Malabar Mackerel Curry With Raw Mangoes.

Malabar Mackerel Curry With Raw Mangoes …. A delicious spicy fish curry prepared with Mackerel / Raja / Bangda / Bangude with the addition of fresh raw mangoes …. Goes very well with ukde sheetHa / red boiled rice ….. Tastes yumz .........

Mackerel / Raja / Bangude is a sea fish available in plenty all round the world. I have never to date tried preparing variations in fish curries other than typical konkani recipes. Somehow, whenever I tasted at restaurants, I never much liked them, so I stuck to our normal recipes. Recently however, my hubby had been continuously pressurizing me to prepare something different. So the credit for variations in this curry definitely goes to him, otherwise, I guess I would never have tried. Malabar curries are somewhere closer to konkani curries, so I decided to try out the same. I checked many recipes in Google for the same and finally came out with my own convenient method. A simple curry with the addition of raw mangoes for sourness. However, if you do not want to add the same you can add in tamarind for the same. In all a very yummy dish. I served this with red boiled rice and it was simply awesome.

Clean and trim of fins etc. of 4 large sized Mackerels / bangude / Raja. Clean off the stomach portion etc. and apply salt and a little bit of turmeric / haldi all over the fish and keep aside ready. Now wash and wipe clean one small sized raw mango. Snip off the stem portion and peel off the skin portion as thinly as possible. Now cut the fleshy raw mango portion into small pieces. Discard the center seed. Put this in a vessel with little bit of water and cook till 75% done. Keep this ready aside.

To be ground to a fine paste : In a mixer grinder add in one cup of freshly grated coconut, 1 tightly packed cup of chopped coriander leaves (you can add in tender stems), 1 tblsp of red chilli powder, ½ tsp of haldi powder, 3-5 green chillies, 1 tblsp dhania powder, 1 tsp jeera powder, ½ tsp fennel powder, 8-10 garlic, peeled and chopped, 1 inch piece of ginger chopped, 2 large sized onions, peeled and chopped. Grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste with one cup of water. You can add in more water in grinding if necessary, but do not make the paste to thin. The consistency should be smooth and of medium thickness to the gravy. Remove and keep this aside ready.

In thick bottomed flat vessel, heat 3 tblsp of oil, when hot add in 8-10 garlic peeled and cut to small pieces and fry till light brown, then add in one large sized onion also peeled and cut to fine pieces. Fry together till brown in colour. Now add in the ground masala along with the cooked raw mangoes and mix well. Add salt to taste and bring to a boil. Once the curry comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for a few minutes. Now add in the prepared bangda / mackerels. Put them in a line in the vessel. Try as much as possible to lay them flat and not topple them on each other. Let the fish cook on medium heat. Mix gently by shaking the vessel in a circular motion. Do not trying mixing with spatula as you may break the fish. Fish hardly takes time to cook once you have added it to boiling curry. In medium heat all it takes is 3-5 minutes maximum. Remove and keep the dish aside covered.

For Tempering : Heat 1 tsp of oil (preferably coconut or sesame oil) in a small pan. When hot lower the heat and add in 1 tsp of mustard seeds, when they begin to splutter add in 12-15 fresh curry leaves, fry for a few seconds and pour this over the curry.

Once you have tempered / seasoned the curry cover it with a tight lid and leave it aside for a good 15-20 minutes for all the flavours to seep in and mingle with the dish. Malabar Mackerel Curry With Raw Mangoes is done and ready to be served now. Serve hot with freshly prepared Red Boiled Rice or any other rice of your choice. Goes really well with ukda rice. If you love this south Indian Rice, do prepare it to be served with this curry. I highly recommend it as the combination is simply awesome. If not aware of cooking method of the rice or find it tedious check my blog for the same I have included a fast method of preparing red boiled rice using pressure cooker which I use till date. If in doubt of any other written matter please mail me the queries and I will definitely send you a prompt reply.