Do try this at home.

India is home to the oldest civilized culture on earth, dating back some 3,000 years. In all that time, an amazing wealth of knowledge was amassed, from spirituality to health and everything in between. I've become increasingly interested in the time-tested healing power of Indian foods, which usually incorporate potent, colorful, fragrant and delicious herbs and spices. Turmeric, a relative of ginger, is included in most dishes, as are onions, garlic, cloves, cardamom, cayenne, ginger, tamarind, fenugreek and many others, dependent on regional cooking styles. It's become a fascinating journey for me, and I have only scratched the surface so far.

My good friend has recently shared his family's recipe for spicy fish curry with me, and although he is in the UK and I am in Wisconsin, we cooked it "together" through the magic of Skype video chat (love my new Mac laptop!). It was my first time cooking with tamarind, and shopping for the correct form of it was a new and fun experience for me. Luckily we have an amazing Asian food store in Madison which carries all types of foods and products from Mexico, the Philippines, Iraq, India, Morocco, Israel, China, just about every middle eastern or Asian country. Surprisingly, I even found a can of my favorite Cafe du Monde coffee and chicory there, which hails from my beloved New Orleans...may all her precious sea life now rest in peace... But I digress. Tamarind has a rich, savory and slightly sour taste; it's one of the main flavors in Worcestershire sauce, so for those of you who have never tasted tamarind, that might give you some frame of reference for how delicious this dish is. Here are the photos of the finished result, which was, I must say, amazing. (My dear friend is home in India for two weeks visiting his family, and I am missing him and our daily Skype chats just a wee bit. I can't wait til he comes back and brings new recipes from home to share with me via our Skype "cooking classes".) ॐ

Click pictures to see larger in more detail...and yes, those are Mardi Gras beads still sitting on my table from my birthday trip there in February. They make me smile every time I see them. 

Here is the recipe, paraphrased. The fish that is normally used for this dish in Hyderabad is not one I recognized or could locate a translation for, so I used my favorite fish, catfish. One large catfish should feed at least three hungry people, or one very lucky empty nester mom such as I for three days...plus the leftover sauce, which made a nice vegetarian rice dish on the fourth day. For a side dish, I made some simple saffron rice (basmati rice cooked with a couple of pinches of good saffron, a few dashes of cumin powder, and a handful of red lentils just for added texture). This is sooooo good! I hope you'll try it and tell me your impressions.

Spicy Fish Curry

Cut one good sized catfish into 1 - 2 inch thick slices (I don't like the deboned fillets; the bones seem to help keep the fish moist and impart more rich flavor). Wash the cut fish pieces and rub with salt and turmeric two or three times.

Put the tamarind pieces* into hot water and let soak, we will use the juice.

Cut one medium onion into small pieces. Chop green chilies (I used serrano, I think; they were just labeled green chilies at the Indian market) one or maybe two, if you want it spicy. I used one. You may want to remove some or all of the seeds if you don't want it too spicy. (I love spicy!).

Place the cut fish pieces into a medium size frying pan with the onions, green chilies, a tablespoon of turmeric powder, salt depending on how much fish you have, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red chilie powder if you want it even more spicy, a tablespoon of dhaniya powder (coriander powder), and 2 tablespoons of garam masala powder (available at Indian and sometimes other stores). Add three tablespoons of olive oil. Mix all of the above with your hands (I used disposable plastic kitchen gloves because of the hot peppers) so that the spices infuse the fish well. Pour in the tamarind water*.

The tamarind water should be enough so that all the fish pieces are slightly floating; the fish will steam in that liquid. Place the pan on the stove on high heat until it reaches a fast simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer about 15-20 minutes. Remove the lid and cook until fish is cooked through and the tamarind water is much reduced into a gravy-like sauce. Do not overcook fish. Serve with rice (traditional) or your favorite side dish.

*This is the correct form of tamarind to buy for this recipe:

It comes wrapped in a block like this; you just break off a few hunks and soak them for awhile in hot water. Maybe half an hour, until they are very well saturated and soft, and can be broken apart easily. For this recipe, we used nearly half a block, and probably 3-4 cups of hot water. Once it's well soaked, you stick your hands in there and squeeze it all up a bunch of times, separating the tamarind fruit flesh from the fibrous parts. Then you press it all through a sieve, and compost the stuff left behind. It doesn't take long. The end result is tamarind water.