Hello darlings welcome to another episode of 'Curries and Stories'.
Today I'm going to make something really yummy,
And its comes from the Sister Land, Sri Lanka.
It's Sri Lankan Fish Curry as taught to me by my friend Annie's cook, Sunil.
So first of all let's marinate the Fish.
Now I've got my half a kilo of Tilapia here, You can use any firm white fish,
Or, fish with bone.
Or Crab, even and Prawns.
I'm going to sprinkle a little bit of Turmeric Powder over it.
And squeeze some Lemon juice or Lime juice, whatever you've got.
Give that a stir.
According to my friend Annie you add,
Turmeric to the fish just to remove any impurities and also,
just to enhance the colour in the final curry.
So that's done.
And lets crack on with the base.
So hob on.
Now I'm going to use some Coconut Oil.
If you can't get any Coconut Oil, please feel free to use my favourite Ghee.
I'm going to add that in.
Couple of tbsp and this gives it a lovely fragrant coconuty flavour.
Reminding me of that beautiful Island 'Sri Lanka'.
Now into this I'm going to add some Black Mustard Seeds.
Just let them crackle a little bit.
Cinnamon Stick.
We'll add some Pandan Leaves.
Now these are available any south-east grocery shop or even in the supermarket.
Pop some of those in.
Handful of Curry Leaves.
Crackle. Crackle.
And now, I'm just gonna put in the Onions.
I've got chopped onion which is finely chopped.
Now cook that out.
And to that, couple of teaspoons of some Ginger-Garlic paste.
Finely chopped Tomatoes.
The tomatoes are breaking down, I'm going to add some Turmeric.
Some Salt to taste, add a bit more later.
A little bit of Chili Powder.
So now I'm going to add into this, some home-made Jaffna powder.
So this is what they use in Fish Curry in Sri Lanka.
Now to make this so what we dry roast,
Some Fennel Seeds.
Some Fenugreek Seeds.
Cumin.
Coriander.
Mustard seeds.
And some Black Peppercorns, Cloves, Green Cardamom.
Some very fragrant Cinnamon Sticks.
Some Pandan Leaves and some Curry Leaves.
Now the Pandan leaves and Curry leaves, you dry roast last.
Because they don't take so long.
And then you grind them all together.
And you get this beautiful dark roasted masala called Jaffna Powder.
So this is what we're going to put in next.
Give that a stir.
And I'm going to add some Red Chili, just one Red Chili.
Not too spicy but it gives a nice colour.
Now into this I'm going to add some freshly grated Coconut.
So put that in lovely.
And I just have to thin it out I'm going to add a touch of Water.
So thin in out a bit.
At this point I'm going to add some Tamarind Pulp.
This will give a really nice Sour Kwang to it.
So we just let this cook out for about five minutes
before we add Coconut Milk.
I'm just going to add some coconut milk.
And this will completely change the flavour.
And now I'm just going to add all of my fish,
even with all the juice that's come out.
And the lemon, and then you stir it through.
And let it simmer.
Don't stir the fish too much.
We'll just let that cook with a lid on for about 5-7 minutes,
or until the fish is cooked.
Obviously if you're using fish on the bone, will take longer.
but if you are using crab again the big is your crab, is how long it will take.
So we'll just leave that to simmer.
And then we'll come back to it.
Right, let's have a little check.
It Smells, fragrant it just smells like my friend Annie's house when I'm arriving
early in the morning and Sunil is got me Fish Curry and Coconut Rice ready.
Now to serve.
So there you go guys, my delicious fragrant Sri Lankan Fish Curry.
A little hello to the Sister Land.
Enjoy.