How our kitchen makes Goan fish curry

The dish guests ask about most at Talpona Sands is the simplest one on our menu: Goan fish curry with red rice, served at lunch every day. It comes from Mrs Fernandes’s notebook, and our chef, Anthony, makes it the same way she did.

It begins on the beach. At about 6.30 am, Anthony meets the canoes and chooses the fish for the day, usually kingfish, pomfret or mackerel, depending on the catch. The fish is cleaned in the kitchen, cut into thick steaks, rubbed with salt and turmeric and kept cold until noon.

The heart of the curry is the masala. Fresh coconut is grated and ground on a wet grinder with dried Kashmiri chillies for colour, a few spicy local chillies for heat, coriander seeds, cumin, turmeric, garlic and a piece of tamarind, until it becomes a smooth, bright red paste. This takes about fifteen minutes and cannot be hurried; a coarse masala gives a grainy curry.

In a clay pot, onions are softened in coconut oil, the masala is added with water and simmered for ten minutes, and then two or three pieces of kokum go in for sourness. The fish is added last and cooked gently for only five or six minutes, so it stays whole. The curry rests for half an hour before lunch, which lets the flavours settle. It is served with boiled red rice, a fried fish, a small vegetable dish and a piece of mango pickle. Guests who would like to watch it being made can join Anthony in the kitchen at 11 am on any weekday.