Sareng Thongba (Manipuri Catfish Curry)

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Sareng Thongba (Manipuri Catfish Curry)

Sareng Thongba (Manipuri Catfish Curry) is a traditional Indian recipe (from Manipur) for a classic curry of catfish pieces in a spiced base of onion, Hooker chives and chillies with peas. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Indian version of: Manipuri Catfish Curry (Sareng Thongba).

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

30 minutes

Total Time:

45 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry Spice Recipes Herb Recipes Fish Recipes Vegetable Recipes Indian Recipes

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Sareng (Helicopter Catfish or Wallago Catfish) is a key ingredient in many Manipuri dishes. This is a feast dish and is one of the most common dishes in Manipuri cuisine.

Ingredients:

2 Onions, coarsely chopped
2 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tsp hot chilli powder
1 bunch of Coriander leaves
2 pieces of dried Sweet Lemon peel
2 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp ground Coriander seeds
1/2 tsp Asafoetida (Hing)
3-5 dry Bay leaves (Tejpata)
1 bunch Hooker chives (Maroi napakpi) with roots, chopped
1 bunch Chinese chives (Maroi nakuppi), chopped
Salt, to taste
1 tsp Turmeric powder
500g Sareng (helicopter catfish or wallago catfish), washed, cleaned and cut into small pieces
180g (1 cup) Peas
2 Tomatoes, washed and diced

Method:

Place a wok or kadhai over medium-high heat. Once hot add the mustard oil. Scatter over the asafoetida then add the bay leaves and fry for a few seconds. Now add the Hooker chives, Chinese chives, Onion and ginger Ginger. Fry, stirring occasionally until softened (about 5 minutes).

Stir in chilli powder, lemon peel, coriander powder and fry for a few seconds. Then add the turmeric powder and stir to combine.

At this point add the peas and chopped tomatoes, stir to incorporate and cook for a few minutes.

Now you can stir in the fish pieces. Make sure that all the other ingredients are mixed really well before you add the fish. Fry the mixture with the fish for 3-4 minutes, stirring well so that the fish does not stick to the pan and it's coated with the spices and other ingredients.

Add 375ml (1 1/2 cups) of water (preferably hot water from washing white rice) for the gravy then bring to a boil. Cover the pan with a lid and let everything cook on high heat for 10 minutes.

Remove the lid and let the curry simmer until the gravy thickens to your liking (stir occasionally during this time). Season with salt to taste then continue cooking for 4-5 minutes over low heat).

Take off the heat, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice.