The Nellore Fish Pulusu is a humble, Andhra fisherman’s fish curry. It’s sizzling and tangy and eaten with a mound of plain, steamed rice. However don’t  let that description idiot you. Albeit, the Nellore Fish Pulusu is made with easy, on a regular basis components, however it’s consolation meals that isn’t shy about its daring, some would say, even gaudy color and punchy flavour.

What’s a pulusu?

A pulusu is a staple of the Telugu desk. It’s basically a skinny, runny curry with a base product of tamarind, bitter native tomatoes, floor purple chillies and coriander seeds and a beneficiant scattering of curry leaves. Greens / meat / fish are added to this sauce. One of the best ways to eat a pulusu is to pour it over steamed rice dolloped with ghee. The rice offsets the warmth and helps mop up the runny curry. Papads and fried vadiyalu ( crunchy, sun-dried lentil nuggets) are good accompaniments to this meal. This Nellore Fish Pulusu is a beloved, old-school recipe, made with cheap, native, fresh-water fish corresponding to rohu, catla (styles of carp) and typically pulasa (a lot prized native hilsa). 

Tricks to good your Nellore Fish Pulusu 

• Cook dinner your fish pulusu in cold-pressed gingelly oil (often known as sesame oil in India) for that genuine Telugu style.That is totally different from the darkish sesame oil used to decorate salads, noodles and so on in East Asia. That oil is extracted from toasted sesame seeds and isn’t used for cooking.
• Don’t stinge on curry leaves. Darkish, barely older leaves (versus tender, mild inexperienced ones) have the strongest aroma. Add curry leaves within the tempering and extra when your pulusu is cooked.
• Mood your Nellore Fish Pulusu with a mixture of black mustard (rai), cumin (jeera) and fenugreek (methi) seeds. Add a floor masala powder of mustard, cumin, fenugreek, coriander seeds and pepper on the very finish, such as you would add garam masala, to boost the perfume and flavour of the pulusu.

• Use each tomato puree  and tamarind so as to add sourness to the curry. In the event you favor much less tang, scale back the tamarind paste by a bit. Ripe, purple, desi tomatoes are the very best since they convey the quintessential, deep, purple color to the pulusu (The purple color within the images shouldn’t be enhanced).

I believe this Nellore Fish Pulusu tastes it’s greatest someday after it’s made. It’s a no-fuss, on a regular basis fish curry, natural and true to the land it hails from. That is what makes it an icon of Andhra delicacies.

Nellore Fish Pulusu

A sizzling and tangy Andhra fish curry flavoured with tamarind, tomatoes and chillies.

Servings 2

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook dinner Time 20 minutes minutes

Whole Time 30 minutes minutes

Components  

• 4 fillets fresh-water fish corresponding to rohu, catla (carp) or roopchand (generally known as Chinese language pomfret), hilsa (a sort of herring), catfish or white saltwater fish corresponding to surmai (kingfish)
• 2 tbsp store-bought tamarind paste or a walnut-sized ball of tamarind soaked in a little bit water to extract a thick paste.
• 4 ripe, purple tomatoes, coarsely pureed
• 1 massive onion, finely chopped
• 1½ tsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 2 recent inexperienced chillies slit midway lengthwise
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1½ tsp purple chilli powder (cayenne)
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1½ tbsp gingelly (sesame) oil
• ½ tsp black mustard seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
• 400 ml water
• A big handful of curry leaves
• Salt

For the masala powder

• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 2 tsp coriander seeds

Directions 

• Season the fish fillets with a little bit salt and turmeric and put aside.

• Toast the spices for the masala on low warmth for a minute at most and grind to a advantageous powder.

• Warmth the oil in a pan on medium warmth and add the tempering of mustard, cumin and fenugreek seeds. Permit them to crackle and take care to not burn them or they’re going to flip bitter.

• Tip within the chopped onion and some curry leaves and sauté on low flame until the onion is comfortable and really frivolously golden.

• Add the garlic and ginger pastes and proceed to sauté, (scraping the pan intermittently to stop burning) until the odor of uncooked garlic and ginger disappears and the combination is golden.

• Now add the chilli powder and coriander powder blended in a tbsp of water. Cook dinner for 20 seconds earlier than pouring within the tomato puree. Add salt and inexperienced chillies and let the tomatoes prepare dinner until the oil begins separating on the perimeters

• Put within the tamarind paste and sufficient 400 ml water. Convey to a boil, scale back the warmth and simmer for 5-7 min until the sauce is cohesive and cooked. Add extra water if wanted.

• Slide within the fish and prepare dinner for 4-5 minutes until they’re opaque. don’t stir an excessive amount of else the fillets might break.

• Sprinkle the bottom masala and remaining curry leaves over the curry, gently shake the pan to include them, prepare dinner for 20 seconds flip off the warmth. Serve sizzling with steamed rice.