Halibut with Kolhapuri Thecha Fish Curry

Kolhapur is a region in Maharashtra, India, known for many wonderful temples and palaces, botanical gardens and wildlife sanctuary, and not the least of all the inimitable Kolhapuri Chappal - sandals that were my weakness as a youngster, I couldn't have enough of them.

Kolhapuri Thecha is this fiery chili concoction that can double as a sauce/paste as well as chutney/dip.

Here, in Halibut with Kolhapuri Thecha, I use it as a rub and cooking sauce which is not for the weak-stomached or the weak-kneed eater.

There's habañero and ghost pepper, which just rip the insides out for me so I stay away from them; but I enjoy jalapeño and Serrano just fine, in small doses. I went a little easy on the red chilies with this Thecha but adjust the heat to your taste. The other adult in the house relishes way more heat than I can handle, so, I enjoy making this once in a while, not often.

Simply rub the halibut chunks with this, and, add it to the sauteing veggies as well to layer the flavor in this simple fish curry. There is still some pristine Alaskan fish that the other adult caught over summer that I wanted to cook up in an interesting way.

This Red Chili thecha can be made with fresh red chilies, or even green chilies. Simply roast the chilies first to enhance the flavor. I went with using dry red chilies as they were handy.


Ingredients
For Kolhapuri Thecha:
8 dry red chilies
8 large garlic cloves
½ medium onion, diced (optional)
2 Tbsp dry roasted peanuts
2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste


Halibut or other favorite fish cut into chunks
Vegetables - red bell peppers, red onions, red tomatoes - chopped
a few Tbsp vegetable oil as needed
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp mustard seeds


Preparation

1. Soak the dry red chilies in the lemon juice and a little bit of warm water to reconstitute it for grinding
2. Combine the Kolhapuri thecha ingredients and grind to a fine paste, including the soaking lemon water
3. Rub the fish chunks with some of the thecha paste, reserving some for cooking
4. Heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, when they pop, add the cumin seeds, then add the remaining thecha paste, saute for a few minutes till oil separates
5. Add the chopped veggies, stir well, and saute till veggies soften a bit
6. Then add in the fish chunks rubbed with the chili thecha, splash some water as needed, cover and cook till fish is done -- internal temperature is about 145 °F and is flaky and opaque
7. Serve warm with a side of rice

Bisi Bela Huli Millet

"Bisi bela huli anna" translates to "hot lentils tamarind rice" in Kannada, a typical vegetarian dish that is out of this world when done right. Instead of the "anna" which is the rice part, this dish is made with millet.

This may not be the conventional method of preparation here, but, this is what I like to do: Simply add the chopped veggies, lentils, millet, tamarind paste, spices, salt to taste, in a pressure cooker, with enough water to cook it through. When cooked and ready, add some fresh tempering and garnish, and serve hot, with a generous dripping of ghee.

Most of the time, I use my home-made Sambar powder for the spice mix and flavoring, but this time I went with store-bought mix of spice powders that are easier to find at the local grocery stories.

Ingredients
Pressure cooker:
3 cups assorted chopped veggies: eggplant, onions, squash, peppers, broccoli stems, carrots (optional: peas)
½ cup Tuvar dal (split pigeon peas)
1.5 cups pearl millet
2 Tablespoons tamarind concentrate (I use Vietnamese Sour Soup Mix)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoon Madras curry powder
2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon red hot chili powder (optional)
salt to taste
enough water to immerse the contents and build up pressure - about 5 cups

Garnish: ghee-roasted cashews

Tempering:
¼ tsp urad dal
¼ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp mustard seeds
3 or 4 curry leaves
1 tsp vegetable oil

Preparation:

1. Pressure cook: Combine the ingredients for the pressure cooker and cook till done; the cooked dish will be mushy with a porridge-like consistency
2. Tempering: Heat oil in a small pan, add urad dal and allow it to turn a mild golden brown, add the mustard seeds and let them pop; cover with a perforated lid if preferred as the mustard seeds will spatter all over when they pop; add the fresh curry leaves, remove from heat and add to the bisi bela huli millet from the pressure cooker
3. Garnish: Heat some ghee in a small pan and roast some unsalted raw cashews till golden brown, toss in Curry leaves if available

Millet Meal Polenta Patties

Pearl millet ground up to a coarse meal is something I keep handy. It works great as a substitute for rice meal in some of the Indian dishes. This time, equal parts millet meal and corn meal came together with a dollop of ground lentils to make this polenta.

In case this is sounding complicated, the recipe is very close to Arisi Upma Kozhakattai, only, instead of 2 cups of rice idlee rava as called for in that recipe, I substituted 1 cup millet meal, plus 1 cup corn meal.

Once the thick porridge-like Upma/Polenta is made, roll into a log and pack it in foil, refrigerate it till it sets. I left it in the fridge the previous night, then cooked it for dinner the following evening.

Simply slice up this log when ready, pan cook both sides till brown and the insides are warm. Dust the slices with some chickpea flour before pan-frying to get the extra crispness and brownness, if preferred.

Saute some onions, peppers, tomatoes, and any other favorite veggies. Serve these Millet Meal Polenta Patties topped with the veggies, some feta, plus chopped kale, chopped celery leaves, and chopped spring onions.

Since some yellow pear tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, kale, and spring onions are still alive in my home garden, now in mid-Autumn, I went with these, but, any combination of veggies would work just as well.