Ingredients:

• 1 kg – surmai fish (white) cleaned, sliced and washed
• 1 – medium sized onion, sliced
• 5 – slit Green chillies
• 1 inch – ginger, chopped
• 3 tbsp – vegetable oil or Coconut oil for tempering
• Oil for frying fish
• Salt to taste
• A few Coriander leaves to garnish
• For Coconut milk:
• 4 cups – grated fresh Coconut
• 2 cups – warm water
• For wet ground masala :
• (To be ground with 1 cup or a little more of thin Coconut Milk and to be finely ground)
• 1/4 cup – grated Coconut
• 1/2 – Onion chopped
• 3/4 tsp – Mustard Seeds
• 3/4 tsp – Cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp – Turmeric powder
• 8 – madras Red Chillies
• 8 – Kashmir Red Chillies
• 6 – pepper Corns
• 8 – Garlic Cloves
• 1 – Lemon sized ball of Tamarind
• 1 tbsp – Coriander seeds

Method:

1. Grind the coconut in 2 cups of warm water. Strain in muslin cloth and extract 1.5 cups of thick coconut milk.
2. Take the residue of the coconut and add 4 cups of warm water and grind once again.
3. Strain in muslin cloth to extract 3 cups of thin coconut milk.
4. Set aside thick and thin coconut milk separately.
5. Apply a little salt to the fish and shallow fry the fish. Drain and set aside.
6. Heat oil and add onion, ginger, chillies and fry till the onion is translucent.
7. Add the ground masala paste and fry for approximately 3-4 minutes.
8. Add the remaining thin coconut milk. Add a little salt.
9. Bring this mixture to 1-2 boils.
10. Add the fried fish pieces and shake the vessel so that the gravy covers each and every piece.
11. Let it boil once again. Lower the heat to minimum.
12. Check salt and add the thick coconut milk and let it simmer for around 5-10 minutes.
13. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with hot steaming rice or steamed rice.

Recipe courtesy of Mariena Dsouza