I love watching cookery shows on TV.Well, being a food blogger don’t we all love this! One of my Favourite show is Aha Enna Rusi.  Chef – Jacob hosted this cookery show in one of the regional channels and he was quite famous for cooking in some exotic or shall I say, rather unusual sites. I have seen him cook near a water falls, inside a cave, on a railway track, in a plantation, in a orphanage, a temple and so on…, with local people watching him cook in front of the camera. I never missed this show that was and is still being aired on Saturdays at 1 pm on Sun TV.


Sadly, Chef Jacob, a person whom I admire greatly, passed away on November 4th last year and I was so shocked for days. I even cooked one of the recipes from hos book – Gram Dhal Chutney as a tribute to the chef who held a Guinness record for the world’s longest barbecue Marathon.

If you have noted the last sentence in the first para, I have mentioned that his show was and is still being aired on Saturdays at 1 pm on Sun TV. Yes, after he passed away, this popular cookery show is on a re-run . But somehow, the show is still not the same!

I have all his recipes from the show written down and while I was browsing through them a few days ago, I came across 2 types of Vegetarian fish curry recipes that he had cooked. I found the recipe that I am posting today to be easier and kinda looks like real fish in the gravy, so I made this for Blogging Marathon 31, Week # 3, themed –  Meatless dishes.


In his show, the Chef mentioned that this recipe is from the Chettinad cuisine. Chettinad cuisine is famous for its spices and tasty dishes and this one has started gaining popularity slowly.


Along with the Vegetarian fish curry I also made a vegetarian fish fry . They both looked and tasted good together….


For the Vegetarian Fish Curry

I used:

For the Vegetarian Fish
Besan – 1/4 cup
Rice flour – 1/4 cup
Chilli powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Sambar powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry
For the gravy
Tamarind extract- 1/2 cup or more depending on the sourness
Shallots- 10, peeled
Garlic pods – 5 numbers
Tomato-1, chopped
Sambar powder- 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder- 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves a few
Salt to taste
Oil- 2 teaspoons
Mustard- 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds-1/2 teaspoon
First let us make the vegetarian fish….
  1. Whisk together all the ingredients [except oil for frying :)] in a bowl.
  2. Slowly add water and make a batter which is of dosa batter consistency. It should not be watery. Keep aside for 10 minutes.
  3. Heat a pan and pour half the patter onto a heated griddle and cook for a few minutes. When the edges leave the sides,flip over gently and cook for a minutes and fold, cut into triangles as shown below

As you can see each piece has 3 triangles. You can separate them or fry as such. I separated the triangles. Let it dry out for some time. Mean while you can start the preparation of the gravy.
For the gravy….
  1. Heat oil in a pan and put in mustard,fenugreek seeds and curry leaves.
  2. When it splutter, put in onion and garlic and saute till onion is translucent.
  3. Put in tomato and cook till mushy.
  4. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together tamarind extract,sambar powder, chilli powder and salt.
  5. Once the tomato is mushy, add the above said tamarind extract and bring to boil.
  6. Cook till the raw smell of tamarind goes off . If the gravy is thick add water. The gravy has to be a little watery as the vegetarian fish will absorb the gravy and thicken it.
  7. Once done switch off from flame.
To serve….
  1. Just before you are to serve this fish curry, heat oil in a pan and fry the vegetarian fish triangles.
  2. Reheat the gravy gently and drop the vegetarian fried fish triangles and cook for a couple of minutes. Don’t mix to much else the fried fish will disintegrate.
  3. Serve immediately with streamed rice….
Vegetarian Fish fry…
I used the Kofta dough I made for the Vegetarian Nargisi Kota curry and shaped it into a fish. Coated the fish with semolina and chilled[not in freezer] in the fridge for an hour . Made a few slits marks on one side and placed black pepper for the eyes. Shallow fry the fish and it is ready to be served!!!!

Also take a look at the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM #31

Bon Appetit…

11 thoughts on “Chettinad Saiva Meen Kuzhambu | Chettinad Vegetarian Fish Curry & Vegetarian Fish Fry”

  1. Both the dishes seems to be so good PJ, that fish fry looks like fish!..:)..amazing you and Priya did the same dish, like almost planned. That surely makes it sound good right…

  2. That is such a unique way to make vegetarian fish.. Sounds delicious.
    Love your 'real' fish in the last click. Your pic reminds me of 'shrimp with eyes' that are serve in China 🙂

  3. PJ ..this is too good..love both the versions..loved reading about the show..will watch it, though it is sad the host is no more…but what a way to tribute..lovely.
    The fish in gravy is something like our Sindhi Chilean ji kadi..good job..Infactthese fantastic..loved those cute fishes.

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