For those who don't have any idea about the term "Maasi" it is the Dry Maladives Tuna Fish it is also known as "Umbalakada", Appearance can be deceiving is the right phrase for this dry maladives fish, Once it's powdered form added to a dish gives out an unique flavour. It's the staple ingredient used in Srilanka & Maldives, these pieces of tuna are processed by means of boiling, smoking and sun-drying until they acquire a wood-like appearance, This helps in storing the fish for long time.. Since the fish is rock hard, At home it is hand pounded using a big iron Motar pestle like the one below and made into bits and pieces, later which is ground into powder in mixie and stored in large quantity in air tight box. Phew! I know It's a time consuming process, So the exporters have found out we have become tooo lazy for pounding and grinding, Now a days we get Maasi powder in small packets at super markets here in chennai! I've got them from spencers & niligiris.
P.S. Directly Attemping to grind the rock hard piece in mixie will end up with broken mixe blade! :P
Ok! So moving on to the recipe.
Prep time: 5-7 Mins
Cooking Time: 10 Mins
Serves: 3
Ingredients:
Onion - 2 medium sized Sliced
Tomato - 2 medium sized Sliced
Coconut milk - 1 cup [Thick] & 1/2 cup [Thin]
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Green chilli - 1 slit
Curry leaves - few
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Maasi Powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Method:
- Grind coconut and squeeze milk and keep it ready
- Heat pan, Add oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves & green chilli
- once spluttered add onion and sautee until translucent, Add tomatoes and stir.
- Now add red chilli powder and turmeric powder and satuee for a min
- Pour in the coconut milk and allow it to boil for about 2-3 mins
- Now sprinkle the maasi powder and salt give it a good stir, allow it to boil for a minute or so and switch it off. Serve it hot with idiyappam!
Notes:
If you don't find time to squeeze coconut milk, you can very well use coconut milk powder [ 4-5 tbsp ] mix it with some water and add it to the curry. Though the flavour might change, it still tastes good :) I've tried it when i'm running out of time!