Sardines Fish Gravy

In our place sardines fish is very popular. Its called chala mean in Tamil, Mathi mean in Malayalam. This fish has very unique taste comparing to all the other fish.

People who have tasted the fresh sardine fish curry know the taste about this fish. You can fry as well as make gravy. But in US getting fresh fish is not possible nah. So i just tried with canned fish. This canned fish dint taste exactly like the fresh fish gravy. But it taste very good than what i expected. Definitely people who know about chala mean can give it a try.

This fish is available in all American grocery stores. You can find this next to canned tuna fish. You can find different types of canned sardines like sardines in water, sardines in oil, sardines in tomato juice, etc. I'm not sure that which one taste better. I have done my experiments with 2 different cans like combination of Sardines in water and sardines in oil.

You will need:

For fish curry:

• 2 3.75oz Sardines
• ½ red onion(roughly chopped)
• 5 green chillies(can decrease if you like less spice)
• 5 garlic cloves
• ½" ginger(optional)
• 1 tomato(finely chopped)
  
• 1 tsp tamarind paste(can increase or decrease according to your taste)
• 3 tbsp fish masala powder(i used homemade fish masala, you can use store bought fish masala powder too)
• 2 to 3 cups of water
  
• salt for taste

For tempering:

• 2 tbsp oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 1 pearl onion/shallot(finely chopped)
• 1 string curry leaves
• 5 fenugreek seeds(venthayam in Tamil)
  

Step 1:

Roughly chop onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli and then grind it to a fine paste adding some water and keep it aside.

In this picture you can see fish masala powder, canned fish, and the ground paste.



Step 2:

In a pan add the ground paste, fish masala powder,tomato, tamarind paste, saltwater and allow it to boil for 5 mins. Now add canned sardines to this and allow it to boil(Discard the canned oil/water/ juice). After 5 mins reduce the heat to medium and let it cook for 15 to 20 mins uncovered till you get very thick gravy as shown in picture. Switch of the heat and keep it aside.

Note:

Don't stir the fish while its getting cooked. This will break the fish pieces.

Step 3:

For tempering:

Now for tempering add oil in a small pan. When its hot add mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. After it splutters add chopped shallots and fry it till you get golden brown color. Now add the curry leaves. Now pour this mixture to the above cooked sardine gravy and cover it with a lid immediately, so that the flavour will stay inside. Thats what my Mom told.

Sardine curry is now ready to serve. Enjoy with rice, chappathi..