Fish curry with roasted coconut & pomfret cooked in a cast-iron skillet…
Totally my way. Hailing from Kerala, I love seafood. In Canada, I mostly cook fish during summer. Whenever I make fish curries, I’ll end up making Kerala-style fish curries. In Kerala, there are many ways of making fish curries, with or without coconut. This time, I made the fish curry my way on a cast iron pan. Roasted coconut slices along with some spices & ground into a smooth paste. Cooked the fish in the roasted coconut paste. Aromatic & finger-licking fish curry was ready in no time.
Pomfret is one of my favorite fish & I enjoy cooking with whole fish. You can add any kind of fish for making this curry.
Cooking Video
Easy Fish Curry With Pomfret & Roasted Coconut Gravy- My Version
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Thasneen
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 4 People
Ingredients
For Roasting
- Coconut oil- 2 tbsp
- Whole black peppercorns- 1 tsp
- Coconut slices- ½ cup (or add 1 cup grated coconut)
- Ginger, chopped- 1-inch slice
- Garlic, chopped- 2 large cloves
- Shallots, sliced- 2 (or add 5 pearl or small onions)
- Curry leaves- 10 leaves
- Coriander seeds- ½ tbsp
- Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
For making curry
- Coconut oil- 1 tbsp
- Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
- Fenugreek seeds- ½ tsp
- Curry leaves- 10 leaves
- Water- ½ cup
- Salt- 1½ tsp
- Tamarind extract- ¼ cup (3-inch slice tamarind soaked in ¼ cup water)
- Pomfret fish- 3 to 5, small whole golden pomfret or add other kinds of fish pieces
- Curry leaves- a few leaves
- Coconut oil- 1 tsp
Instructions
- I've used whole golden pomfret for making this curry. You can add any kind of fish like sardines, mackerel, king fish, salmon, red snapper, etc.
Roasting
- Place a cast-iron pan or clay pan over medium heat.
- Add coconut oil, whole peppercorns & coconut slices; roast for 2 minutes.
- You can also add 1 cup grated coconut instead of coconut slices.
- Add shallots. ginger, garlic, curry leaves & coriander seeds.
- Roast for a few minutes till coconut & shallots turn golden in color.
- Add turmeric powder, roast for a minute.
- Remove the pan from the heat, let cool down.
- Transfer to a blender jar, add 1 cup water & grind to a smooth paste.
- In a bowl, soak 3-inch slice fresh tamarind in ½ cup lukewarm water for 5 minutes.
- Squeeze the tamarind in water, extract the juice & discard the skin. Keep aside.
Cooking fish curry
- Place the cast iron pan or claypan over medium heat.
- Add coconut oil, let turn hot.
- Add mustard seeds, let splutter.
- Add fenugreek seeds & curry leaves, saute for a few seconds.
- Add the ground coconut paste.
- Rinse the blender jar with ½ cup water & add that water to the pan. Combine well.
- Add salt & tamarind extract.
- Cook for a few minutes, let the gravy come to a slight boil.
- Add the fish.
- Cover with a lid, cook for total of 15 minutes,
- After every 4 minutes, open the lid gently stir the gravy & ensure the fish is not sticking to the pan.
- After 15 minutes of cooking, remove the pan from the heat.
- Finally, garnish with some curry leaves & drizzle a tsp of coconut oil.
- Close the pan with the lid & keep covered for a few minutes.
- The curry has a thick gravy.
- Serve the fish curry along with rice, chapati, appam, idiyappam, pathiri, etc.
