Dry curry with sardine fish

Dry curry with sardine fish (മത്തി  തേങ്ങാ  പീര )

This item is usually known as മത്തി പീര when prepared with sardine fish or മീൻ പീര when prepared with other types of fish. A typical Kerala dish that is easy to cook and a very nice combination with rice. For this preparation, you will need any small fish such as anchovies  (Natholi  or  Chooda) or small sardines.

Fishes are are a good source of calcium. Since this preparation uses small fishes such as sardines or anchovies, we don't even need to remove the bones. So that is more calcium rich.

Fish peera is always combination of coconut, Malabar tamarind (kudampuli or Garcinia Cambodia) and fish. In some places, people also uses dry fish to prepare the same dish. Common dry fishes used for peera preparation are dry shark, mathi (dry sardines)  and ayila (mackerel). This preparation goes well with tapioca (kappa puzhukku) or rice. Some  times we can use raw mango or bilimbi (irumban puli) instead of kudampuli.

Ingredients:

1) Sardine(Mathi)     1 kg (cleaned and cut in to 2 or 3 pieces)

2) Coconut                 1 cup, grated

    Green chilly           7 no chopped well

    Small onion            8 no,cut in to 4 pieces

    Turmeric powder   1 tsp

    Salt                         as desired

    Ginger                    cut in to small pieces

    Curry leaves          1 spring

    Malabar tamarind(kudam puli)     3 or 4 pieces as needed

3) Coconut oil    2 tbsp

Method of Preparation:

Clean the sardines and cut them into 2 or 3 pieces. Mix the sardine pieces with items under (2). Take all the items in to one clay pot. Add little water and cook it well. When it is well cooked, pour 1 table spoon of coconut oil in to the cooked dish. (Instead of using all the items as is, you can moderately grind them before mixing with the fish)