Madurai-style mackerel curry brings nostalgia

Chennai

David shifted to Chennai for work. He found a mentor in Balaji Venugopal, who introduced him to Ramanagiri Vasan. Through him, David got a break in Vijay TV in a serial called Office in 2013. He has also acted with Vijay and many superstars and has done some stellar roles.

There was a lake in Velachery where he used to go fishing with his friends. David sells half the fish and he brings the rest home. His mother used to cook it with homemade masala.

The next day, for breakfast, his mother serves the fish curry with idlis. The taste of the fish curry his mother made still haunts him.

David also recollects visiting Madurai and Bodinayakanur every summer with his parents. His grandmother was a fantastic cook, who rustled up dishes in no time.

The highlights were ragi rotis made of roasted ragi powder, shallots, green chillies, curry leaves, fresh drumstick leaves and a little jaggery. These rotis were not only highly nutritious but also very tasty.

Each time they went out to play and come back she would serve them hot groundnut urundai or ladoos. As a youngster he realised the value of that one egg in the curry, as each one was allowed only one egg and if it was urundai kozhambu only two urandais each. On days he could not go fishing, due to school, his mother would wake up at 5 am and go to the local fish market.

After surveying all the fish available and helping some fish sellers to clean the prawns, she would get one or two vanjaram (mackerel) as a reward. At David’s house, every Thursday dinner or Sunday brunch will have the vanjaram curry.

Another childhood memory that has lingered on and which he tries to replicate even today is eating ice biryani or leftover rice in water with small onions and green chillies. Pazhaya soru is the terminology and he says that even today, he prefers it for breakfast.

He loves the food served at the shoots, especially, the thalapakattu biryani and fish fry which is always served when Vijay is shooting.

During shoots, it is normally shared food with all the crew and cast, where each one brings a dish and shares. Contrary to belief, most of the actors eat everything but compensate with a good work out. David understands the value of food and hates to see food going to waste.

Today, he shares the recipe of his favourite meen curry made by his mother. She used to ground the masala on stone and cook it in a mud pot over a wood fire. That taste can never come back, he says regretfully. He prefers homemade food to fancy hotel food.

MACKEREL CURRY RECIPE

PREP TIME: 30 min
COOKING TIME: 45 mins
SERVES: 4 pax
CALORIES PER SERVE: 190 cl per serving

Ingredients

Small onion: 2 cups, peeled | Tamarind: 1 big lemon sized | Tomato: 1 big | Green
chillies: 2 | Garlic: 10 small cloves | Rock salt: 2½ tsp (or to taste) | Mustard
seeds: 1 tsp | Thalipu vadagam: 1 tsp | Sesame oil: 3 tsp | Curry leaves: 2 sprig
| Fennel seeds: 1/2 tsp | Fenugreek seeds: 1/4 tsp | Fish pieces: 1/2 kg |
Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp | Red chillies: 10 to 15 | Coriander seeds: 3 tbsp |
pepper corns: 1 tsp | Cumin seeds: 2 tsp | Grated coconut: 1/4 cup

Method

*Wash the fish pieces well and marinate with turmeric powder and rock salt for at least half an hour or keep in the refrigerator for one hour

*Soak the tamarind in warm water for ten minutes and extract the juice. Keep aside

*Peel small onions and garlic

*Cut half the small onions into tiny pieces and crush the garlic

*Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and slit the green chillies

*Now dry roast red chillies, coriander seeds, peppercorns, cumin seeds until a nice aroma comes and grind with water to make a fine paste. Keep aside

*Grind coconut with half the small onions to a fine paste. Mix this coconut paste with the spice mix and make it like a gravy by adding 1 cup of water

*Heat a kadai with oil and add mustard seeds, once it crackles add curry leaves and green chillies and saute for 1 min

*Add the vadagam and stir for 2 min

*Add the chopped onions and garlic and saute it well for 5 minutes

*Now add tomatoes and fry it until it turns mushy

*Once tomatoes become soft, add the spice and coconut mix. Mix well. Saute for 3 mins

*Now add the tamarind water along with salt

*Mix everything for a minute. If needed, add a little more water

*Let the kuzhambu cook on a medium flame for 15 minutes or until the raw smell goes and the curry becomes a little thick

*Add the fish pieces and cook it on medium flame for 5 more minutes and switch off the flame once the fish pieces are cooked

*Fish curry can be served with white rice and appalam

DAVID’S KITCHEN TIPS
* Buy fresh fish and cook the same day
* Fish curry stored in a mud saucepan tastes
better after two days
*Idlis and fish curry make a great combination

— Chef Ramaa Shanker is the author of Festive Offerings to the Gods: Divine Soul Recipes