FISH IN GINGER ONION GRAVY

Fish in ginger onion gravy is a super delicious and an irresistible curry that can be prepared in less than 20 minutes using your favorite fish.

This is another popular konkani recipe and is known as jalke alle piyava ambat where jalke means fish, alle means ginger and piyavu means onion and ambat means a curry that uses fried onions as tempering/seasoning. I have used smelt fish (motyale / bolangir) in my recipe. This dish tastes the best when served with steamed rice and is also a classic accompaniment for many south Indian breakfast recipes.

Traditionally dry red chillies are used in the recipe. But today I have used red chilli powder. This dish tastes even better when it is a day old, because it gets sufficient time to develop flavors. So try to save some if possible. Vegetarians can substitute fish with potato, eggplant or okra in the recipe. What I love about most konkani recipes is that 1) the entire dish can be prepared in less than 20 minutes and 2) the use of coconut gives the dish a creamy texture and the natural sweetness of the coconut combined with the sourness of tamarind perfectly compliments the flavors of different spices added to the dish. While you are here you may also want to check out prawns curry / sungata hinga udda, another popular konkani fish recipe.

Preparation time : 20 minutes
Serves : 3 to 4

Ingredients for Fish In Ginger Onion Gravy

Fish - 6 oz
Big onion - 1
Ginger - 1 ½ inch
Cashews - 1 tbsp
Coconut grated - ¾ cup
Tamarind - small ball
Green chilies - 2
Red chile powder - 2 ½ tsp
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste

Steps to prepare Fish In Ginger Onion Gravy

Step I

• Chop ⅓ of onion into cubes and finely chop the remaining ⅔ of onion. If using medium sized onion then use 2 onions in the recipe.
• Slit the green chilies and grate the ginger.

Step II

• Grind together the coconut, cashews, tamarind with little water to form a smooth thick paste.
• If you are using dried red chile instead of chile powder, add it at this stage.

Step III

• Transfer the ground paste to a pan.
• Add cubed onions and grated ginger, salt and little water for desired consistency to this paste and bring it to a nice boil.
• Meanwhile, in another small pan, add coconut oil and finely chopped onions, green chilies and saute on medium flame till onions become golden brown in color.
• Once the gravy comes to nice boil, add the fish and cook it on medium flame for another 4 minutes. Leave it undisturbed as the fish may break.
• Now add the sauteed onion to the gravy and switch off the flame.
• Fish in Ginger Onion Gravy is now ready. Serve hot and enjoy.

Tip:

• You can use fresh / frozen / dry grated coconut. This dish tastes the best when fresh coconut is used.
• Vary the spices as per your taste.
• Use any fish of your choice