Fish Curry: Kerala Style

Ingredients

• 700 g oily fish (sardine, mackerel, or kingfish), cut into steaks or large pieces
• 3–4 pieces kudampuli (Malabar tamarind / Gamboge, dried Garcinia cambogia), soaked in warm water before use
• 250 ml thin coconut milk, second-press
• 100 ml thick coconut cream, first-press, added off heat at the end
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• For the tarka
• 12–15 fresh curry leaves
• 3–4 green chillies, slit lengthways
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp fine salt, or to taste

Method

1. 1
   Soak the kudampuli pieces in a small bowl of warm water for 10–15 minutes, so the fruit swells and surrenders its dark, intensely sour liquor into the water rather than releasing it unevenly into the curry later. Both the softened fruit and every drop of that soaking liquid go into the pan — nothing is discarded.
2. 2
   Heat the coconut oil in a wide, heavy pan over a medium flame, then add the mustard seeds and wait for an audible, rapid popping before adding the curry leaves and slit green chillies, so the seeds have fully opened and given their nutty depth to the oil rather than sitting raw beneath everything else. Stand back when the leaves go in; they will crackle and spit, and within 30 seconds the oil should carry a sharp, savoury fragrance.
3. 3
   Add the turmeric and red chilli powder directly to the tarka and stir for no more than 20 seconds, so the spices fry in the aromatic oil and open fully rather than steaming into a dull paste once the liquid arrives. Pull them off the heat the moment they reach a deep, even ochre — if they darken further, the base will taste burnt rather than bloomed.
4. 4
   Pour in the thin coconut milk and the kudampuli pieces with all of their soaking liquid, add the salt, and bring everything to a gentle simmer, keeping it there — never letting it reach a rolling boil — so the sourness of the kudampuli distributes slowly and evenly through the sauce rather than scorching off in a rush. This is where the dish lives or dies: a hard boil will break the milk into a greasy, split sauce and the measured sourness will be gone before the fish even enters the pan.
5. 5
   Add the fish pieces and simmer gently for 10–15 minutes, turning once, so the flesh cooks through without the sauce battering it apart. The fish is ready when it is just opaque to the bone and yields to a little pressure without falling apart.
6. 6
   Remove the pan from the heat and pour the thick coconut cream over the surface without vigorous stirring, so it melts gradually into the hot sauce and enriches its colour from pale yellow to a soft ivory-orange rather than thinning and disappearing into the curry. Taste for salt and sourness — both should be distinct, but neither should dominate.