Fish Kolambu/ Meen Kolambu

I cannot stress myself how much I am missing blogging and cooking these days. Since its Christmas holidays here I am at my own liberty now and I have been telling myself that I should make an extra effort to seize this opportunity and update the blog as much as possible and tada..here I am with the a spicy fish curry I have been cooking over and over again for a long time.

I was introduced to this fish kolambu   many years ago from Chennai. I went there for a short trip and food was definitely the best thing I enjoyed the most.  I went crazy exploring the cuisine and one thing which I loved the most was this fish kolambu. I remember trying to recreate it after the trip and in spite of being novice the kolambu tasted great, but back then I was not a blogger and like many other recipes I didn’t save the recipe anywhere and completely forgot about it and never made it again. Couple of month’s back I was in the mood to make a different fish curry and I came across this fish kolambu in vahrehvah. The recipe was quite simple and I had all the ingredients handy and after many moons I made it again and I have to say it brought back all those reminiscence of Chennai! I have been making this curry for quite some time now and every time I postpone clicking the picture for next time. Even today was not a great day to click it, it’s so dark outside and lighting was so poor but now I don’t fuss much about photography, lighting or styling. In fact I have lost touch in styling it and the making it presentable too, but I promise whenever possible I will take an effort to update the recipes with better pictures!

Ingredients

Fish – 500 gm

Onion – 2 medium ( make a paste )

Tomato - 2 Small (blanched and pureed)

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Garlic pods (crushed) – 4- 5

Green chillies (slit ) – 2

Mustard seeds – 2 tsp

Fennel seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – ¾ tsp

Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp

Curry leaves – few

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – ¾ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Coriander powder – 1 ½ tsp

Tamarind (gooseberry size) – soaked in  ¼ cup hot water

Sesame oil – 2 tbsp

Water

salt

Method

• In a chatti/ claypot or saucepan add sesame oil and sputter mustard seeds
• Add cumin, fenugreek, fennel seeds and crushed garlic.
• Once garlic becomes golden brown add slit green chillies and curry leaves.
• Add onion paste and saute for 10 minutes.
• Add ginger garlic paste and when the raw smell goes add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and saute for a minute or so.
• Add tomato puree and finally add tamarind water, water, salt and bring the sauce to boil.
• Simmer the sauce for 25 minutes until oil separates.
• Add fish to the sauce and cook for 5- 10 minutes. 

Enjoy !