"King Fish Curry / Surmai (Visonu) Masala" ... A delicious fish curry prepared out of king fish that is available in plenty now ... this curry tastes best when served with mildly spicy pulav or ghee rice though I served it in thali with plain rice along with other dishes and it tasted wonderful ... Yummilicious .....
** For fish lovers / eaters King Fish is exactly that what its name goes by. It really is the king of fishes and I have yet to come across anybody who does not like this fish. Almost every fish eater enjoys them best while fried crisp and served hot along with some dishes. In my home Dalitoy and Rice is all we need when I fry these yummy delicious Visonu as called in konkani. To the best of my knowledge this is the first fish that is given to children when they have just started to learn eating fish dishes. I still remember how my Mother used to mildly spice a few pieces separately for us children when we were very small. The pieces toward the tail part of the fish are more fleshier with less thorns within and children enjoy them the best and that was what I enjoyed the most. I still like smaller sized surmai compared to the large surmai we get here in Mumbai. Though I do purchase them at times, I always go in for smaller pieces when available, as I find them tastier than the larger ones.
** A major part of Konkani Saraswats are fish eaters for centuries now, unlike some peoples poor knowledge on community history, wherein they keep questioning us, how come being a GSB ie Gowd Saraswat Brahmins we eat fish. But for those who know the story of our roots, they have full knowledge of how we came about eating fish as it was inevitable for us to do so to survive some centuries back. The story or should I say history is a long one and I hope I will do justice to the community fish eaters by writing a small story about it some day. I need to collect proper information for the same, all I would like to say is our lost roots are actually in the state of Rajastan (in India) by the river side of Saraswati which was struck by famine and we were advised to eat fish which was the only food available then for survival. We then migrated towards Bengal another place where fish was eaten by large and then Goa, once again a fish eatery famous place and finally moved towards Mangalore and Kerala, all coastal location sides, which is the main reason for our large cuisine variety as we had adopted a little bit from every state that we migrated to and learned on as we transited.
** Coming to Surmai / Visonu / King Fish, I fry this fish more often than prepare it in curry form. But today I thought of preparing a curry and dug into my old books for some recipes that was something other than Konkani as I was in a mood to cook fish in a different way. I came across many in my huge collection of books which actually left me drained before I even begain to cook. As we age we tend to forget many things and that includes food that were prepared decades back. The quest of learning new dishes always makes me keep moving forgetting most of the dishes once they are cooked and done unless I go through my books which is a rare opportunity I get to do so. This fish curry was prepared a few decades back on notes I got from one of my old neighbor who was actually a Karwari Konkani. People who live in Karwar a city on the banks of Kaveri river again in Karnataka State in India are by and large fish eaters. My friend had lots of fish curries which variate from the ones we Konkani from South Kanara side prepared. I made a few changes by adding a little bit of tamarind (I somehow always have to have it in my curries) and methi, that’s it.
** Here is my simple method of preparing "King Fish Curry / Surmai (Visonu) Masala" … My Style … Goes well with ghee rice / pulav or plain rice too …
** Clean, wash and pat dry 6 medium sized pieces of king fish/surmai/visonu. Mix a little bit of haldi (turmeric) powder, red chilly powder and salt together and apply this to the fish pieces. Keep this covered aside for 30 minutes while you go about preparing the curry.
** For the Masala to be Ground : In a kadai add in a tablespoon of oil, when hot add in about 8 garlic cloves (losun/lehsun) peeled and cut to pieces along with 2 medium sized onions (kanda/piyav) peeled and cut into cubes. Fry this for 3-4 minutes. Now add in 10-12 red kashmiri chillies (or kumte mirsang/chillies) cut into pieces, 2 tbslp of coriander (dhania/kothambir) seeds, 1 tsp of black pepper corns (miri), ¼ tsp of methi (fenugreek) seeds and continue frying for another minute. Finally add in a cup of freshly grated coconut and further fry for a good 3-4 minutes. Remove and allow to cool a little bit.
** Now add the fried ingredients into a mixer grinder along with a marble sized tamarind (chinchama/ Imly) and 2 medium sized tomatoes roughly chopped. Grind this to a very smooth paste adding little bit of water only. Do not add in more water as the tomatoes contain water in them too. The ground paste should be very smooth. Remove the masala and keep this ready aside.
** Heat about 1 tblsp of oil in thick bottomed wide vessel, when hot add in 1 tsp of mustard seeds (sasam/ rai), when they begin to splutter, lower the heat to minimum and add n a handful of fresh curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbev) along with 1 tsp of kashmiri red chilly powder (mirsange pitti). The chilly powder will begin to spread and give out color, do not allow it to burn, immediately add in the ground masala and mix well. Add in some water to bring it to a thick gravy consistency. Now add salt to taste and bring it to a boil on medium heat.
** Once the curry comes to a full boil and curry is well cooked, lower the heat to minimum mix once well and then add in the marinated fish pieces one by one forming a layer of the same, shake the vessel gently with the help or tongs or holding a piece of cloth on the rim of the vessel, do be careful. Let the fish cook on low to medium heat for 4-5 minutes till almost done. Fish hardly takes time to cook, so be careful and please do not overcook it or else they will break up into pieces. Remove from fire, cover and keep aside for 30 minutes for the flavors to seep into the curry.
** "King Fish Curry / Surmai (Visonu) Masala" is done and ready to be served. This fish curry goes best when served with mildly spiced pulav or ghee rice or any flavored rice. However, I had already made preparation of a meal ahead of preparing this dish so I served it as an accompaniment with rice and other dishes on my Thali. But yes, the next day I enjoyed this one with lemon rice and it tasted wonderful. Do try this fish curry for a change from the routine one’s and enjoy them with your family and friends.
** Note : Never use spatula for mixing of fish curry while cooking, if you use mixing rotation method as we do other other vegetable curry the fish will break up into pieces and will not remain in single pieces. So one should always use tilting and rotating method of vessel while cooking fish curries. Just hold a folded cloth with both hands on the outer rim of the vessel and gently tilt the vessel in clockwise direction for the fish curry to move about so that it does not get burnt at the bottom. You can use tongs too, but you have to be careful as sometimes the vessel tilts when using tongs and the curry may splutter. If still uncomfortable use a long handled spatula in vertical position in the vessel and gently shake the curry in several places so that the gravy moves about.
** Note : Fish curry always matures on resting and tastes that much more tastier after been kept aside for a few hours or even overnight at times unlike other non-vegetarian dishes. I sometimes prepare the dish later at night so that we can relish the same for lunch the next day and it tastes simply wonderful. Try it, I am sure all fish eaters know of this method too. The spicier the fish curry the better it tastes in period. Again, be careful with addition of salt as not only have we applied a little bit to marinate the fish, but the fish themselves contain a little bit of salt in them, so just check on add later on if need be.
** I have included a common link of "Fish Curries and Fries" below, which are by and large from Konkani Saraswat Cuisine. The curries are always spiced mostly with chilly powder and the gravy is almost always coconut based and the tartness to the curry most of the time comes from tamarind. Try this out, they are actually lighter on stomach than those curries that include garam masalas. Do try them out and enjoy with your family and friends let me know how you liked our cuisine varieties.
** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of different types in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it or have a query, please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Do try out various types of dishes included in the Blog and Enjoy them with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible. I have also started a food group for by the name "KONKANI DELICACIES" where in you will find many more recipes by members and you too can share some of your own. The link to the group is posted on the left side of the blog page. Do join us in our culinary journey. I strongly believe in Sharing and always endorse that "Sharing Is Caring" … Thank You ….
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