Salem Style Fish Curry / Meen Kuzhambu

Salem Style Fish Curry / Meen Kuzhambu

Salem Style Fish Curry, today i’m sharing another seafood based curry. I do not cook Fish Curry often, since my husband prefers Fish Fry. So whatever varieties of fish i get here, either i make varuval or fry them. My husband’s native is Sankagiri (Tamilnadu, India) in-between Salem & Erode. Whenever i visit there, i get to see lots of Fresh Water fishes which they get in abundance.

You can try this curry with Rohu, Catla (Katla), Viral meen (Butter fish / Murrel) etc.. The curry will taste a bit different if we use Fresh Water fishes. As i didn’t get any fresh water fish near my residence area, i tried this curry with Sea Bass / Koduvai Meen which tasted delicious. I have adapted this recipe from a Tamil cookery book.

5 from 1 reviews

Salem Style Fish Curry | Meen Kuzhambu

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour

Author: Preeti Tamilarasan

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: South Indian

Serves: 3

Ingredients

To Marinate (20 mins) :
6-7 Fish Fillets (i have used Sea Bass / Koduvai Meen) – Dam Fish / River Fish is preferred
¼ tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
To Fry & Grind :
½ cup Pearl Onions / Sambar Vengayam
1 tomato – chopped
¼ cup chopped coconut
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp coriander powder
2-3 tbsp gingelly oil / sesame seeds oil (or) any vegetable oil
1 tsp red chili powder
For Curry :
lemon sized tamarind ball – soaked in water for 30 mins
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
salt to taste
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 stick curry leaves
½ tsp fenugreek seeds (vendayam)
1 or 2 tbsp gingelly oil

Instructions

Please follow the instructions below.

How to prepare Salem Style Fish Curry

Squeeze tamarind pulp and filter the water. Keep it aside. Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a pan or kadhai. Temper cumin seeds and peppercorns. Fry onions and chopped coconut for a min on low flame.
Add chopped tomato and fry for a min. Now, Add red chili powder and coriander powder. Saute a while. Let it cook for 2 mins. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Grind everything in a mixer to smooth paste. Add water if needed.

Heat 1 or 2 tbsp oil in the same pan. Temper mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add ginger-garlic paste, tamarind water and let it boil for sometime. Now, Add ground paste after 2 mins, salt & more water if needed and cook it covered for 10 mins till raw smell goes. Add marinated fish and let it cook for another 10-12 mins on low-medium flame. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with rice or idli.

Notes :

In the original recipe, they have asked to use any Dam or River Fish to prepare this curry. I didn’t get any river fish here so i have used Sea water Fish.
You can also fry the fish fillets and then add it in curry.