Karuvadu Kuzhambu also known as dry fish curry or nethili karuvattu kuzhambu is made with basic spices sauted with onions, tomatoes, vegetables and spice powders. In this blog post, learn how to make South Indian favorite karuvadu kuzhambu with coconut. This recipe will be your ultimate guide for perfect dry fish curry.
Karuvadu Kuzhambu
Hubby loves dried fish curry, not only dried fish, he love anything fishy. I have mentioned this all the times whenever i post fish recipes. I love making fish curries for him and sit on his side asking him how it taste, because each time i make different curries. Most of the time it is his favorite fish curry.
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I have posted a dried fish fry recipe before, that is the first time i cooked using dried fish. Dried fish is only for the heavy fish lovers, because it has a intense fishy taste which i don't like.
And also it is packed with tons of salt, so you have to wash it well to get rid of it and also you shouldn't add any salt until the dish is finished, taste it and add it in the end.
About Karuvadu Kuzhambu
Now coming to this recipe, couple weeks back when me and hubby where shopping, he found few packed of dried fish in the shelves. Immediately he got couple of packets of them. And i used them to make this dish and it tasted really good.
Try to find dried fish which is packed properly and looks clean, imported dried fish can have less salts, I have shared a tip of soaking the dried fish in hot boiling water for 15 mins before you cook them, this will remove most of the salt and make it soft.
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Karuvadu Kuzhambu Ingredients
- Dried Fish - Dried fish are produced through a process in which fish are caught, salted, and dried for preservation. I used chunks of dry fish, you can use any variety of dry fish in this recipe.
- Onions & tomatoes - this form the base for the curry. It adds aroma and taste.
- Ginger & Garlic - fresh ginger garlic paste is cooked till aromatic. It helps remove the odour from the fish curry.
- Spice powders - i used a combination of turmeric, chilli and coriander powder.
- Tamarind - it helps enhance the taste and balance the taste of fish curry.
- Vegetables - a combination of raw banana, brinjal, drumstick, raw mango is used in the curry.
- Coconut - fresh coconut is ground with cumin and onions provides thickness to the curry.
Step by Step Pictures
1)Soak dried fish in warm water for 15 minutes. This step removes all the salt from the mixture.
2)heat coconut oil in a kadai. Add in fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, cumin seeds and let them sizzle in the oil.
3)Add in chopped onions and green chillies. Instead of onions, you can use chopped shallots. Cook onions for 3 to 4 minutes until it gets light golden.
4)Add in turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste. Cook for another 2 minutes.
5)Now add in tomatoes and cook until tomatoes get mushy.
6)Now the tomatoes are cooked.
7)Add in spice powders.
8)Stir fry the spice powders until the raw smell leaves from it.
9)Add in all the vegetables.
10)Toss well with the masala.
11)Add in tamarind water.
12)Add enough water and bring it to a full boil.
13)Add in the soaked dried fish.
14)Mix well.
15)Add in ground coconut paste. I ground fresh coconut with cumin seeds and few pieces of shallots or onion to a smooth paste.
16)Mix coconut into the curry.
17)Cook covered on very low heat for 10 to 12 minutes.
18)Karuvadu kuzhambu is ready to enjoy.
Variations
I tried the same recipe which is given above with slight changes. This time I used brinjal alone in this recipe instead of raw banana and mango. I also used coconut milk in the kuzhambu. For a variation, you can use drumstick as well.
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Karuvadu Kulambu Recipe (Dry Fish Curry)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 250 grams Dried Fish (Karuvadu)
- 2 large Onions peeled & chopped finely
- 2 tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 2 large Tomatoes chopped finely
- 2 no Green Chillies
- 2 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder
- 3 tablespoon Coriander Powder
- 2 tablespoon Tamarind Pulp ot to taste
- 1 no Raw Banana peeled and cut lengthwise
- ¼ cup Raw Mango cut lengthwise
- 1 no Drumstick chopped
- 1 no Brinjal sliced
- 2 cups Water as needed
- 1 teaspoon Salt or to taste
For Tempering
- 5 tablespoon Coconut Oil
- ½ teaspoon Fenugreek Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 sprig Curry leaves
For Grinding
- 1½ cup Fresh Coconut
- ¼ cup Shallots or Onion Peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
Instructions
- Clean dry fish. Soak dry fish in hot boiling water for 15 mins. Strain and set aside. Grind coconut with cumin and onion to a smooth paste. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a earthernware pot. Add in cumin, fenugreek and curry leaves and fry for few seconds.
- Add in onions, green chillies and cook until golden brown. Add in ginger garlic paste and turmeric. Mix well. Add in tomatoes and cook till it gets mushy. Add in spice powders and stir fry for 5 minutes.
- Now add in all vegetables and mix well with masala. Pour in water, tamarind paste and mix well. Bring it to a full boil. Add in dry fish and mix well.
- Now add in coconut paste. Mix well and cook covered on low heat for 12 to 15 minutes until oil floats on top. Serve with rice.
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Anonymous
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pranav lee
Will not adding banana and mango affect the taste much?