MALVANI FISH CURRY - https://www.archanaskitchen.com/malvani-fish-curry-recipe-delicious-and-spicy-fish-curry
I linked to this recipe from Archana’s Kitchen yesterday. It didn’t disappoint! The most time consuming portion of the recipe was toasting and grinding the spices and chiles. I used Kashmiri chiles for the masala mixture. Looking at some of the other Malvani masala recipes posted, I took this opportunity to also add about a tablespoon of kalpasi and a teaspoon of tirphal (Sichuan peppercorns).
After marinating the fish (meaty trout fillets), I prepped the curry base - ginger, garlic, and tomatoes. These get cooked in mustard oil in which you’ve toasted mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add some turmeric and salt. Once the tomatoes are broken down, add the entirety of the ground masala. Then tamarind water, followed by coconut milk. Let that simmer for a little and then add the fish. Cover and cook until the fish is done, about 10 minutes. When I checked the seasonings at the end, I found I needed to add a few pinches of sugar and just a touch more salt to help balance everything.
This was quite delicious! I must admit that I am not entirely sure what the kalpasi brought to the party after all that. The flavors were very fennel forward from the, well, fennel, as well as star anise. I really liked the use of tamarind for sourness in this. I feel like if I make this again I would be inclined to make the whole sauce the day or so before so it could meld in the fridge before I cooked the fish in it. We had this with a cucumber and radish salad, along with rice.
