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Karavad curry aka dried fish curry

Today I will share with you one of the famous south Indian delicacy - Karavad curry aka dried fish curry aka karuvadu kuzhambu.

Being grown up in the proximities of a fisherman town, seafood is something which is abundant and nobody can say no to. We eat fish, prawns almost every day of the week. What will you do even then the fish, prawn is abundant?  Well.... actually it will not be abundant throughout seasons right.

So some genius ancestors of ours found a way to sundry it with salt which naturally removes any moisture content and preserves it. Salt is a natural preservative. It is just like the sun-dried tomatoes concept in the West.

By now you may be thinking, dried fish is no way near the taste of live fish.  And that's right. Well dried fish tastes even better and heavenly compared to live fish. What are you waiting for?  Try it yourself and see......

You can have it with steamed rice, steamed rice cake/idli, Rice Crepe/Rice pancake/Dosa, Poha,  Steamed Rice noodles/ Idiyappam, etc.
In short, anything that is based out of rice go well with it.

Here is the recipe
Serves - 2
Time - prep - 10 mins; Cook 20 mins

Ingredients 

  1.  Oil - 2  1/2 tbsp. Preferably sesame/gingelly oil
  2.  Fenugreek/Vendhayam - 1 tsp (optional)
  3.  Onion - 1 in no (medium)
  4.  Tomato - 1 in no (big/medium)
  5.  Garlic  - 5 pods if big/  7-10 pods if small  - crushed slighlty
  6.  Any Dried fish - a handful( I used dried Kala  karavad /salmon fish - 7 pieces) 
  7.  Salt - 1 tsp/as needed
  8.  Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp - optional 
  9.  Chilli Powder - 1 tsp 
  10.  Coriander/Dhania Powder - 3 - 4 tsp (3 for spicy/4 for less spicy version)
  11.  Pepper - 1 tsp - crushed/powdered
  12.  Tamarind pulp - 1/2 tsp (totally optional) 
  13.  Curry Leaves/Cilantro for Garnishing 
  14.  Water - 2 cups 
  15.  cocunut milk/coconut paste - 1/4 cup - optional

Instructions : 

  1.  Soak the fish in water; Meanwhile Cut onions, tomato, garlic; take the pulp from tamarind; Once cutting is done, clean the karavad 2/3 times. I usually add turmeric for cleaning. 
  2. Heat a deep bottom Wok/Kadai/Pan and add 2 tbsp oil to it. 
  3.  When the oil is hot, add the Fenugreek seeds. This is optional. This curry may increase the heat of your body. Fenugreek is added to combat that effect and of course for some flavor too.
  4.  Once the fenugreek starts changing its color, add the onion and saute it for 2-3 minutes. 
  5. Add in 1/2 tsp salt and turmeric powder and saute for another 2 minutes or until onion is nicely caramelized.   Use less salt than you usually do, since karavad is already salted. 
  6. Now add the tomato and saute until it turns mushy and cooks completely. 
  7. At this point, add in the Chilli powder, coriander powder, saute for half a minute in oil and then add 2 cups of water and close the Wok/Kadai/pan. 
  8. Now you can add coconut milk/paste if you would like. I did not add it though. 
  9. Once the curry comes to a boil, add in the dried fish.
  10. Add the crushed garlic and pepper now to enhance the flavor.  I crushed the garlic and the pepper in a mortar and pestle. You can totally add this at the beginning in oil also. But the curry will give a nice taste and flavor if added last 
  11. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until the fish is cooked in open simmer mode.
  12.  You can add tamarind pulp at this stage if you want a tangy curry or totally skip it. I do both depending on my mood. But today, I totally skipped it. 
  13. As the last step, add half a tbsp of sesame oil and garnish with curry leaves or cilantro.
Here you go. 
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