry leaves, saute'
Add onions, and fry till translucent.
Now add the tomato puree, and cook till raw tomato smell is gone.
Add the CC powders and mix well and cook for 2 minutes
Add the chopped methi(fenugreek leaves), saute' for a minute, add salt and cook till greens are almost done.
Now add the tamarind juice, and bring it to boil.
Add the jaggery or sugar to the boiling gravy.
Here is the step by pictorial demo.

Once the gravy is thick enough like the last picture in the above grid, you can remove the gravy from heat.
Add coriander leaves if desired.
Serve with hot plain rice, biryani, roti, paratha or chapathi.
Don't forget to include crunchy papadams when eating with rice.


P.S. If you are unable to make egg plant gravy as a side dish to Biryani, I found out that this gravy goes too good with any type of biryani.

Koduva meen kuzhambu/Sea Bass Fish Stew

This is one simple and easy to make fish gravy..off course again grandma's style. I was so impressed by this fresh Koduva(Sea Bass)fish on my visit to the supermarket, that I immediately picked it up a thick steak, got it cut into lumpy cubes and returned home and made this super gravy in no time. Koduva or Sea bass is one among the top fish varieties besides Vanjiram(King fish), Viraal(Murrel, Vavval(Pomfret), Sura(baby Shark), Sankara(Red Snipper), Mathi(Sardines) Nathili(Anchovies)that we get in South India. Luckily in Toronto we are able to get all of them except Viraal meen. I did post some of these fish gravies already. Hope to post rest of them in the future.

These fish cubes reminded me of my trip to the fish market with my granny in childhood days. Granny use to have a regular fish vendor lady..who use to keep the best king fish steak for her. She would cut it into symmetrical cubes once we purchased it. Then after coming home I use to watch granny wash these fish cubes by adding rock salt, then rinse it with water and then add cut onions, green chillies,curry leaves home made red chilly powder, salt, oil, tangy tamarind juice and mix it..then she use to give me some of that raw juice to taste..and trust me this juice was good in itself even before it boiled and became fish gravy. The washing of the fish in rock salt and adding all those masalas would really take off the raw fishy smell. And now it just takes another 10-15 minutes for the gravy to be ready to enjoy with hot rice. I missed these childhood precious moments when I was making gravy with these fish cubes. Though I used koduva(Tamil) fish, but it so much resembled king fish gravy that grandma made..Luv you granny!!!

Ingredients:
2 lbs Koduva/Sea Bass fish cubes
1 Tbsp - Rock Salt
1 Tbsp - oil
1 Medium - Onion sliced
4 Green Chillies
10 Curry leaves
2 tsp - Homemade Red Chilly powder
Soak Lemon size Tamarind/Puli/Chintapandu ball in 2 cups hot water
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves - a small bunch

Procedure:
Place the fish cubes in deep pot/saucepan, add rock salt and whisk fish with fingers to melt salt.
This procedure cleans the fish and takes off the raw smell.
Add water and wash the fish cubes and drain.
Now combine fish with green chillies, onions, curry leaves, red chilly powder, salt, oil and mix thoroughly with fingers not breaking the cubes.
Now squeeze the Tamarind/Puli juice from the soaked tamarind & water into this mixture.
Now mix this well and bring it boil, Once the gravy seems to attain a good consistency add the coriander leaves and remove from heat.
Serve with hot rice, dosas or idlies.

Egg and Spinach Gravy

Spinach and Egg Curry/ Palak aur Ande/Palakura Goddu Pulusu/Aarekeerai Muttai kuzhambu
There are these days where you want to have two side dishes for a meal, but don't have the mood or energy to make both. Usually I make a yummy Thick Egg gravy and a vegie dish separate to accompany it. One Day I didn't want to invest time making both but wanted the goodness of both dishes..So experimented this Spinach Egg gravy, which turned out to be good.

For those who don't eat Eggs, you can simply make the spinach gravy, and have it with rice and pappad.

Ingredients :
5 - 6 Large Eggs
1 Bunch/Pkt Spinach
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 medium onion
4-5 green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 lemon size Tamarind ball
1/4 cup tomato puree
1 tsp chilly powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp semolina/rava
Coriander leaves to garnish - finely chopped

Directions:
Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup warm water for about 1/2 hour. Squeeze the juice into 2 cups of water. Keep aside.
Clean, wash and cut spinach leaves. Keep aside.
Boil egg till hard and peel of shell, make slits on all sides and fry them in oil for a minute or two, keep aside. The skin of the egg cracks a little while frying unlike being smooth.
My mom always use to fry hard boiled eggs before she dropped them into the boiling gravy.
To hot oil, add mustard and allow to splutter, add cumin seeds, wait for a few seconds and add green chillies, curry leaves, saute'
Add onions, cut into thin slices and fry till they cooked
Add the cut spinach, saute' for a minute, add salt and cook till greens are almost done.
Now add the tomato puree, and cook till raw tomato smell is gone.
Add the 3 spice powders and mix well and cook for 2 minutes
Now add the tamarind juice, and bring it to boil.
Once the gravy is bubbling, add the rava and the egg and mix well.
Once the rava expands in size you can remove the gravy from heat.
Add coriander leaves if desired.
Serve with hot plain rice with crunchy papad or roti.

Chicken Karahi

This is one famous chicken preparation in most of the Indian and Pakistani restaurants and take-outs here in Toronto. Never got a chance to taste it in India though. With its exotic fragrance of fresh ginger,whole black pepper and bountiful of tomatoes this is one dish all curry lovers must taste.

"Karahi" is a gravy with the main base as tomatoes mixed with onions to which either chicken or mutton/lamb/veal can be added. Vegies can try this panneer(cottage cheese)/tofu/gobi(cauliflower).

Unlike adding the raw tomatoes to the cooking meat/poultry, in "Karahi" , we cook the onions and tomatoes seperately into gravy and then add to almost cooked chicken. Again the julienned ginger and the fresh whole black pepper give it a distinct flavour that you can't resist but try with freshly baked tandoori naan - a perfect combo for this.

The love for the taste of karahi preparation made me to adventure to try it at home..cause many of the restraurant versions are too oily.

I'm sending this as one of my entries for the event
Potluck - "Chicken" created and hosted by Vikki's Kitchen

Ingredients :
2 lb Chicken (skinless, bone in, trimmed of all fat)
2 lb Whole Tomatoes chopped
2 large Onions chopped
2 tsp whole black pepper balls
2 tsp whole Spices (fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom) - optional
2 x 2 Tbsp Olive/Canola Oil
2 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste
2 tsp Vinegar - optional

Spice powders:
1 Tbsp red chilly powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
Optional
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp karahi masala (if available)

Salt to taste

Garnish:
2 Tbsp Ginger julienne
Coriander leaves finely chopped

Directions:
Marinate the chicken with a little each of ginger garlic paste, chilly powder, garam masala, turmeric & vinegar for 2-3 hours or overnight.
In a hot pot add 2 tbsp of oil, then add chopped onions and fry them till onions are translucent.
Add cut tomatoes to this and cook till the tomatoes are cooked thoroughly into a smooth paste.
To this again add little each of chilly powder, garam masala, cumin power and coriander powder.
Mean while on the other burner heat up a wok or wide kadai and add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil.
After the oil is hot, add the whole spices except black pepper and saute' till color changes.
Add the remaining ginger-garlic paste saute'
Now add the marinated chicken and saute', add a few black pepper balls and cook till the chicken is 3/4th cooked.
On the other side check if the tomatoes are done ...if the oil starts to leave the surface of the pot then the tomato onion masala gravy is ready.
Now pour this gravy onto the cooking chicken.
Add the karahi masala if desired and more of other spice powders if you want a spicy version.
Add the remaining whole black pepper balls and cook till the pepper leaves the aroma.
Add some julienned ginger and chopped coriander leaves and cook for a minute and remove from heat.
Serve and garnish with more julienned ginger and chopped coriander leaves.
Goes well with Tandoori naan or Lamb/Veal Biriyani.

Fish Gravy - Kerala Style

Fish is all time favourite for seafood lovers. It is healthy choice of non-vegan food too. Cause the RCI - Kerala cuisine is going on this month, decided to make my fish gravy in Kerala style. Again no Kerala cooking is complete without Coconut.. so this is the first time I added coconut to my fish gravy.

Ingredients:
2 lb Raw, cleaned fish of your choice, scales removed.

For Curry:
2 Tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Fenu greek
4 Garlic pods
1 big size Onions,
4-5 Green Chillies
1 reem of Curry Leaves
1 tsp Ginger/garlic paste
2 Tbsp Tomatoe puree/Tomatoe Paste or 1 big Tomatoes Chopped
Salt to taste

Masala Powders:
1/2 Turmeric powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp Chilly powder

For gravy:
1 lemon size tamarind ball soaked in 2 cups of warm water and juice squeesed.
The traditionsl Kerala recipe calls for Kudum pulli.., since I did'nt have this I used the regular pulli
1/2 cup Coconut Milk
1 cup Grated Coconut ground into a smooth paste

To Garnish:
1/4 cup coriander leaves.

Procedure:
1. Heat a skillet, add oil and then allow Mustard to splutter and add fenugreek seeds, stir for 10 sec and now add the chopped garlic. Stir till color changes lightly.
2. Add Onions, green chillies, curry leaves and cook until the onions turn translucent and fully cooked.
3. Add ginger garlic paste fry a little.
4. Add tomatoes or tomatoe puree, cook well
5. Add all the masala powders.
6.Now add the Pulli(Tamarind) juice and salt.
7.Check to see if enough salt and sour. Add some water if it is too soury.
8.Bring this boil and add the clean fish peices.
10.Once the fish is almost cooked add coconut milk and the ground coconut paste. Allow to boil for a minute or two.
11. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves
12. Remove from heat.

This can be served hot with the Chapati/Roti/Parota/ or simple plain rice.

So I'm sending this as another entry for
RCI - Kerala hosted by Curry Bazaaroriginally created by LakshimiK
Also I used Onion in this receipe, so I'm sending this to
JFI - Onion created by Indira and this month hosted by Radhi's Kitchen
and since no fish gravy is complete with garlic, I'm sending this to
Thick Spice - Garlic created and hosted by Sunitha's World

Spicy Sardine Fish Gravy.

For those of you who come from bay area back home and who eat fish, Sardines(English), Mathi(Tamil) and Kavadalu(Telugu) should be most familar. This is another nutritious fish.

I enjoyed this fish gravy in my childhood several times. I simply used to love this gravy whenever my Grand mothers made it. In my home town " Vizag" we use to get these baby sardines too. Though lot of work goes in cleaning them, this is one fish gravy that I used to crave alot. With the tangy taste of tamarind and spiced up with green chillies and red chilly powder, one has to drooool for this dish.
My grand mothers used to add spring onions(Ulli kada) to this gravy sometimes. A simple variation which really gave a lift to the gravy in flavour. Also sometimes they use to replace the ripe tamarind with the raw one. My, my, what a taste that use to be, still lingers in my mouth. When I visit home, one thing I would want my GM to cook is fish gravy. Specially with the small baby Sardines and the real big King fish.

In Chennai or Toronto, I was able to get only the big sardines. My mom always use to fry this type of sardines. She never made gravy with these. Here we get only the frozen version of these sardines in Asian stores. If the frozen packet is not too old we are lucky to make the gravy straight away. But now a days I started to pan fried the Sardines just with minimal masala, - Red Chilly powder and salt, and then drop them in the boiling tamarind gravy.

Ingredients:
1 Pkt - Descaled & Cleaned, cut into halves if long.(about 10 fish)

To Pan fry the Sardine:
Marinated it with 1 tsp of Red chilly powder and add Salt to taste.

Seasoning and Masala:
1 Tbsp - oil
1/2 Tsp - Mustard seeds
5 Pods - Garlic finely chopped
1 Big - Onion cut into length wise
3-4 Green Chillies
10-12 Curry leaves
1 big - Tomatoe made into pulp with fingers or 2 Tbsp -Tomatoe Puree

Spice Powders:
1 tsp - Red Chilly powder
1 tsp - Cumin powder
1 tsp - Coirander powder

For the Gravy:
Soak Lemon size Tamarind/Puli/Chintapandu ball in 2 cups hot water

Herbs to Granish:
Finely chopped corainder leaves - a small bunch

Procedure:Fry the marinated Sardines both sides for 2-3 minutes in a little oil on a heated pan and keep aside (This is take away the fishy smell in the gravy)

Heat a pot, add oil, when heated add mustard.
After mustard splutters add chopped garlic, fry a little and then add the green chillies, fry, add onions, curry leaves and keep stirring till onions are cooked.
Now add the Tomatoes crushed or the tomatoe puree and cook for about 1 - 2 minutes.
Add all the masalas, mix and cook another 2 minutes or till the mixture leaves the container.
Now sqeeze the Tamarind/Puli juice from the soaked tamarind & water into the cooking mixture.
Now mix this well and bring it boil,
Add the fish and cook another 5 minutes.
Once the gravy seems to attain a good consistency add the coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Sardines and King fish have this amazing property to drink all the sourness from the puli, so leave the gravy aside for about 1/2 hour to marinate the fish with the tamarind.

Serve hot with hot Rice, or Dosas/Idli, or Chapathi/Parota/Roti

This is my entry for Grindless Gravies Event hosted by Sra, cause this gravy, is the simplest with minimum time required to cook and no mixer grinder used. Hope this qualifies!!! What do you say Sra?