Thanjavur Fish Curry:

Oh, my favourite fish curry. My Mom often cooks fish curry with fish head, some fish and fish tail. I learnt from her that all the stocks from fish head to tail will go to the curry and its taste's very incredible. In India, we have maids to clean the fish head. Fish head is scary to clean. It took nearly took 30 minutes to clean it as I removed its eyes, tongue and other reddish parts. If you're scared to clean fish head, replace it with fish meats. Coconut is well blended with garlic, fennel seeds and cumin seeds. I love to make this curry from half of the fresh coconut. We all know it's not quiet easy to get flesh meat from the coconut shell.
Here's my secret.
Half coconut
Meat hammer
How to:
Preheat oven at 400 degree F. When the oven is hot enough after 5 minutes. Bake the coconut for 10 to 15 minutes or until coconut cracks. Make sure it shouldnt get burnt.
Wrap the baked coconut in a towel, and tap it with a hammer all over. This loosens the meat easily from the shell with less effort.
I met a stranger who's African-American in chinese store. She told me to choose red snapper as it has lot of meats with less bones. We all enjoyed lot with this curry.

Ingredients:
Red snapper fish or any fish : 1 lb
Onion : 1 big or shallots : 100gms
Roma tomatoes : 100 gms
Water : 1cup
Turmeric : 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder : 3 tsp
Red chilly powder : 2 tsp

Coconut paste
Garlic : 10
Coconut : 1/2 from the coconut shell
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
Fennel seeds(sanuf): 1tsp

Tamarind : one lemon-sized
Salt to taste

Seasonings:
Olive Oil : 1/4 cup (you need more oil for fish curry to give yummy taste, gingelly oil is highly prefered. I used olive oil as it's not available in our indian store nearby)
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Urad dal: 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 10

Method:
Wash the fish with turmeric to get rid of fishy smell. Blanch tamarind in hot water.
Chop onion and tomato into fine. Blend fenel seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and coconut with less water to make to smooth thick paste. Extract tamarind juice after 10 minutes.
Heat oil in a wide vessel. Do the above seasonings. Fry chopped onion till transparent. Add the coconut paste and stir fry for few minutes.
Add tomatoes, turmeric, red chilly powder, less salt and coriander powder. Fry for few minutes.
Add tamarind juice with one cup of water and boil for 15 minutes in medium low flame. Finally add fish and salt to taste and cook till done. I think it'll cook for 10 minutes.
Close the lid as soon as fish is cooked to trap the aroma from the curry. Taste great either if u eat immediately or after one hour.