Fish Curry

I managed to get a very fresh mackerel fish at my favourite seafood wholesale shop Rose near my place the other day. Just when I am wondering how to cook it, someone from Singapore is coming to my house for dinner. Ok I shall cook fish curry for him. I guess he should be sick of western food by now ;p 


I like the fish curry look alike cooked by my mother in law. She used fresh pineapple, curry powder and the chilli paste she made to cook it. When I went back Singapore last time round she  bought me a few packets of the curry powder. Just the right time to put them into good use! I have added ladies finger and brinjal as I love these 2 veggies which you can find in fish curry when you eat it outside. 


For the chilli paste this is how I make it. I make a big batch and keep in the fridge to make otah the next time. You will need to get this ingredients:
1) 20 fresh chillies (you can use dried ones or a mixture of both)
2) Garlic 1 bulb 
3) 10-15 shallots 
4) 5 candlenuts (buah keras) or macadamias 
5) Galangal around 20 slices
6) Turmeric around the size of your last finger
7) Lemon grass around 3 to 4 stalks
8) Belachan around 1/2 inch piece (you can toast it for a while)


You can put all these ingredients into your food processor and blend them into a smooth paste. I use my mortar and pestle to pound them as I find using the traditional but tedious method can get a smoother paste. Or maybe it is just that my food processor is not powerful enough to blend them into a smooth paste.


Once you have prepared your spice paste. You can start to prepare the following ingredients for the fish curry:


1) Fish cleaned and chopped into half if it is a big fish
2) 10 Ladies fingers cut into 2 inch pieces. 
3) Half a brinjals cut into big chunks
4) 1 can pineapple chunks or half fresh pineapple
5) 1 tablespoon of tamarind pulp mixed with 1/2 bowl of water and the juice strained
6) Salt to taste
7) Fish curry powder 4 table spoons


Method:
1) Heat up 3 tablespoons of oil and add in the spice paste. Saute the paste on low heat till it turns a darker colour. Be careful not to burnt it.
2) Add in the curry powder and saute it to mix it well with the spice paste. Keep on stirring to make sure they don't get burnt.
3) Once you can smell the fragrance of the curry paste and the mixture turns a darker shade, add in the assam water.
4) Mix them well and turn on the heat to medium high. Add in the ladies finger and brinjal and cover the pan and simmer for around 5 minutes. 
5) Add in the fish and the pineapple. If the liquid is not enough you can add in some water to cover the fish.
6) Turn the heat to high cover the pan and cook the curry till the fish is cooked. 
7) You can add in some salt to taste.

Next time when I cook this again I will add in fresh pineapples. I think the fresh pineapples have the sourish and sweet taste which I think the can ones do not have. The can ones just taste sweet.  Another thing I will add next time will be tomatoes. Just love my fish curry to be a bit more sourish ;)