Ah. That explains a lot. The recipe I received was titled “Mutton Stew”.
EGG CURRY / BENGALI DIMER DALNA
This is an easy and delicious use for extra boiled eggs, or a quick dinner where the curry base gets done while the eggs are cooking.
My two changes: I didn’t fry the eggs (I don’t like overcooked boiled eggs and it’s hard enough to make egg curry without that happening as it is), and I didn’t grind the onion but sliced it long and caramelized well as step 1 (I had ground ginger-garlic paste already, and ground onions take a lot longer to cook out than chopped or sliced). Also added a sliced green chilli in addition to the dried for a different flavor of heat (does that make sense?).
Lovely with fresh bread, as also with rice.
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KERALA FISH MOILEE (Classic Coconut Fish Curry), Thali p. 122
She has also posted this recipe on her Instagram.
I’ve been meaning to make this recipe for a while and now that South Indian is the COTQ, this seemed as good a time as any.
I used local fluke fillets and some shrimp, rather than fish steaks. It didn’t end up impacting the cook time at all. To make this, start by marinating your fish in turmeric powder, lime juice, and salt. Heat some oil and cook mustard seeds until they sputter. Then add green cardamom pods, green chiles, and some curry leaves. Next is to add a paste you’ve made from ginger, garlic, and onion (I used shallot). Let that fry a bit and then in goes turmeric, salt, sugar, and some water. Simmer for a minute or two. I took this opportunity to scrape up some fond that had developed on the bottom of the pan from the ginger-onion-garlic paste.
She wants you to add the fish steaks at this point. I added the coconut milk instead and brought it up to a simmer. Then I added my fish fillet pieces and shrimp. They cooked through in under 5 minutes, covered. Before serving, add black pepper, some tamarind paste, and cilantro.
This was delicious! I’m looking forward to the leftovers for lunch later this week.
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This sounds and looks so good to me now. I’m guessing it might even go over well with the rest of the family. But how obvious is the tamarind paste at the end? Lulu sometimes finds stuff made with it too sweet.
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I used a spoonful (tea spoon, not soup spoon) of Dragonfly brand tamarind concentrate. I don’t find it particularly sweet, more sweet/sour. All tamarind pastes are a little different. I’d say you could skip it and add a squeeze of more lime juice if you were concerned tamarind would be a deal breaker!
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Kokum could also be used, it is more sour than Tamarind and has virtually no sweet to it. It also is a Fruit so still adds some complexity.
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Kokum takes longer to infuse – you’d need the curry to boil for a while, which moilee usually doesn’t.
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Moliee is so easy and delicious I don’t know why I (or anyone else who likes curries) don’t make it more often!
I just saw it featured on someone’s IG feed as a “you can make this just from TJ’s ingredients” episode 
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True.
You can easily take care of that by simmering it in the Water needed for the Recipe
I’ve never added tamarind to moilee, and rarely even tomato.
It’s not really meant to be a sour curry – the flavor is mostly coconut milk with a light aromatic profile, and a bit of heat if you add a slit green chilli.
If you made the Kerala stew / ishtu from one of the Meera Sodha books, this is a slightly richer version of that (that one is more watery).
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But… why?
She only has you simmer the water for a minute in this recipe. Is that nearly long enough? The last time I tried using kokum it seemed to take a while to soften up (although it might have been old stock, as it was an Amazon purchase).
Because the daughter doesn’t like Tamarind
Easier to skip tamarind than to remember to boil kokum water (assuming one had kokum) imho, when tamarind is not the prominent flavor in moilee.
I do not think that simmering the water longer will effect anything. And of course you would do this before adding it to the Moilee.
You typically have to mix the Tamarind Pulp with water anyway.
Yes it would be.
I only offered an option to Tamarind.
