Seafood platter (Mackerel fish curry)

One of the good things of moving to mumbai is the seafood- fresh, variety, abundance. My kids and I love seafood. My daughter does not eat rice or anything else when seafood is prepared at home. She is satisfied only with eating fish all three meals in the day. The prawns here is excellent. I used to not prepare prawns much when in Bangalore but here i love preparing it since it is fresh and does not smell a lot. I marinate prawns in a little turmeric and salt for 15 mins after cleaning and washing it. For curry, mackerel is the best and tastes yum. The meal posted below was prepared the last sunday before diwali (we don't eat non-veg for a month after diwali).

MACKEREL FISH CURRY:





Ingredients:

1 kg mackerel (wash and pat dry)
1/2 cup coconut
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp dhania powder
a pinch turmeric
1 tbsp thick tamarind extract
salt to taste
8-10 peeled shallots (sambhar onions)
10 cloves of garlic (peeled)
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp vadiyam (if you do not have vadiyam, use 1 tsp mustard seeds, a little jeera, 5 methi seeds)

Method of Preparation:

1. Make a paste of coconut, chilli powder, tamarind extract, turmeric, dhania powder and salt with a little water.
2. Heat oil in a wide thick bottomed vessel. Add vadiyam and fry for 30 seconds.
3. Add the peeled shallots and garlic and fry for a minute
4. Add curry leaves and stir fry for 15 seconds.
5. Add the ground coconut paste and add a little water as the curry will thicken.
6. Let the curry come to a boil and add the fish pieces. Cook for 10 mins, garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice. Also tastes superb with dosas and idli.

Prawn Fry (Royalla vepudu)

There are so many different kind of prawns in all sizes available in the market here, i enjoy shopping for them. They are sold in small heaps and the price differs on the size of the prawns. I love the tiger and jumbo prawns than the small ones. Though it is tedious to de-vein them, i just love the taste. If you are averse to the smell of prawn you can make use of the following method to get rid of the smell. After de-veining the prawns, wash it well and marinate in lime juice and turmeric for 15-20 mins and then use it in your recipe.

PRAWN FRY: (ROYALLA VEPUDU):

Ingredients:

1/4 kg prawns (de-veined)
1 large onion (chopped)
1 tomato (chopped)
1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tsp vadiyam
salt to taste
coriander leaves to garnish
1 tbsp oil

Method of preparation:

1. Heat oil in a kadai (wok), add vadiyam, fry for 30 seconds and add onion.
2. Once the onion turns translucent, add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes.
3. Add curry leaves and fry.
4. Add the chopped tomato and fry well till it gets mushy.
5. Add chilli powder and salt and mix well. Let this cook for a minute
6. Add the prawns and cook for 15 mins.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves

Goes well as an accompaniment with rice and dal.

Chepala pulusu (Fish curry)

My kids love seafood a lot. When we moved from bangalore to mumbai, i was so excited to visit the fish market and was not disappointed at all. I went to the market in malad which is quite big and all kinds of fish is available. The difference from bangalore is definitely the rates and of course the fish was a lot more fresh. The fish are mostly stored in handfuls and not weighed. A handful of jumbo prawns weighing approximately a kg cost only 350. I enjoyed visiting this market. I came back with prawns and 2 seer fish.

I usually prepare only fry out of seer fish, but since there was a lot of it, i prepared curry as well this time.

CHEPALA PULUSU (FISH CURRY) :



Ingredients:

1 kg seer fish (sliced)
2 medium onions
1 big pod of garlic (peeled)
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp dhania powder
a pinch of turmeric
curry leaves
1 big lemon sized tamarind (soaked and the juice extracted)
coconut milk (optional)
coriander leaves (for garnish)
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method of preparation:

1. Heat oil in a thick bottomed wide dish. Add garlic, fry well.
2. Add onions and fry well till golden brown, add the curry leaves.
3. Now add chilli powder, turmeric, dhania powder, salt.
4. Mix well and add tamarind extract, add some water and let it boil.Add the coconut milk at this stage if required.
5. Once the curry starts to boil, add the fish slices and let it cook for 5-6 minutes, till the fish is cooked.
6. Add the coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

Goes well with idli, dosa and rice.