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Basic Coconut Masala Paste - Alen

Making a good fish curry is a challenge for many and I have received many requests asking for a good fish curry recipe. So I decided to share my treasured secret with you my lovely people. This recipe measurement was given to me by one of my aunt few years ago and I have never looked back ever since.

Most of us reading this are busy people who manage home and work and kids and all other responsibilities and making fish curry on a daily basis could be a bit of a  challenge as it consumes time and patience.

Every weekend one of my tasks on the to do list is to make the fish curry masala ( alen vatche). I make this big batch of masala and store it in the freezer for the rest of the week so that we can enjoy fish or any other curry during the week.

The ingredients listed below makes about 3 batches of masala, 1 portion of which can happily serve a family of 4 for a meal.

The same masala can be used for many other Mangalorean curries like -
*Dry fish curry
*Valchi Bhaji ani Sungta curry
*Valchi Bhaji with dry fish curry
*Prawn curry
*Prawn with ladies finger curry
*Moge ani bogdo (gule) curry
*Moge ani prawns curry


Ingredients

1. Coconut - 1 big grated
2. Kashmiri red chillies - 15 to 20
3. Coriander seeds- 2 tbsp
4. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp
6. Turmeric - 1 tsp
7. Tamarind - 2 small lime sized
8. Onion - 1 medium
9. Garlic - 4 to 5 cloves

Method 

Grind all the above ingredients into a smooth paste with enough water preferably with a grinding stone or a wet grinder. But if you are not accessible to both of these you can use a mixer grinder but the stone grinding makes a lot of difference and adds to the taste of the curry.

Once the paste is done divide the masala paste into 3 equal parts and store in plastic or glass good containers and store in the deep freezer. They last good for months.

Note  -  Depending on the type of fish you can make minor adjustments, like making a bangde    (mackerel) or tarle (sardine) curry you can add in chopped ginger and green chillies when boiling the masala to add the flavor and spice levels.

You can even increase or decrease the number red chillies depending on your spice tolerance.


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