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Chettinad Saiva Meen Kuzhambu / Vegetarian Fish Curry, a traditional and authentic Vegetarian Fish Curry prepared from ground cow peas masala paste, which is steamed and fried, and cooked in tamarind based curry to perfection.
I never heard of this curry or never tasted it before even accidentally until last month. Two weeks back, we had gone to native to attend one our close relative’s marriage function, where i tasted this curry. Initially, I thought its either raw banana or elephant yam, but when asked about this suspicious curry, they said its saiva meen kuzhambu. Though the caterer was not ready to share the secret, I googled about this, and found the recipe in one of my favorite Chettinad Specialty Blog run by Solai Aachi. I have been following her space for a long time and even tried many of her recipes.
The whole process may seem complicated, but it is simple. The curry is nothing but Puli Kuzhambu / Kara Kuzhambu. The only part we need to concentrate more is to prepare this vegetarian fish using cow peas / thatta payar, which is also simple. Soak the beans overnight and ground it to coarse paste along with few mentioned ingredients. You need to steam the paste and deep fry them.
I wanted to enjoy this whole process, so took my own time of 2 hrs 🙂 to prepare this curry and enjoyed each and every step of this process while cooking. I have used big garlic flakes, so reduce the quantity according to the type you use. Lets check the recipe,
Chettinad Saiva Meen Kuzhambu | Vegetarian Fish Curry
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
a traditional and authentic Vegetarian Fish Curry prepared from ground cow peas masala paste.
Author: Preeti Tamilarasan
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: South Indian, Chettinadu
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- To Prepare Vegetarian Fish :
- 1 cup Cow Peas / Thatta Payir – soaked overnight
- 5 garlic flakes
- 1 tsp fennel seeds / saunf
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- salt to taste
- To Prepare Curry :
- 20 pearl onions / sambar vengayam
- 1 tomato – chopped
- 20-30 garlic flakes
- gooseberry sized tamarind ball – soaked in 2-3 cup water for 30 mins
- ¼ cup ground coconut paste – optional
- 2-3 green chilies -slit at the end
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp sambar powder
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp fennel seeds / saunf
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds / vendayam / methi dhana
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 stick curry leaves
Instructions
- Please follow the instructions below.
Chettinad Saiva Meen Kuzhambu
To Prepare Vegetarian Fish :
- Soak cow peas overnight in enough water. Next day, drain the water completely and grind it in a mixer along with garlic flakes, fennel seeds, chili powder and salt to coarse paste. Don’t add water while grinding.
- Take a plantain leaf / banana leaf and cut it into rectangular shapes. Spread the masala paste on the leaf as shown in the image and fold the leaf.
- Steam it in a idli cooker or steamer for 10-15 mins till the paste gets cooked. Let it cool down completely. Remove the leaves carefully and cut them into like fish pieces.
- Heat oil for deep frying in a pan or kadai. Fry those pieces till it turns golden brown on all the sides. Remove them and drain the excess oil using absorbent tissue paper. Keep the fried vegetarian fish aside.
To Prepare Curry :
- Soak tamarind in 2-3 cups water for 30 mins. Later, squeeze the pulp and extract water. Strain the water and keep it aside.
- Heat 1-2 tbsp gingelly oil (or) any vegetable oil in a pan or kadhai. Tamper mustard seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves.
- Add pearl onions, green chilies and garlic flakes. Cook for a min on low-medium flame. Add chopped tomato and mash the pulp.
- Add tamarind water, turmeric powder, sambar powder and coriander powder. Stir well and add salt to taste. Let it cook for 3-5 mins on low-medium flame. Add more water in needed.
- Later switch to low flame and cook for 15 mins till the oil separates from curry. After 15 mins, add ground coconut paste if you are using. Let it cook for another 10 mins till curry becomes thick. Adjust the salt and spice accordingly.
- Add fried vegetarian fish pieces and let it cook for another 5 mins on low flame. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and remove from the heat. Serve with rice.
My favourite saiva meen kuzhambu, drooling here.
Never heard about this. A must try dish
hv heard a lot abt tis.. ur step wise pics s jus drolling.. purattasi naalum seiva meen saapitta modhal allu nee dhaan PT.. sooper pics..
i too saw it in solai achis blog .but never tried tough …looks awesome
I was thinking if the tile is saying fish, how it could be vegetarian…Hmm now got the secret recipe seems time consuming…Nice clicks Preeti
Hey, do we really need to use plantain leaf; can we shape them in to small pettice? Or is it authentic recipe and served in similar way you have shown here.
Rashida, you can shape them into patties, but since this curry known as vegetarian fish, we are using leaf to give the shape of fish fillets.. In the original recipe, she has used some authentic leaf but since we don't get it here, I have used plantain leaf.
perfectly done, drooling here!!!
never tried it before but it looks too great
oh!new to me…really wonderful
Wow this is simply great… Next time when I buy cow peas, this going to be my first dish to try…