Chettinad Sura Meen Kuzhambu / Shark Fish Curry

Chettinad Sura Meen Kuzhambu

Shark fish is great in taste and it's believed to be good for breastfeeding mums as it increases milk supply for the new born. But shark fish also increase body temperature( heat), so one has to consume in little quantity. 
My mom says there are two varieties of shark fish one is Paal Sura( Young fish), which is soft and tender and cooks in 10 mins. The other variety is Kombu Sura( Matured fish) this variety of fish is rough and flesh is chewy and will take long to cook. So its always wise to choose small sized shark fish.

Ingredients
Shark fish( with skin on bone, cut into cubes) - 250 gms
Shallots / small onions chopped - 10 numbers
Garlic cloves sliced - 5 to 6 numbers
Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp
Coriander powder - 3 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Fennel powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Gingely oil - 4 tsp
Fennel seeds - generous pinch
Water - 1.5 cup
Tamarind water - 1/4 cup

Chettinad Fish Curry

Method 
1. Clean, wash the fish pieces and marinate with 1/2 tsp turmeric until used for cooking. 
2. Heat gingely oil in a pan, when oil is hot add fennel seeds, chopped onions and sliced garlic cloves. Sauté until onions are transparent. 
3. Mix red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and fennel powder to the tamarind water, mix until smooth and add this to the pan. Add a 1.5 cups of water to the pan, season with salt, stir well and bring gravy to boil.
4. When gravy starts boiling, cover pan with lid and simmer gravy for 5 mins.
5. Now add the shark fish pieces to gravy, check the seasoning, stir gently and cook for another 7 to 8 mins or until fish pieces are tender and oil floats on top of gravy. Depending on gravy thickness adjust with water.
Serve hot Shark Fish Curry with
Steamed Rice
Fish Fry or Prawn Fry

Shark Fish Curry

Chef's tips
1. While making shark fish curry I always leave the skin on fish. The texture of shark fish skin is rubbery and when cooked will come out like fine sand and dirt. If you don't feel leaving the skin on, you can boil the shark fish cubes in water for 7 mins or until fish is tender( like doing for Shark Puttu), remove fish pieces from boiled water, discard water and allow fish pieces to cool, remove the skin and use flesh while making curry. But in this method the shark fish taste and nutrients will be lost in boiled water which is discarded. So if you are preparing for new mother or do not want to compromise on taste leave the fish skin on.
2. Since Shark fish increases body temperature when consumed it tends to create lots of gas in tummy, so in order to treat that, shark fish is always cooked with lots of garlic. 
3. If shallots are not available then substitute with 1 medium sized onion.
4. Take gooseberry sized tamarind, soak in 1/4 cup water for 5 mins, extract the pulp and discard the residue, keep aside tamarind water until used in cooking.
5. Another important tip is any kind of tamarind based fish curry tastes great on the next day as the sourness and spiciness gets soaked in fish, so always make big batch of curry and reserve for next day too.