Fish Mappas/ Meen Mappas

Fish Mappas or Meen Mappas is a traditional Kerala recipe flavored by the addition of coconut milk. This is served along with appam, idiyappam or bread roll. 

My recipe is an adaptation of the one I had seen on cookery show - Shappile curry naville ruchiyum on television. I have tried this recipe a couple of times with different fishes like Karimeen and Vatta. It turned out the best with Neymeen/ King Fish which I made this time and we finally decided to put it up in the blog.

Unlike fish molly, mappas is a little tangy due to the addition of kudampali/ pot tamarind and blends well along with the creaminess of coconut milk. This recipe is now a favorite with us.

So, here you go - 

Ingredients

1. Fish slices - 9-10 pieces( I used King Fish - you may use karimeen or pomfret also)
2. Onion - 2 medium sliced lengthwise
3. Green Chilly - 4-5 slit
4. Ginger - 2 tsps chopped
5. Tomato -1 medium sliced lengthwise
6. Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
10. Coconut milk - 1 coconut
11. Curry Leaf - 1 sprig
12. Kodam pulli/ pot tamarind - 2 pieces
13. Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

Method

Being a Keralite, I am used to making fish curry in mann chatti/ earthern pot. It somehow gives me a feeling that I am home :) However, it is not mandatory to use one. Any pot would do. 

Heat the oil and add the fenugreek seeds. Add mustard seeds and when it splutters toss in the chopped onions along with the ginger. Saute it, till the raw smell goes away and add the green chilly. 

When the green chilly slowly begins to change color, add turmeric powder and coriander powder. Stir till the masala gets cooked. 

I usually take the milk from freshly grated coconut. You may use store bought coconut milk as well. 

For those using fresh coconut milk, you may take the milk twice - thick milk and thin milk.

Add the thin milk and once it boils, place the fish slices into the pot along with tomato slices and pot tamarind.

Bring this to boil and simmer it on low flame covered till the fish gets cooked. Then add the thick milk. Switch off the flame as soon as the gravy comes to a boil. Avoid stirring the fish curry once cooked as the fish being tender, tend to fall apart.

Garnish with curry leaves.

Does not take a very long time to cook and a perfect recipe for weekend get together with friends and family.

Mangalore Fish Curry

Brahmavar - that is where I was brought up. A lovely place with even more lovelier people and amazing food. It is a small town along the Udupi coastline, 70 kms of Mangalore.

No prizes for guessing my favorite Mangalorean meal. Boiled Rice and Fish Curry - That is definitely a marriage made in heaven:)

Attend any weddings in the Mangalore region and you will realise that people are least bothered about the fish in the curry, all they need is the gravy for a sumptuous meal.

My earliest memory, is the fish curry we constantly order at Hotel Ashraya - a restaurant in Brahmavar along the National Highway. Our favorite waiter at the restaurant told us that the flavour of the curry increases if it is kept over night and then served. My cooking experiments proved the same.

Try making this curry with sardines, mackerel or even anchovy, it would taste as good!

Flavors do not necessarily come from complicated recipes - you will know this once you read this recipe, try it and taste the result.

Here is the recipe - the original version given by our maid - Geetha akka. She knows my craving for fish curry and never fails me every time I am home.

Ingredients

1. Mackerel/ Sardine - 4 or Anchovy - a handful
2. Kashmiri Chilly - 6-7
3. Pepper cones - 1/4 tsp
4. Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
5. Methi Seeds - 1 pinch
6. Ajwain/ Carom Seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Coconut - 6 tbsp grated
8. Tamarind - 1 amla sized ball
9. Onion - 1 thinly sliced
10. Tomato - 1 thinly sliced
11. Green Chilly - 3 slit
12. Ginger - 1 inch finely chopped
13. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
14. Salt

Method

Dry roast the ingredients 2 to 6 for about 5 minutes on low flame. Let it cool down and grind it along with grated coconut and tamarind. Use the water necessary to form a smooth paste.

Add the ground masala into a skillet and throw in the onions, tomato, green chilly and ginger. Add salt and pour water to attain the desired consistency and let it boil on high flame. Bring it to boil and reduce the flame and add the cleaned fish. Keep the curry covered on low flame and cook for around 10 - 15 minutes.

Add a sprig of fresh curry leaves. Refrigerate it overnight and serve it along with rice the next day. I promise you that it is worth the effort.

Prawns/ Chemmeen Curry with raw mango

Prawns always reminds me of my sister - Soumya  -  a hard core non veg food fan, who is convinced that prawns cannot be categorized as non vegetarian food. She says - look at the size of it - how can that be non vegetarian? That is what she grew up saying and doesn't care much about prawns to date.

Although I love prawns, I have not tried many recipes with it. I was craving for prawns and that is when I remembered the curry my colleague used to often bring to office. Hailing from Trissur in Kerala, he often brought to office the traditional delicacies from the region.And yes, all of us have gobbled on it.I soon had the recipe in my hands, thanks to his wife who managed to write it down despite having a four month old baby and a lovely four year old to look after. 

 Sharing the Chemmeen curry recipe which my husband and his colleagues loved.

Ingredients

Prawns - 1/2 kg
Coconut - 1 grated
Raw Mango - 2 cut into long pieces
Ginger - 2 tsp finely chopped
Green Chilly - 4 to 5 slit
Shallots - 4-5 finely chopped
Chilly powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coconut oil
Curry leaves
Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Marinate the prawns in 1 tsp chilly powder and salt.
2. Take the first milk from the coconut and keep aside. To the second milk add mango, ginger, green chilly,chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt and the marinated prawns. Cook it covered till the prawns are cooked and the gravy has become sufficiently thick.
3. Now add the first milk and boil for 2-3 minutes till it thickens and you get the desired consistency.
4. In a separate pan, heat coconut oil. Toss in the curry leaves and the shallots and fry till golden brown. Add a little chilly powder and pour this into the gravy and boil for another 2 - 3. Serve hot with rice.

Fish Molly/Molee - Kerala fish stew

Appam has been my all time favorite. It's appam for Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Anniversary and any occasion you think of. Appam, according to me goes best with stew and hence set out to explore the best and easiest way to make stew.

I have come across various recipes for fish molly but I found my mothers recipe the easiest and the best . I tried out this recipe on my husband - the guinea pig of all my experiments. He seemed to pretty much like it and not to lie - I loved it too. So without much delay I decided to put it up here. This post is for my dearest Mamma from whom I learnt the tricks and trades of cooking. Let me not forget to thank my hubby who willingly tastes all that I cook.

Ingredients

For Marination

King Fish - 1 kg sliced ( Any fish of your choice but I personally feel it tastes the best with King Fish)
Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt as per taste

For Curry

Onion - 3 medium sized thickly sliced lengthwise
Ginger - 2 tsp finely chopped
Green Chilly - 4 slit
Potato - 2 Medium chopped
Coconut - 1 cup grated
Cinnamon - a small piece
Cloves - 2

Cardamom - 2
Curry leaves
Whole pepper
Cashew nuts
salt to taste
Oil

Preparation 

1. Wash the fish slices and drain off excess water from the fish. Marinate the slices with pepper powder and salt and keep it aside for an hour.
2. In a Kadai, heat a little oil and fry the fish gently on both the sides( Remember not to deep fry it or fry it for long.) Mop off the excess oil from the fish using a tissue paper.
3. Splutter in ingredients 6-8 into the oil and stir them well. Into this ,add the sliced onion and saute for 3 minutes on low flame. Toss in the ginger and green chillies and saute for another 3 mins or till the raw smell of ginger goes away.
4. Add the chopped potatoes and fry for another 5 minutes.( You could also separately fry the potatoes and add in). Pour in 1 cup of water and let it boil on low flame.
5. Meanwhile let us get the coconut milk ready. Ideally, you need to blend the coconut three times in the mixer to get milk 3 times. The milk that you take first time is the thickest, followed by the medium one and then the thin.
6. Pour in the thin milk into the kadai and let it boil for 2 minutes before pouring in the medium one. Let this boil well. Make sure the potato that you tossed in earlier is cooked well by now. Once you have poured in the milk, refrain from using high flame. Add the fried fish slices and salt as per taste. Have the lid of the kadai on for sometime. Finally pour in the thick coconut milk and switch off the flame just when the gravy just starts to boil. Do not let the gravy boil too long once the thick milk has been poured in.
7. In a mortar and pestle crush 4-5 whole pepper and 2-3 slices of onion. Splutter it into little oil along with curry leaves. Your Fish Molly is now ready withe the final garnish of pepper, Curry leaves and Onion on top which gives it a special aroma.
8. You can also fry the cashew nuts and spread it over the top while serving.

Fish Stew is a perfect side dish for appam and bread. I found this recipe simple and quick!! I hope you like it too!!

If you try it - do not forget to send me the pictures:)