“Soundale Ambat/ Butter Fish Onion Seasoned Curry” … this is a delicate buttery flavored fish as is its name and is available in plenty these days … being high on nutrients its an excellent choice for health and over all well being … try this delicious ambat from GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine, tastes best served with ukde sheetHa (red boiled rice) … Yummilicious …
** I am many of my friends must be wondering at my slow space these days especially with non- veg dishes. Well, I did mention before that though I constantly browse through dishes over net, at times even saving them to try out, I am somehow always stuck to those recipes that Amma prepared as we Konkani’s always follow a standard pattern when preparing fish dishes. Also when I realize that there are still more of our own home recipes that needs to be shared, I feel inclined to do so first and the list of to do always takes a back seat.
** Blogging at times takes us away from reality, in the desire to share somehow regular dishes we love takes a back seat. It has been eons since I prepared chicken curry and always end up ordering online from my favorite restaurant when I desire to relish as most of the time I am not up to the laborious work. Luckily my fish vendor understand my woes and is very helpful, she now gives me less quantity without cost cutting and does most of the cleaning and cutting part too. The very reason why I prepare them more than other non. Veg dishes.
** Today she had fresh soundale/butter fish a fish that I started eating more often only a few years back. It tastes similar to kane/lady fish/ Nogle kana (in konkani) and is superb when fried too. I have already shared a recipe of both fry and curry before to which I will share a common link below,where in you can browse and check out. I am not sure why this fish was hardly prepared in my parent’s home, nevertheless today I prepared Ambat, my amma’s style and it was awesome. Tastes best served with red boiled rice/ steamed rice.
** Here is my recipe for “Soundale Ambat/ Butter Fish Onion Seasoned Curry” … My Style, which I learned from Amma …
** Ingredients :
Soundale/ Butter Fish : 2-3
Green Chilly/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 3-4
Ginger/ Alle’/ Adrak : 1 inch piece grated
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
** For the Masala to be Ground :
Fresh Coconut/ Soyi/ Nariyal : 1.5 cups
Kashmiri Red Chilly/ Kumte Mirsanga/ Byadgi Mirchi : 12-15
Coriander seeds/ Dhania/ Kothambari : 2 tblsp
Ajwain/ Vonvo/ Carom Seeds/ Bishop’s Weed : 1 tsp
Fresh Turmeric/ Haldi Mande : ½ inch
OR
Haldi/ Turmeric powder : ½ tsp
Tamarind/ Chinchama/ Imly : small marble sized
Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 1 tsp (any edible)
** For Tempering/ Seasoning/ Tadka/ Pannaka :
Onion/ Piyavu/ Kanda : 2 medium sized finely chopped
Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 3-4 tblsp (any edible)
Soundale/ Butter Fish (Picture courtesy Google)
** To prepare the fish ready : Remove scales on outer skin with blunt knife, trim the fins, slice off the head portion and give a slit on the side near stomach and clean it out well, with plenty of water. Cut them into two or three pieces horizontally depending upon the size of the fish. Apply salt and lemon juice on the fish and rub it all over and keep it aside for 10 minutes and then once again wash and pat it dry.
** For the Masala to be Ground : In a kadai, heat oil and add in coriander and fry till slightly color changes, now add ajwain, red chilly, fry for another second, add fresh turmeric cut to pieces and fry for a minute and remove from fire. If using turmeric powder, add it, mix and immediately remove. Add tamarind and coconut and mix well, add this into mixer grinder and grind to a smooth fine paste with required amount of water.
** Note : Do not add excess water, we need the masala to be thick in consistency, yet smooth and very fine is texture, so add water accordingly. If adding fresh turmeric, then fry it for a minute after currying it to small pieces but if using powder then you should just add mix and remove otherwise sometimes it burns, so be careful.
** To Prepare the Curry : Add the ground masala into a wide stainless steel cooking vessel along with say approximately 2 cups of water. Mix well, check consistency and add more water if necessary only. Bring it a boil on medium heat, then lower the heat and add the green chillies cut lengthwise, grated ginger and let cook.
** For Tempering/ Seasoning/ Tadka/ Pannaka : While the curry is boiling let's proceed with seasoning of curry side by side. Heat oil in a small pan, when hot add finely chopped onion and fry until it turns light brown in color stirring often, when done pour this over simmering curry, mix well and let continue to cook
** Immediately add in the prepared and kept aside soundale/ butter fish pieces to the simmering curry along with salt to taste, mix well gently without disturbing the pieces and bring to a boil on medium heat once again for just 3-4 minutes. Remove from fire and keep it aside covered to settle down and for the falvors to be infused well, say for about 30 minutes and it is ready to be served.
** “Soundale Ambat/ Butter Fish Onion Seasoned Curry” is done and ready to be served. Serve hot with red boiled rice/ ukde sheetHa or any rice of your choice. Do try out this fish curry if butter fish is available in your vicinity and enjoy with your family and friends. If your children love fish, try this fish if you have not, it has a sweetish taste and tastes awesome and sure to be loved by them.
** Note: The spice level I have kept for this curry is slightly higher as soundale/ butter fish being slightly sweetish in taste a little bit more of added spice makes it tastier. You can increase or decrease depending upon your family choice.
** Note : It’s the season of fresh turmeric these days and if available use them as much as possible otherwise you can use powder. Fresh turmeric is very healthy and I use it for all dishes when available, do make it a point to do so too.
** You can also fry this fish and it taste wonderful, check out for fried soundale/ butter fish recipe too, here is the link to the Recipe …..
** I am sharing below a common link to "Fish" dishes in my blog, they include both fried and curry dishes. Do go through the link and choose on various option of curries and enjoy them with your family and friends. In my home somehow we never like restaurant fish curries and always love those prepared at home, as we Konkani Saraswats hardly use garam masala powder in our dishes and we like it that way. Do try out recipes from our cuisine, you are sure to like them as they are much lighter on stomach.
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