Nethili Meen Kulambu

நெத்திலி மீன் குழம்பு – Nethili Meen Kulambu – Anchovy Fish Curry

Nethili meen kulambu is one of our family’s favorite kuzhambu. I didn’t get fresh anchovy for a long time, finally got the fish and cooked. Anchovy fish tastes good but takes more time to clean. Here I gave detailed directions for cleaning as well. I prepare fresh masala for meen kulambu every time but this time I used pre-prepared homemade masala. My son like puli kulambu but never like the traditional meen kulambu with fresh masala, so I tried this type of meen kulambu. This kuzhambu tastes awesome and it takes very less time too. Bachelors and entry level cooking ladies can also easily prepare this curry.

Ingredients for Nethili Meen Kulambu

Nethili meen (Anchovy) – 1/2 kg
Small onion – 1 cup (finely chopped)
Tomato – 1 big
Tamarind – small lemon size
Sesame oil – 1/4 cup
Curry leaves – 1 spring
Homemade masala – 2 tbs
Chilli powder – 2 tbs
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt as needed

Cleaning Instructions

Transfer the entire fish into a big bowl.
Rinse the fish in water for three times.
Take one fish and cut the head then pull out the intestine (black color thin strip).
And also cut the tail then rinse in running water.
Follow the same directions for all the fish.
Now add some rock salt over the fish.
Scrub the fish with salt to remove the stickiness.
Give a final rinse to fish to remove salt.

Directions

Soak the tamarind for 30 minutes in water.
Extract tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind.
Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions, curry leaves.
After the onion sautéed for a while add chopped tomato.
Stir fry the tomato until mushy.
Add the masala, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt.
Mix everything well and add tamarind extract.
Adjust the curry consistency (water level, salt level).
When you see bubbles, add fish and mix gently.
Cook the curry for 5 minutes.
Reduce the flame into low and cook until oil comes out.
Switch off the flame.
Nethili meen kuzhambu ready.
Serve the fish curry with rice/ idly.

Notes

You may follow traditional meen kuzhambu method/masala for Nethili meen too.
You can scratch the fish scales using knife but that makes fish to collapse easily.
I used clay pot for this recipe and you can use any type pot.