Thursday, February 21, 2013

Mustard Fish Curry

These days, I've been eating Dijon mustard a lot (in my sandwiches). It's a new taste I've recently developed. I never thought I could be a mustard person but I'm starting to like it. The crazy thing is, when I started to eat mustard, I jumped straight to the sharper, tangier flavor of Dijon than the usual, milder yellow mustard. 

Nevertheless, yesterday I decided to make fish curry. I sort of went with the flow and didn't follow any recipe and what do you know-- in the end, I added Dijon mustard to the curry. I sort of felt stupid right after I added it and thought "Crap, I've ruined the curry" because I didn't want the fish curry to taste sharp or bitter. Surprisingly, it turned out to taste quite nice. Ankit ate it and took it to work for lunch today! Miracle!

So I figured, I must share it :) 

Ingredients:

For Curry:

3 Roma tomatoes (pureed)
1 large onion or 2 medium onions chopped in whatever shape you feel like
3 cloves of garlic minced 
1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped
half a piece of green chili (or Serrano Pepper) (You may omit this ingredient if you can't handle too much spice)
2 tbsp fish curry masala (all spices can be found at any Indian store)
1 tsp dry mango powder
a pinch of chat masala
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 black cardamom (you can use two crushed green cardamom pods if you don't have the black ones)
2 bay leaves
3 cloves
a 1 inch cinnamon stick
5 peppercorns
Salt to taste
1 tsp Dijon mustard

For Marinade:

2 fish fillets -- I took Swai. But I've heard that Mahi Mahi is also nice and doesn't stink. I guess you could pick any fish. Cut the fish into 2-3 inch pieces.
1 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves of garlic minced
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste


Method:

1. Begin by marinating the fish. Cut the fish fillets into pieces, add all the ingredients listed above and let it sit in the refrigerator for half an hour.


2. Now prepare the curry while the fish marinates. In a pan, put olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, cardamom, peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves and a cinnamon stick. Wait until the spices begin to give off aromas and the mustard seeds start crackling. 

3. As soon as you hear the seeds crackling, add the ginger, garlic and the Serrano pepper. 

4. Once these begin to brown, add the chopped onions. You'll have to be quick because you don't want to burn the ginger/garlic/spices so just watch the pan.

5. Once the onions are transparent, begin adding the rest of the spices (fish curry masala, turmeric powder, garlic powder and dry mango powder). Don't add the chaat masala yet.
Mix well and cook the onions in the spices.

6. Once the onions begin to brown, add the tomato puree and cook until the tomato is cooked perfectly. This onion-tomato masala should turn into a nice red color.


7. Once you feel the puree is properly cooked and beginning to dry. Add two cups of water or three, depending on how much curry you wish to have.


8. Now let this curry simmer for half an hour. Remember that the water in the curry will reduce so make sure you add enough to have your desired amount of curry.

9. Once it begins to boil, add a pinch of chaat masala. Continue to let it simmer.

10. While the curry cooks, in another pan, heat a tbsp of olive oil, spread it all over the pan. Now add all the fish pieces and fry.


11. Make sure you pour all the juices from the marinade onto the fish so that it can fry in all the flavors.


12. Fry until all the juices have evaporated and the fish starts to look like a nice, crispy, red color. 

13. Now take a look at the curry, do a taste check and make sure the salt and spice levels are right. If you wish for it to be more spicy, add a pinch of paprika. But I'm guessing it'll be spicy enough with the Serrano pepper in it. 

14. Now add the Dijon mustard to the curry with your fingers crossed :p Mix well. If the curry tastes good to you, add the fried fish into the curry and you're done :)

15. Garnish with cilantro.


I think it will taste best with steamed white rice. 


Try it and let me know if the mustard worked for you!
Enjoy!
x

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