Varutharacha meen curry (Traditional Fare)

Coconut is so much a part of Kerala cuisine, be it Travancore or Malabar. It is used fresh or roasted or just as coconut milk to thicken gravies.

This recipe is about roasted & ground coconut, like the name suggests. The masala can be made & stored for use when required because it takes time to dry roast the coconut. But, don’t give up, try this.

Courtesy: Usha Vijayan

INGREDIENTS:

Fish: 500 g (I used Mackerel)

Coconut grating: 1 cup

Ginger: 1 tsp

Shallots: 6

Garlic: 6

Dry red chilli: 10 or 1 tbsp powder

Coriander seeds: 1 tbsp or 1 tbsp powder

Fenugreek: 1/4tsp

Black pepper: 1/2tbsp

 Curry leaves: few

Tamarind or Kokum: to taste

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Dry roast coconut, dry chilli, coriander, shallots, ginger, garlic, fenugreek & pepper. When half done add the curry leaves & brown it well.

Cool & powder (do not add water while grinding,this brings out the oil from the coconut itself.)

Put the ground masala in an earthen ware (Curry chatty).

Pour 400 ml water, add salt & put in the kokum or tamarind. ( add more water if you need gravy.)

Bring the gravy to a boil, add the fish & cook on a low flame till oil clears on top of the curry.

Down south in Kerala, Shark, Tuna or Mackerel is cooked this way, while in Cochin, Sardine-coloccasia, crab-yam or prawn-drumstick is the combination with this type of roasted masala.