"Manji Alle Piyav ghalnu Gashi/ Pomfret Curry with Onion and Ginger" ... here is a delicious medium spicy fish curry from Konkani Saraswat Cuisine ... this curry tastes best served with ukde sheetHa (red boiled rice)/ steamed rice or any type of rice items ... Yummilicious ....
** I have often mentioned that there is a false notion that GSB Konkani Saraswat's do not eat fish and I have unfortunately been targeted on this matter several times in some food groups. Well, what can I say to those who really do not know the history of Saraswats, just ignore and move on, isn't it. If you visit, Goa, Mangalore side Konkani Saraswats, you will be aware that over 50% of them do eat fish while other non. vegetarian dishes are a matter of choice. Anyways this is a simple medium spiced curry that I recommend be relished with rice for best of taste, though boiled rice tastes great, you may relish the same with any type of rice you usually prepare at home.
** Here is my recipe for "Manji Alle Piyav ghalnu Gashi/ Pomfret Curry with Onion and Ginger" which I learnt to prepare from my amma ...
** Ingredients :
Pomfret/ Manji/ Pamplet : 1-2 medium sized (white ones)
Onion/ Piyavu/ Kanda : 1 medium sized chopped fine.
Ginger/ Alle/ Adrak : 2 inch piece chopped fine.
Coconut Oil/ Narel Tela/ Nariyal Tel : 1-2 tblsp
Salt/ Meeta/ Namak : to taste.
** For Masala to be ground :
Coconut/ Nariyal/ Soyi : 1 heaped cup of freshly grated
Kashmiri red chillies/ Kumte Mirsanga/ Byadgi Mirchi : 6-8
Tamarind/ Imly/ Chinchama : 1 small marble sized.
** About Pomfret/ Pamplet/ Manji : Usually we buy them all cleaned and cut into pieces from fish market as the service is available almost everywhere when you purchase the same. If not, wash pomfret, pat dry, trim off its edge on its tail, cut off the fins and the side wings. Then slice the fish into 1/2 inch thick slices horizontally. Keep the tail part of the fish a bit wider say around 3-4 inches. Do away with the head part of the fish or if you like it, you can use it by cutting of the edge unto eye part and then cleaning it well from within. You will get about 6-7 pieces. Clean the fish especially its stomach area and clean the inside portion very thoroughly. Apply a little bit of salt all over and keep it aside ready, You can also put it in plenty of water and keep it aside til to be used.
** For the Masala to be ground : Grind coconut, tamarind and chillies to a very fine paste with a little bit of water. The ground paste should be thick and very fine in texture. Remove and keep this aside ready.
** Note : You can use tart/ tangy imparting veggies like bimbul (tree sorrel), karmbala (star fruit), ambado (hogplum), kokum etc. to the curry too if desired in which case however do not add tamarind while grinding the masala.
** Add the ground masala in a wide flat thick bottomed vessel along with required amount of water to bring it to a thick gravy consistency. Keep the vessel on a medium heat and bring the gravy to a boil, when the curry comes to a boil lower the heat add the finely chopped onion, ginger, salt to taste and mix well. Once again let the curry come to a full boil, then lower the heat to minimum and add in the pomfret cut pieces in a single layer in the vessel without toppling on one another.
** Note : Always use flat wide utensils to cook fish. This helps to add on the fish pieces in a layer without toppling on each other. This also helps in even cooking of the fish pieces and also becomes easier to gently stir or move the vessel in rotation to cook the fishes intact without breaking into pieces.
** Cook the curry for 4-5 minutes on low- medium heat, stirring gently with a spatula/ ladle avoiding touching the fish pieces while doing so. The other method which we saraswats follow is we hold the vessel either with the help of tongs or with a cloth on the rim and gently rotate or tilt leftwards and rightwards the vessel, which helps the gravy and fish together to move smoothly within the means of vessel, this method makes it foolproof from the fish getting broken as they are very delicate.
** Note : For the same curry you can add on a few fresh green chillies (tarni mirsanga/ hari mirchi) cut lengthwise while cooking. This does give a good taste to the final outcome in the curry. However, it is optional and though I do add it at times, here I have not, again remember to check out the spice level when doing so too.
** The fish pieces hardly take much time in cooking depending off course upon the quantity otherwise in maximum its about 5-7 minutes and its done. Lastly add in the coconut oil in raw form over the curry, mix and remove from heat. Keep the curry aside covered for about 15-20 minutes for the flavors to getting infused. Fish curry always taste best when given some time to rest after which it can be served hot.
** "Manji Alle Piyav ghalnu Gashi/ Pomfret Curry with Onion and Ginger" is done and ready to be served. Fish curry always tastes best with ukde sheetHa (red boiled rice) or any plain rice, so do try the same combo sometime. Again, you can also serve it with mildly spiced rice dishes like pulav, ghee rice too, though in my home and we GSB Konkani Saraswats always prefer to relish it with plain rice.
** Fish is full of proteins and omega 3 which is indeed good for heart and overall health. If you are a non-vegetarian then make it a point to include more of fish items into your meals as they rank the highest among non.veg items along with eggs. It is always a joy to relish fried fish items but then curries are much more healthier option. So, do try out this simple delicious curry and give me a feedback if possible.
** I had previously posted the same curry ie Mani/ Pomfret with ginger onion garlic to which I had added karmbala/ starfruit instead of tamarind. I have mentioned different choices of tart/ tangy veggies that can be added instead of tamarind above. You can check out on this recipe, which remains the same but of addition of starfruit and green chillies, again which I have mentioned on optional choice ...
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