Coorgi Meen Curry- no pun intended!

Fishy Connection

Fish is something that I grew up eating a lot. I come from a Bengali family where it is a staple of our diet. Though we usually end up eating more of river fish as the state is crisscrossed with rivers and ponds. Sea-fish is something that I was introduced to much later. Pomfret is perhaps the one that I can recall from my earliest memories of sea-fish. It was introduced when my mother tried recipes shared by other ladies in the colony where we lived. One of my favourites was a Goan pomfret curry which I shall try to replicate from memory later.

Sea-fish and See Fish

Seer fish (also called surmai I believe) is a much-loved sea-fish in Southern India where the steaks are meaty, boneless and lend well to both fries and curries. The Coorgi Meen Curry recipe which I am sharing here was introduced by my friendly neighbour from upstairs who got a book gifted by her husband. He hails from Coorg which is a very fascinating and different part of South India. It has an interesting background story of settlers from Alexander’s army. I don’t know if that is entirely true but there are enough links on google to read up more about the myths, legends and history of Coorg. It’s diverse people, culture and cuisine is quite unique in a way.

Toggling the memory cells further

My earliest memory of Coorg was a homestay in a small coffee plantation in Madikeri with my parents and brother. It was run by an elderly couple who provided home-cooked meals as well. I remember tasting the Coorgi pandi curry for the first time then and the lady of the house shared the recipe with my mother then..but I don’t remember making it anytime. I hope to try that too sometime later!

Back to the Future

For now, this post is about the Coorgi Fish curry, having fun cooking with a friend and sharing a meal with others over a table of joyful conversations. So, without much more meandering, let me share the recipe. It was delicious. We had it with Appams. Best with hot steaming rice/akki rotis I believe.

Do check out the Youtube video for more details. Have fun watching and hopefully cooking. 🙂 https://youtu.be/i1_COqosQoM