Fish curry (Tepla ambat)
This ambat/curry is the most popular konkan curry I ever wanted to share here. As I said earlier, two types of fish curries are very famous at North Kanara. One of them is Tepla ambat (gravy with teppal Tepla meaning ‘with teppal’ and ‘ambat’ meaning ‘curry’). The other is Alle kande ambat.
The distinguishing taste to this gravy comes from ‘teppal’ and ‘kokum’. A few days back, one of my reader Mugdha sent me the same recipe where in she had specified tamarind juice instead of kokum.
Fishes like bangda(Mackeral), Surmayi(Iswan or Viswan or king fish) or pomfret are used for this dish. This gravy tastes great when prepared very spicy. The traditional gravy is of bright red color. Use Kashmiri chillies if available. The masala should be ground to a very very smooth paste to get the best taste.
Ingredients:
Fish pieces 10
Coconut 1 and 1/2 cups
Red chillies 6-7
Ginger 1″ piece
Teppal 5-6
Turmeric a pinch
Kokum pieces 2-3 or thick tamarind juice 1/2 tea spn
Salt
Method:
Grind coconut with red chillies, ginger and turmeric to a very very smooth paste (grind till the blender/mixer becomes real hot 
) .
Add a tea spn of water along with teppal in a mortar and slightly crush with pestle(only till a white juice is got. The Teppal should not be ground to paste). Some people discard the teppal at this stage and use only the white juice of it, but I like the teppal also in the curry so that the teppal leaves more aroma in the curry as time passes.
Heat the ground masala with sufficient water to get a gravy. Add teppal, kokum pieces(or tamarind juice), salt and cook till the gravy starts boiling. Now add fish (Do not add fish before this, if you do, the fish becomes paste by the time the gravy is cooked) and cook till the fish turns color to white (fish takes around 5-10mins to cook completely).
Serve hot with rice after atleast 2-3 hours from cooking. The taste of gravy increases more on the next day. So prepare it the pravious day and refrigerate it such that next day, you’ll realize how tasty it has become.
Serves : 4
Preparation time : 20min
shilpa, this is a nice one..i never knew how to make the fish curry.., now that u have posted it i will surly try it..But i dont have the teppal any substituion for it??
Kokum is widely used in fish curries in kerala, but ‘Teppal’ is something new to me. my culinary universe is growing day by day:)thanks for sharing!
Sudha, try the ‘alle kande ambat’, which is equally tasty
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Thanks Reshma. Teppal is very very famous in the coastal areas of Karnataka and Goa. It could be easily found in ‘Mangalore shops’ in India
Thanks for this recipe.:) Can you please do a post about the orange coloured one? the one thats mainly the bangda curry.. i am not sure if this is the same one..
Thanks
I guess that was the alle kande ambat:)
Fish Curry with KoKum is something I ‘ve yet to try……Shilpa,Your curry sounds so easy to make,would love to try this soon…:)
Can you please let me know the alternative name for teppal ( maybe in Marathi or English) so that I can find it here in India?
Regards
Deepali
Deepali, click on the links I have mentioned in the post to know more about teppal. It is called as ‘Tirphal’ in Marathi and ‘Sichuan pepper’ in English. It is widely used in Goan cuisine and in Konkani/Marathi dishes by the people who are near to Goa (like Belgaum, Karwar etc)
Different names for Sichuan Pepper in Indian sub continent:-
In English:
Szetchwan pepper, Anise pepper, Sprice pepper, Sichuan pepper, Chinese pepper, Japanese pepper, (Japanese) prickly ash; Indonesian lemon pepper (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium); Nepal pepper (Z. armatum)
In Hindi:
Mullilam, Tilfda (Zanthoxylum rhetsa), Tejbal (Z. alatum); Tambhul (Z. acanthopodium)
In Kannada:
Kamte kai (Z. rhetsa)
In Malayalam:
Kaatmurikku (Z. rhetsa)
In Konkani:
Teppal, Tippal (Z. rhetsa)
In Marathi:
????? ,Tirphal, Chirphal (Z. rhetsa)
In Nepali:
???????, ???????,Timur, Timmur, Timbur (Z. alatum)
In Tibetan:
Emma, Yerma, G-yer ma (Z. alatum or Z. acanthopodium)
also one may follow the link below from where I got the names
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Zant_pip.html
Swapan, I had given this link in my post (Mistress of spices – Teppal). I also linked the post here. I thnik it was not visible at the first go. So thanks for pasting the names here
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This is a very easy n sure recipy with guaranted test. My grandmother, mother and aunts in Vengurla/Kudal and Goa have always made curry like this. I have my memories with this curry.
Just a bit of advice: Tirphal goes well with only certain fish such as Bangda(Mackeral) and Tarle (Sardin) which has some brown meat. Traditionally we donot use it with fish like Surmayi(Iswan or Viswan or king fish) or pomfret which have more white meat. Curry test good otherwise too. Enjoy.
I had bought Teppal on my trip to Mangalore this time. Had a rough idea about its usage – the one time I tried with American king mackeral – ended up putting 15 teppals – turned out too spicy. Thanks for recipe…now I can try the real way !
By the way, would you be having the recipe for tomato saaru – Udupi style. I have been trying to get this recipe for a long time – I just cannot get the same saaru smell/taste that they serve in wedding halls/temples in coastal Karnataka. – Thanks for wonderful recipies again… great job !!
the recipe is really good which we tried in our restaurant
[...] black peas) Lakshmi’s Akki Roti Ashwini’s Khatkhate (uses tirphal) Shilpa’s Tepla Ambat (Fish Curry with Teppal) Published [...]
Swapan is right, Teppal is called Tirphal in Marathi/Goan saraswat Kokni
This used to be the precious spice back in the 16th century when the portugese came to colonise Goa, it is hung as a traditional decoration during Ganesh Chathurti festival in Goa.
Another thing is the Variation is addition of the Kokum, My Saraswat grandmother used to throw an odd piece of soaked kokum and Garlic with 1 piece of raw turmeric stalk (not powder) in the initial griding mixture. This will arguably raise the flavour of curry exponentially.
So earlier in the process the kokum is soaked for atleast 1/2 hour in warm water (not hot) and this water is used while boiling the gravy instead of the kokum pieces and the one or two pieces from here itself are used in the initial grinding mixture. (too much pieces will render the gravy sour till unpleasant.
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Thanks a ton … I make traditional kerala fish curry and I was trying to find something different …. I found a new use of Teppal u mentioned here … am definitely going to try this one … thanks again
hi,
I am from Goa. As u all will be knowing that goans likes fish, this is also true with me.
This receipe of Tepal Ambat is made more often at our household, i just would like to add that we add tamrind juice or small ball of tamrind and a green chilly with kokum pieces, and rest receipe is the same.so this makes the curry ( ambat and thickat). if green tepal is available, ususally during ganesh chaturti in goa. the curry turns out to be fantastic because of fresh auroma of green tepal, tastes very good with fish like bangada.
Dried Tepal can also used in this receipe.
happy cooking
i would like to know by each step from starting like which MASALAS we must take to grind and how to BAGAR (in marathi FODNI). please send me the same RECEIPE same as above with details.
Oh, yay, Shilpa! This is the one I was thinking of! And I clean forgot about the tamarind. Ooo, yes!
hey ur recipe is really nice n simple! we 2 make fish curry in a similar way but we also add 2tsp of coriander seeds & sol(dried raw mango ) instead of kokum also lime juice 2tsp can be used instead! and 1 more splecial thing abt the fishcurry we make isfried sasav n methi just 3-4 seeds of each in the mixy for grinding sasav is mustard seeds !try it u 2 will like it!
[...] with coconut and onion which is called alle kande ambat or teppal and coconut which are called tepla ambat. There are some more which have one ingredient more or less. Fish fries – fishes are marinated in [...]
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I would like to know the shelf life of “teppal”. I have a stock of teppals left with me since the last five years or so. Can they be used to give enough flavour? Or should I opt for the fresh ones?. please suggest. Also tell me the difference between “kodampuli” and “kokam”. Some blogs have explained kodampuli to be superior to kokam and give better flavour to fish curry than kokam. or is it just a flaunt? Do you know about the same? please tell me if you know.
Thanks for your “chicken Ghee roast’” recipe.Bye.
Shilpa: As time passes, the aroma of teppal diminishes. So it is best to use it within a year.
I haven’t used Kodampuli any time.
Shilpa: I made this yesterday and it is oh, so good! I simmered the gravy for 3 hours as you said…then let it rest for a few hours, then re-heated to cook the fish (I used a fish called “whiting”). The gravy is so deliciously-delicate with a subtle sweet-sour from the coconut-kokum. Fragrance of the teppal is marvelous- that in combo with the kokum lends such a nice fruity flavour. Thank you so much!
hey there!
i was so happy 2c this konkan fish recipe,the one which am so fond of. this thaiphal ambat tastes awesome only for mackarel(bangda) and sardine(tarley). i belong to karwar which is my native and infact this tamarind which we use in the curry is known as SOL that is dry mango. i remembered my granny and my good old days of childhood where we savoured such great karwari cuisine including tisrey(shell fish) crab curry and so much of seafood. neways thanks a ton.