Cook fish curry like a boss with this recipe straight from Stanger

As Tamil people across South Africa enter one of the strictest months of fasting, Stanger local Lisa Govender shared with us her family’s favourite traditional Indian recipe passed down through the generations.

The month of Partassi has just started, and although this means no luxuries are allowed, including alcohol and meat, the Tamil break fast with fish.

Lisa, who has been running the Ballito restaurant Little Saltyz (previously East Oasis) for the last 5 years, said her grandmother Devi Chetty’s famous fish curry recipe was a crowd pleaser.

And it’s a simple recipe, promises Lisa, although easy to ruin.

“Often people mess it up. Fish curry, although simple to prepare and make, can very easily be ruined if you do not add masala before adding your tomatoes,” she said.

It boils down to one simple ingredient, without which, Lisa said, you would simply be making fish chutney.

The star ingredient is tamarind, a curved brown bean-pod which contains a sticky pulp enclosing 1 to 10 shiny black seeds.

The pulp has a sweet, sour, fruity aroma and taste.

“Fish curry is a favourite in our household. I travelled around the country in search of a better recipe, but none came close to beating my grandmother’s,” said Lisa, herself a wife and mother.

Devi Chetty’s famous fish curry 

Ingredients

Fish, either garrick or barracuda (also delicious with crab)
1 teaspoon salt
5 jam tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
1 chopped onion
Spices; cumin, bay leaf, star anise, turmeric, fish spice and cinnamon stick
75g tamarind
4 tablespoons olive oil
Lemon juice
Egg plant (optional)
Masala of your choice

Method

Marinade fish with turmeric, fish spice and masala with lemon juice. 

Leave to stand for 5 to 10 minutes (dry rub). 

Heat your oil in a frying pan or skillet and ensure that your heat remains constant. 

Fry fish on both sides for 5 minutes before removing the fish, and adding onions (diced), garlic, turmeric, roasted cumin, bay leaf, cinnamon and star anise to the same pan/skillet. 

Allow onions to brown, add your masala (3 tablespoons is preferable) before adding diced jam tomatoes and allow to cook for 10 minutes.

Use this time to soak your tamarind in hot water for 5 minutes and add to the pan/skillet and then stir.

Once 10 minutes have gone by, re-add fish and allow to simmer adding dhanya (coriander) and curry leaf with salt.

Avoid stirring and serve. 

Tip: You can add the thin variant of egg plant to the curry as the final ingredient, after first soaking sliced egg plant in water and turmeric for 5 minutes.