Viral Meen Kuzhambu | Madurai Meen Kuzhambu | Manga Meen Kuzhambu | Raw Mango Fish Curry

Viral Meen Kuzhambu | Madurai Meen Kuzhambu | Manga Meen Kuzhambu | Raw Mango Fish Curry is a tangy, spicy gravy and a specialty of South Indian cuisine. It’s my childhood favourite which brings back so many memorable events. We all would stand around my grandma to see the live fish. It was fun seeing the fish jumping here and there in the backyard. My Grandma was an expert in making this curry as it was my grandpa’s favorite. She used to take extra care while preparing this fish curry.

The specialty of this fish curry lies with the “viral meen” which is known as Butter Fish |  Murrel in English. This fish is a fresh water fish and will impart special aroma and flavour to this curry. Making of viral meen kuzhambu happens to be a long project due to the cleaning process of this fish. This fish is available live in the fish markets and the fish vendors will simply cut the fish into pieces, as he does for other fishes. But there’s still more work to do! This fish has to be rubbed on a hard stone so that the coating on the fish’s skin can be removed. Otherwise it becomes gel-like. Nowadays online fish stores are  delivering cleaned murrel which makes our cooking very easy.

Basically I like fish fry rather than fish pieces in gravy but this viral meen is an exception. Try this and you’ll realize what I’m saying is 100% true.

I’ve already posted the recipe for meen kuzhambu in Chettinad Style – Manchatti Meen Kuzhambu. So, today, I’ve prepared this gravy in Madurai style.

Here we go with the recipe!

Ingredients:

• Murrel (Viral Meen) - 1/2 kg
• Shallots (small onion) - 10 Nos
• Garlic – 5 pods
• Green chillies - 2 Nos
• Tomato - 1 No.
• Raw mango – 2 pieces
• Tamarind - lemon size
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp.
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbs
• Salt to taste

To grind:

• Shallots – 5 Nos
• Garlic – 5 pods
• Grated coconut - 2 tbs
• Fennel – ½ tsp
• Peppercorns – ½ tsp

For seasoning:

• Gingelly oil - 2 tbs
• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Fenugreek - ½ teaspoon
• Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
• Curry leaves - few

Method:

1. Wash and thoroughly clean the fish, using salt and turmeric powder.
2. Soak the tamarind in a cup of water.
3. Chop onion and tomato finely.
4. Heat oil in a manchatti (clay pot) on the stove, add mustard, fenugreek and fennel seeds  one by one. After it splutters, add the shallots, garlic, slit green chillies.
5. Add a tomato and sauté well till the tomato gets mashed.
6. Add the tamarind pulp and continue adding chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and crystalline salt.
7. Stir well and cover  with a lid. Let it boil for about 5 minutes till the raw smell of masala is gone.
8. In the mean time, fry shallots and garlic in little oil and grind with other ingredients given "for grinding" by adding little water into a fine paste.
9. When the gravy thickens, add mango pieces and allow it to cook for about 2 minutes.
10. Then add the fish pieces and cover the manchatti again till the fish pieces get cooked.
11. After the fish pieces get cooked, add the ground paste and chopped coriander. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Simmer for 2 minutes.
12. Take the manchatti off the stove and leave the kuzhambu in manchatti atleast for half an hour before serving, as it will add a unique flavor to the meen kuzhambu.

Your tasty, tangy, flavourful Viral Meen Kuzhambu in Madurai Meen Kuzhambu style is ready to enjoy with hot, steamed rice. I have served this fish curry with Viral meen fry and it tasted yummm..

Note:

• You can increase or decrease the quantity of tamarind depending on the sourness of raw mango.
• The above fish curry can be made with other fish varieties too.

Tags: Viral meen kuzhambu, Madurai Viral meen Kuzhambu recipe, Fish Curry recipe, Manga meen kuzhambu recipe, Raw mango fish curry recipe, Mammidikaya chepadu pulusu, Murrel fish curry recipe, Butter fish curry, Manga meen kuzhambu in Madurai style, Seafood recipes, Fish curry varieties, South Indian Fish Curry recipe, Tangy viran meen kuzhambu recipe.

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Aam Panna | Aam ka Panna | Raw Mango Drink

Aam Panna | Aam ka Panna | Raw Mango Drink is a healthy Indian summer drink prepared with raw mangoes and some other condiments. It is a famous drink in Northern parts of India, prepared to beat the heat during summer. It is believed to protect our body against sun stroke and is an excellent thirst quencher too. This drink will top up all the vitamins & minerals lost due to excessive sweat in hot summer. Truly, we have to be grateful to Mother Nature for providing us with raw mangoes at the right time, giving us a natural way to combat the heat.

As for aam panna, once we make the pulp ready we can make this drink at any time. Today being a holiday, I thought of making aam panna as I also had raw mangoes in the fridge. I prepared everything, kept it in the fridge and went out for some personal work. When I came back and had this, omg…I don’t have words to say! That is why I’m posting this recipe immediately.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Raw Mango – 1 No.(Medium)
• Jaggery – 1 cup
• Mint leaves – 15 Nos
• Roasted cumin powder – ¼ tsp
• Black salt |Kala Namak – ¼ tsp
• Pepper powder – ¼ tsp

Method:

Step I: Preparation of pulp & syrup:

1. Wash and pressure cook the raw mango with enough water for about 3 whistles.
2. Once the pressure subsides, open the pressure cooker and allow the mango to cool completely.
3. Peel the skin of the mango and scoop out the mango pulp from the skin and the seed, discarding both skin & seed.
4. Mash the pulp to a smooth paste with some spatula or blend in a mixer.
5. In the mean time, melt jaggery in a cup of water and strain the impurities. Again heat the strained jaggery syrup till it gets bubble consistency. Keep aside.

Step II: preparation of drink:

1. For preparing the drink for two, blend mint leaves, roasted cumin powder, black salt pepper powder to a fine paste. To this, add 4 tbsp of mango pulp and 6 to 8 tbsp of jaggery syrup with a cup of water and blend everything. Strain and serve with ice cubes.

Your minty, peppery aam panna is ready to quench your thirst!

Note:

• Mango pulp can be stored in an air tight container and kept in the freezer for a month and jaggery syrup can be stored in the refrigerator. The drink can be prepared at any time with the addition of ingredients.
• If you want you can add sugar directly while preparing the drink instead of jaggery syrup.
• The list of ingredients I have given above is as my family’s taste. But you can skip mint | cumin |pepper as per your choice.

Tags: Aam Panna recipe, Summer drink recipes, Raw mango recipes, Aam ka panna, Raw Mango drink recipe, healthy summer drinks, Raw mango summer drink recipe, Indian Sharbat recipes, Indian Drink, North Indian drink, 

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