Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom who is half-way across the world from me right now! This is my gift for her. Love you Mom!

Fish korma cooked by my has been my favourite since I was a child. I hadn’t had it in years and was craving it. So I decided to take some action! Called Mom and asked her for her recipe and today I am sharing this wonderfully delicious dish with you. This is a great dish for those of you who likes to eat curry but don’t like it to be hot. Usually my Mom would make this dish using Rui (Rohu), Katol (Catla or Indian carp) or Mrigel (Mrigal Carp) fishes. These fishes are usually large fishes. These fishes are popular in South and South East Asia. The bigger the fish the tastier it is. They are farmed but a river fish definitely tastes much better, in my humble opinion. You can use any carp you may get your hands on locally. I have often replace these traditional carps to other fish that I can find in the market such as Bighead and Grass Carps. Their taste is very similar to the fishes mentioned earlier.

I should mention before I share the recipe is that my Mom, when cooking this particular dish, never fried the fish before putting it in the gravy. However, she mostly cooked this dish with freshly caught fish that hasn’t really been refrigerated. Since I don’t have that luxury 1000s of km away from where these fish are caught, I did pan fry them slightly to make sure that they did not have any smell. So here is my slightly modified version of my Mom’s recipe.

Fish Korma Curry – Macher Korma (in Bengali)

Serves: 2

Ingredients:
5-6 pieces of fish
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garlic paste
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 whole green cardamom
1 half-inch piece cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger paste
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1 generous tbsp plain yogurt
1/2 tsp sugar, adjust to taste
milk, optional
green chili
salt
oil

Wash the fish thoroughly. In a bowl combine turmeric, 1/2 tsp garlic paste and a little salt. Add the fish and coat the fish lightly with the spice mixture. Set aside.

In a bowl, take the yogurt, sugar and a little water or milk and mix well. Set aside.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and pan fry the fish lightly. Remove fish from the pan and set aside.

In a clean frying pan, heat a little oil. Do not use the oil you fried the fish in as that will discolour your curry due to the turmeric powder. In the hot oil, add the cardamom and cinnamon and cook until they are fragrant. Add the sliced onions and saute them until it is nicely caramelized. Add the remaining garlic paste and ginger paste. Cook for another 30 seconds to a minute. Add cumin and coriander powders. Add 1/4 cup of water or milk and mix the spice mixture. Add salt to taste. Add the yogurt mixture and stir it into the spice mixture. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the fish to the spices and add another 1/4 cup of water or milk. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side to allow the fish to take on the flavours of the spice mixture. Add green chili when you turn your fish or with the salt if you want to make it spicy. Garnish with beresta. Now your dish is ready to be served with plain rice or polao (pilaf). Enjoy 🙂