Andhra Fish Pulusu (Fish cooked in tamarind pulp)

on

Ingredient List

For marinade:

  • Fish pieces - 1.5 kg
  • Salt - 1 teaspoon (small spoon)
  • Turmeric powder - a little
  • Red chilli powder - 2 teaspoon
  • Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tablespoon (huge spoon ;) )
  • Curry leaves (optional)

For cooking:

  • Onions - 3 
  • Green chillies - 3 or more
  • Tamarind pulp - 2 tablespoons
  • Jeera - a pinch
  • Methi seeds - 2 pinches
  • Ginger garlic paste - 1tablespoon
  • Red chilli powder
  • Jeera powder - 1 teaspoon
  • Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves, this is the real flavor enhancer of the dish) - 1 teaspoon
  • Sunflower oil - 3 tablespoons

Procedure:

  1. Marinade: Into a bowl, take the cut and cleaned fish pieces and apply salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, ginger-garlic paste to them. Set aside until used.
  2. In a wide pan, heat 3 tablespoons oil, add jeera and methi seeds. After a minute, add slit green chillies and finely chopped onions. On medium flame, fry onions until light brown.
  3. Add turmeric powder, jeera powder, red chilli powder and ginger-garlic paste. Fry for a couple of minutes until the raw smell of ginger-garlic is gone.
  4. Now lay the fish chunks on the bed of fried onions, in a single layer if possible. Let them fry on a medium heat, after a few minutes turn each piece to the other side and fry.
  5. Add the tamarind pulp and one or two cups of water until the pieces are barely covered in water. Add salt and let it boil on high heat for a few minutes. 
  6. Take the dried methi leaves between two palms and rub it into the boiling soup. Reduce the heat and let it boil for a good few minutes, this is the time to adjust salt and red chilli if more spice level is desired.
Done!!

Tips:

  • This same procedure can be followed with the fish filet as well. But the taste varies from fish to fish! :-)
  • Step 4 is a bit tricky, the fish chunks need to be cooked on both sides until they don't look raw/transparent any more. When done, immediately add tamarind pulp. Tamarind helps in keeping fish chunks intact and prevents further breaking into pieces.