Fish Curry (Alle Kande Ambat)
In last few days, the number of Konkani visitors to my blog as well as Konkani recipe requests have significantly increased. So I have realized that, I am moving away from the basic idea of my blog. So now on, for few days, I am going to blog about very specific Konkani recipes.
We prepare two specific type of fish curries. One is called Alle Kande Ambat (Ginger Onion curry) and other is Teppla ambat (Curry using teppal ). This is mainly prepared with mackerel(bangda).
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh/frozen coconut
3/4 cup onion
7-8 fish pieces
1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
1 green chili
5-6 red chilies
2″ piece ginger
Oil
Salt
Method:
Grind together coconut, red chillies, tamarind and 1″ piece of ginger to a very smooth paste.
Heat oil,fry chopped onion and remaining ginger(cut into small pieces) till they turn slightly brownish. Add the ground masala, green chili(slitted into two) and salt. Cook for 5min. Now add the fish pieces and cook till the color of the fish changes to white.
Note: Fish curry tastes well after 8-10hrs.
Serves : 4
Preparation time : 20min
Hi Shilpa,
Wow…you have quite a collection of recipes here…Was glad to see my fave fish curry on your site…
Great going
looks so good Shilpa.
You know I have 2 konkani friends. I had these sweet buns also.
Hi Shilpa, the fish curry looks really delicious.
Got to try this out. Thanks for the recipe, Shipa
Tapals!!! I love that stuff…no one ever seems to know what I’m talking about but my mom keeps me stocked with that stuff…hey, when are you going to blog about dried bangda curry? And kokum kadi???
I just read your post more carefully…yeah, you must bring tapals back from Karwar or Ankola or wherever you hail from…it’s way too specific a spice to find in North America. I swear my mom brings back a suitcase just for tapals and watamba sola and pink sola and ambli lonchi and stuff.
Hey concentrating on Ammas recipe (konkani)befits the blog id. I guess It makes it unique . HOw about adding recipe for kashaya pitto, masal poha, ganti (sweet)
pai
bangalore
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I came across your blog and was very happy to see “aamchi” recipes.
I’ve been trying to cook the Konkani dishes that my MIL makes but i’ll certainly try ur Aayi’s recipes too.
- sonu, USA
Thanks a lot Vee,Lakshmi,Rp,Sury,Sonu.
MM, Same problem here. I found out that Teppal is also called Chinese pepper. So I went and asked in China town. They said ‘We dont know what are you talking about.We have black pepper, white pepper.Black pepper is good.Try it’. We took 15min to explain them what a teppal is, finally their answer was same. So now all my hopes of finding teppal are gone.
Hey, I have already blogged about Kokum kadi. Have a look at the “non alcoholic drinks” section.
Pai, thanks for the comment. I forget about some of the great dishes sometimes. If you mention the names like this, I can easily post the recipes.Thanks again.
Shilpa, wow, that’s what Chinese/Sichuan peppercorns are? They’re the same thing as tappals?
Sichuan peppercorns were banned in the US for a really, really long time which is probably why no one knew what you were talking about. They’ve recently been declassified from banned status so you may be able to find them in Chinatown, although I hear they’re filtering back slowly. If you live in a major urban area with a big Chinese community (San Fran/NY) you’ll probably have more luck.
Apoos mangoes used to be banned, too. When I was in undergrad my parents used to sneak them over from Canuckistan.
How long have you been in the US? Have you started clandestinely growing a kaddipata tree in a pot, yet?
MM, wow, thats a great piece of information. I came to US just 2 months back. We buy the curry leaves in the Indian store here. But I never get very specific Konkani ingredients here. May be I can try in NJ sometime.
Hi, Shilpa,
My grandmother dies recently, and she had to be the BEST amchigele cook in the whole world! And don’t we all amchigeles think the same of our moms and grans!! haha Anyway, sadly, she didn’t let us into the kitchen much, and I barely managed to pick the fewest recipes from her: tendlya upkari, cabbage upkari, masols of a few types, etc. from her, but obviously not enough. I live in Japan (of all places, esp. where teppal is concerned) but luckily came back with some on my last trip home. Please send in a Teppla ambat recipe please please please.
The kandya-alle ambat looks gooood!!!
Keep it up! I LOVE the name the most, I think..’Aayi’s Recipes’ hits right home, esp. when you are NOT home….
sorry… that was supposed to be dieD. All thats left of my family is a younger sis who does not know how to make….TEA!!!! forget kashaay!
keya, try “dudde randayi” in “side dish” section. its one recipe with teppal. I will post some more soon.
Kashay pitto recipe I got today from my sis-in-law. I will post it soon
btw..keya, you have a greater possibility of getting teppal in Japan. Just see the wiki link I have mentioned in my post.You can try searching it with its Japanese name.
Hi Shilpa,
Just had a question. What kind of red chillies do you use in your curries. We get two kinds here – the round ones and the usual long ones. I have not seen Kashmiri chillies in our Indian stores here. Let me know which variety is the best for our kind of curries. Thanks!
Hi shalini,
. I wish I had them here somehow. (somehow in the picture, the curry is looking red, but usually my curries do not have color because of pathetic chillies).
I use the long red chillies available in Indian stores. But I am not at all happy with the colour or taste of them, still I am managing with them. I did not find the Kashmiri chillies here either
Exactly!! The red chillies back home have so much more flavor and color than the ones here. Have you ever tried using the round ones? I have never used them in our cooking. Maybe I will try them one of these days. Thanks so much for your response
Hi..
I liked the recipe – but I have a problem. I just dont seem to be able to grind the coconut smooth enough. My curry always has different consistency from what I had in India…
Shalini, Recently I found ‘Byadagi’ chillies in one of Indian stores here. That gives a very nice color to gravies.
. Indian mixer is on my ‘to buy’ list for sometime now.
Vy, I guess you can use Indian Mixers to grind the masala, and that will solve all the problems. The blenders are not made for our kind of gravies
Very very authentic!! We call it “Alle Piyyav” Delicious!!!
I am amazed to see the collection of the authentic Konkani recipes in your blog. Keep up the good work!!
Hi Shilpa,
Thanks for the lovely website. Me and my husband are originally from Kumta. It really helps to have all the traditional Konkani receipes readily available. Now I will not have to call my mom or mom-in-law for the receipes. I have two (one south kanara and one north kanara) konkani receipe books which are in Kannada. You have made it real easy for me but posting all the lovely receipes in English.
Hi Shilpa,
I m a konkani student now in the USA, and I find that your site is a great reference when I want to replicate a dish that my mother makes at home (and when it is inconvenient to call her to get more information!).
Thanks a lot for your recipes and tips and the pictures are great too!
Cheers!
Ajeet
Thanks Sonam, Sneha, Ajeet. Such comments from you all is the inspiration for this site. Keep visiting.
A version of this dish is popular in Singapore, but there seem to be some differences. Hunter Cashdollar
could you please which varieties of fish can be used for making our konkani type of fish curries. as I get scared to buy the fish here in San Jose.
Kanchan, you can try pomfret(paplet) or Meckerel(bangda) or Spanish Meckeral(Iswan or Surmai). I buy them from Chinese store here in Kansas City. No idea about San Jose.
hi,
Loved this site!! found this today when i googled for “alle piyava ambat”. this is a good site for all the yummy konkani recepies.
tried the alle kande ambat its the best and the simplest fish curry i have ever tasted
thanks
I live near Boston and I found the red chillies we use back home. It is made by Swad – the packet reads ‘South Indian red chillies’ – the chillies are very long and wrinkled. These give out good color and are not very hot. So my curries do come out rich in color, but not that spicy. By the way, I found this in a chinese store which carries Indian grocery – I don’t find it all year round – only once in a while. But when I do find them, I stock up !
Hi Shilpa,
Was planning on trying this recipe out and hence the onion question (says 1) but mistakenly posted it in the other recipe feedback. My trials with fish curry have been in vain mostly because of onion I guess.By the way which do you use red/white/yellow onions for cooking?
So anyways I am hoping this will come out good after I know exactly how much to use.Thanks.
Coold, I have changed the onion content and given the measurement in cups. Give it a try. Hope you like it.
I tried this recipe and like you mentioned it tasted great after couple of hours.Thanks Shilpa. We liked it very much.
A wondeful recipe!!!!
I prepeared this exactly as mentioned
Also I tried this
1. Instead of tamarind I used AMSUL (Kokum) 2. Once with Lemon Grass Water (About 1 Tea-Spoon) and Basil.
This variant tastes better with a little basil (about 3 leaves) in paste and Jalapeno.
Any sugegstions?
Hi Shilpa,
Can i try this with salmon fish
Shilpa: Divya, I never tried salmon yet, but I have heard that it tastes great in our kind of dishes. So I think you can give it a try. I have tried cat fish though and it tasted great in the gravy.
Thanks shilpa
but hey banned cat fish my dear.. can u send me the recepie for saltfish pada.plz
Shilpa: what is pada?
Hi Shilpa,
Majhi aai kal Tirupati la geliye. Bahercha kaaahi mala jamat nahi. Bara jhala hi site milali! aata varan bhata barobar machhi pan banavta yeil
Aabhaar!
hey Shilpa,
Many thanks for this recipe. Tried it today and it came out simply awesome!! We both loved it completely!!
- Mridula Pai
My parents being from Bantwal Mangalore this recipe is kinda imprinted in my memory thanks to it being the staple diet of all self respecting Catholic Mangalorians.
I’d like to make a suggestion here though, increase the quantity of tamarind and red chilli for half a cocunut 5-6 red kashmiri chilles which are more color than fire would do just fine. tamarind should be the size of a lemon. add a tomato not too finely minced. Along with improving taste it adds to the aesthetic value of the gravy. yes i admit i not only eat food with my mouth i eat it with my all my other senses as well. food affects all my senses —— the color -sight, the aroma— smell, the sizzling and crackling sounds foods make when getting cooked—hearing, and the texture of the food —-touch , and last but not least the saliva inducing —–taste.
Also after you done give the curry a tadka of lots of kadipatta and rye. this gives the curry an even better flavor. garnish it with hoards of coriander leaves. believe me the coriander leaves give this curry another dimension altogether. let me know if you try it with these additions.
Sweet! Nice recipe. Haanva aaji try karta
Thanks
Just make it yesterday. It was very yummy. thanks for the great recipe
K
Hi Shilpa,
My mom makes this too , but instead of ginger she adds garlic in the ground paste and also adds a bit of jeera and coriander seeds…
))
Thanks for posting such amazin recipes
Hi
thanks for your response . I was just reading your fish curry recipe (alle kande ambat ) and was surprised to see that there were no spices like jeera dhanya etc mentioned . However my husband loves Konkani food so I am going to try it . I live in Sydney so I know what you mean by the taste not being the same as in India , but I guess we can’t be too fussy and have to make do with what we get here .What would you suggest would be the best fish to buy , we have quite a large variety here.
Shilpa: Lucia, I don’t know what kind of fish is available in Sydney. But I thought it has good fish as it is on the shore. We here are thousands of miles away from sea. Do you know what fish is available there? Even though I have lived in Sydney for couple of months, I had not tried fish there.
Hi Shilpa,
Just one question. In the photo the dish looks like as a curry. But in the recipe which you have posted there is no water or coconut milk added. Is it missing or its a dry dish?
Shilpa: As much as water can be added while making a paste from coconut. The thick coconut masala is the gravy for this dish.
Hi Shilpa,
I have book marked your blog and have tried some of your recipes. I just saw the comment regarding color of the masol. I have found out after a lot of trails that the best way to get the correct color is to either bring Bedge chillies from India, use the long red cillies from the Indian store(these do not give the color) and finally I use the Indian store cillies along with Reshampatti chilli powder(which is also available in the Indian store). Keep up the good work. Happy cooking. Pradnya
Hi Shilpa
thanks for your reply . We have a lot of varieties of fish here ,however the names are different than that from India . Spanish mackerel would probably be the fish to use but whenever I’ve tried it , it has had a very fishy smell if you know what i mean. I was wondering if I could use prawns instead .
Lucia
Shilpa: There is another shrimp gravy(sungta ambat) under shrimp/prawns section. I think that will be more suitable for the shrimps.
Hi Shilpa
I did try the alle kande with prawns and it was excellent . My husband loved it and thinks it will go really well with appams , I think so too . Could you please give me a recipe for appams and the other curry for shrimp
Dear Shilpa…my previous neighbours used to cook Konkan style fish curry (with Bangda) and that was really really good. But the colour of the fish curry was green. Is that curry different from the two published here…I forgot to take recipe from her…wish you could help me….
Hi,
Awesome reciepe, dont you need to add water and vinegar in this recipe?
I have add fish curries in goa long back and they had this acidic flavor…just wanted to know if you have the same in this curry.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Shilpa: No vinegar is not added to this dish. Enough water to bring it to gravy consistency is added.