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Meen Curry
July 26th, 2012 by Kaveri Ponnapa |
12 Comments »
Coorg Fish Curry
 © Kaveri Ponnapa
The clear streams of Coorg were full of fish and crabs, which were gathered in ingenious bamboo traps, or in the case of the larger fish, shot. In addition, fish made its way up from the coast of Malabar and Mangalore, to add to the already rich menu. Mackerel was a very popular sea fish, but the much -loved bare meen, from the streams of Coorg was with its clean, sweet taste was the choice for this preparation. This is a rich curry, full of deep flavours – hot , sour, salty and spicy, best eaten with your fingers, the beautiful gravy soaked up with akki ottis.
 © Kaveri Ponnapa
Meen Curry(Coorg Fish Curry) Recipe
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Ingredients:
- 1kg fish (seer works very well) cut into ½ inch thick steaks
Grind together to a fine paste:
- 4 large onions
- 1 inch ginger
- 8 pods of garlic, peeled
- 1 ½ tsp jeera
Dry spices:
- Red chilli powder to taste
- 2tsp coriander powder
- 1 level tsp turmeric
For Seasoning:
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 green chillies
- 2 onions, sliced thin
- 8-10 curry leaves
For the Coorg Roasted Masala :
- 1 tsp whole cumin (jeera)
- 1 tsp mustard seeds (rye)
- ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
- ¼ tsp raw rice
- ½ tsp black peppercorns
Slow roast the above spices separately on a hot tava (griddle) until they release their aromas and change colour. Allow them to cool, and crush to a powder, separately, and then mix.
Other ingredients :
- salt to taste
- ½ cup oil
- 2 cups hot water
- kachampuli, or malt vinegar
Method :
- Wash & pat dry the fish steaks.
- Mix the kachampuli (or malt vinegar), the turmeric, chilli powder, salt into the fish, & set aside.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan, or khadai, add the mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter, add the curry leaves, the sliced onions & the green chillies, & fry gently until softened.
- Add the coriander powder & chilli powders, & the ground paste of onions. Cook slowly, until the raw smell disappears.
- Add 2 cups hot water, or more according to gravy required, & when simmering add the fish, and cook uncovered, until almost done.
- Add the dry roasted, powdered spices, & simmer until done.
- Optional – you can thicken the curry with a small amount of tamarind paste.
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Image Credits: Nithin Sagi
About Kaveri Ponnapa
Kaveri Ponnapa is an independent Bangalore based food writer, and Contributing Editor at Food Lovers Magazine. Her extremely popular articles appear regularly in Food Lovers magazine. She also writes for Upper Crust and the Taj Magazine. She has written for leading publications such as The Times of India, Swagat, and Discover India for over two decades on art, travel,people and design. Kaveri’s food writings are inspired by a childhood spent hovering around a grandmother,who was an expert and versatile cook and a mother –in –law who was as generous a teacher as she was an outstanding cook. In addition, she has dedicated many years exploring her love for the traditional foods of Coorg and loves to share her experiences with other food lovers. Kaveri is on Upper Crust Magazine’s list of Fifty Fantastic Cooks.
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That looks simple, awesome and so easy to make!!!! Cannot wait to try it out!!!!
Hi Uday, yes, this is a very simple and really delicious curry, do try it. It can be eaten with akki ottis, or plain white rice too. Whatever the combination, it’s a moist, savoury curry full of sharp, fresh flavours, which you can never get enough of.
Hi.. You are making me feel home sick now! This is so true about monsoon in Coorg. Yes most of the time slippers / shoes were carried in hand which served two purposes. one to save it from from getting washed away and the other..you could freewheel in the gushing water !
Meen curry is a great recipe..your recipes stand out because we all know that Indian recipes are compelx because of the varied combination of masalas. You break down this into easy sub tasks to be put together later not missing out on even small tips! This is the most important process when you replicate authentic dishes.
Im a firm believer in knowing the culture and lifestyle of a region to understand the cuisine. Your articles precisely do that. This benifits the food enthsiasts from other regions to learn Coorg cuisine better.
By the way the Kachampuli in a McDowell bottle with generous spills is a true original!
Thanks a lot Naren, am glad this has taken you back home for a few moments. And despite all the changes in our modern kitchens, I still cling to my kachampuli in those bottles – comfortingly familiar. : )
Dear Kaveri, thanks for sharing this meen kujambu very similar to the meen kujambu of Pondicherry.
we use vadavam and kuthu thool and tamarind and green mango. the ingredients are almost similar. i’ll try your recipe; sounds yummy!
Hi Lourdes,this is so interesting, that the Coorg fish curry sounds familiar to you. Do try the recipe, and I would love to know how it tastes to you. Could it be the roasting of the spices that gives it a similar feel? Whatever it is, I will certainly follow this trail.Thank you so much for sharing this information.
Dear madam
i feel this curry very interesting because this method is so close to our native curry.. mainly the centre part of keral. The difference is that we do not use mustard oil.. we use coconut oil and prefereblay instead of tamarind we use kudampuly….
Hello Murali, thanks for your comment. We do not use mustard oil at all, only mustard seeds,for seasoning. The main souring ingredient is known as kachampuli, a vinegar made by boiling the fruit from the same family as kodampuli. The tamarind is only an optional thickener. This is a very tasty curry, do try it out & let me knowhow you like it.
While I’m sure the other versions are very nice, I think yours looks like one of the best around. And tastes like the best one too…nothing quite like hot, home-made meen curry, while it’s pouring( or drizzling, as the case may be) outside.
Hello Ammava, yes, nothing like a great home made meen-curry, anytime. And this one gets its flavours just right, so you can eat it again and again, and still look forward to more.
Hi, Thimmiah has been a dear friend from college days, was happy to read about him. The meen curry reminds me of koilemeen curry. Though i live in an estate we dont get koilemeen these days. We ourselves are to be blamed -artificial fertilizers n pesticides has done the damage. Hope to see more coorg recipes like ood puttu, chittani puttu etc..
Hello Kalpna, thank you for visiting A Gourmet’s Table In Coorg. Thimmaiah is one of Bangalore’s best loved chefs, it was a pleasure writing about what he has done to put Karavalli on the international map. What you say about koilemeen is sad but true – last year, we managed to get a good batch of koilemeen, after literally decades, thanks to the generosity of friends. We made akki ottis, koilemeen curry, and even had some left over for my favourite – cutlets. I still get nostalgic about the huge bottles of pickle my Mavi used to make for us to take back, after the holidays.Do keep reading there will be many more recipes and food stories to come.