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    Goan fish curry

    xitt codi (fish curry rice, Konkani)

    Goa's everyday fish curry: fresh coconut ground with dried red chillies, coriander, cumin, garlic, ginger and turmeric, pressed for its spiced milk, simmered thick and soured with tamarind. Eaten with rice as xitt codi. The recipe is Gilda Mendonsa's, from The Best of Goan Cooking.

    Ink and watercolor illustration of Goan fish curry with small fish pieces partly submerged in orange coconut gravy, green chillies and onion.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    3
    Preparation
    30 min
    Cooking
    45 min
    Total
    1 h 15
    Difficulty
    Moderate

    Equipment

    • Blender; fine sieve or muslin
    • Deep pan
    Servings3

    Ingredients

    • Fish

    • Spiced coconut milk

    • To finish

    • To serve

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Wash the fish, pat dry, and mix with salt, the green chillies and the onion. Set aside.

    2. Put the coconut, spices, garlic, ginger, turmeric and warm water in the blender in two batches. Blend, then press the mixture through a fine sieve to extract the spiced coconut milk.

      Why This is how fresh coconut milk is made: the flavour of the spices goes into the milk and the fibre is discarded.

    3. Return the pressed coconut to the blender with another ½ cup of warm water, blend and sieve again, so that all the milk is extracted.

    4. Cook the coconut milk in a deep pan over a medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until it thickens.

      Timer · 30 min30:00

    5. Add the fish with its onion and chillies, and the tamarind pulp, to the boiling sauce. Stir gently and add salt if needed. Simmer until the curry has reduced to about half and the fish is cooked. Serve hot with rice.

      Timer · 10 min10:00

    Substitutions

    • Fresh coconut → Frozen grated coconut. Tinned coconut milk with the spices ground to a paste is a quicker, less traditional route.
    • Fish → Prawns (Mendonsa's alternative); Gomantak Times adds that okra, raw mango or pumpkin also work.

    Common mistakes

    • Adding the fish before the sauce has thickened: it overcooks by the time the curry reduces.
    • Stirring hard after the fish goes in: the slices break.

    Storage & reheating

    Like many curries it is good the next day. Cool quickly, refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 2 days, reheating once until boiling.

    Safety

    Contains fish (or crustaceans if made with prawns). Reheat leftovers only once.

    Allergens

    Fish

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Dietary

    gluten-free · dairy-free

    Fish-curry-rice

    Gomantak Times calls the fish curry the most popular in Goa and an everyday staple, eaten with rice: Goans call the meal xitt codi in Konkani. The curry is sweet, tangy and spicy; the paper notes that part of Goa's hot-and-sour taste comes from the Portuguese use of vinegar, although this curry is soured with tamarind.

    [1]

    Pressing the coconut

    Fresh grated coconut is blended with the whole spices and warm water and squeezed through a sieve twice, so that the spices flavour the milk itself. The milk then cooks for about half an hour until it thickens before the fish goes in, and the curry is reduced by half.

    [1]

    How it connects

    Place

    • origin Goa In preparation

    Story

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    Sources

    1. Recipe: Goan fish curry — Gomantak Times; recipe courtesy of 'The Best of Goan Cooking' by Gilda Mendonsa verified
    2. Cooking your food — Food Standards Agency (UK), 2017 verified

    Draft — sources being checked · Last reviewed