This is one of the nostalgic dry fish curry from my home town ,my fav one too.


About Anchovies:

Anchovies are a family (Engraulidae) of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.
A traditional method of processing and preserving anchovies is to gut and salt them in brine, allow them to mature, and then pack them in oil or salt. This results in a characteristic strong flavor and the flesh turns deep grey. Pickled in vinegar, as with Spanish boquerones, anchovies are milder and the flesh retains a white color. In Roman times, anchovies were the base for the fermented fish sauce garum. Garum had a sufficiently long shelf life for long-distance commerce, and was produced in industrial quantities. Anchovies were also eaten raw as an aphrodisiac. Today they are used in small quantities to flavor many dishes. Because of the strong flavor, they are also an ingredient in several sauces and condiments, including Worcestershire sauce, Caesar salad dressing, remoulade, Gentleman's Relish, many fish sauces, and in some versions of Café de Paris butter. For domestic use, anchovy fillets are packed in oil or salt in small tins or jars, sometimes rolled around capers. Anchovy paste is also available. Fishermen also use anchovies as bait for larger fish, such as tuna and sea bass.
The strong taste people associate with anchovies is due to the curing process. Fresh anchovies, known in Italy as alici, have a much milder flavor. In Sweden and Finland, the name anchovies is related strongly to a traditional seasoning, hence the product "anchovies" is normally made of sprats and also herring can be sold as "anchovy-spiced". Fish from the Engraulidae family is instead known as "sardell" in Sweden and "sardelli" in Finland, leading to confusion when translating recipes.

Ingredients:


Nethili karuvadu / Dry Anchovies - 250 gm / 10 oz
Tamarind - 1 tsp(if u have mango which gives enough tart no need to add Tamarind)
Salt
Green Chilly - 4 slit
Raw Green Mango - 1 cut lengthwise
Curry leaf - 1 sprig
Small Pearl onion - 2 cut in quarters



To grind:


Coconut - 1 cup
Chilly pd - 1 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Small Pearl onion - 2
Curry leaf - 1/2 sprig


Method:

Clean dry anchovies by soaking in water overnight , so u can easily remove the bones.Then remove bones or it won't be smooth while eating..........it's a time consuming and painful(neck, back, shoulders) job  but it's worth....Then clean with water and keep aside.


1.Grind all Ingredients in "to grind" list to a little coarse paste.

2.Pour in a ceramic/ clay pan(traditionally fish is cooked in these kinds of pan,if u don't have go with regular pan).Add Small Onions and Green Chillies .

3.Then add Curry leaf and mango.



4.Add grind ingredients.

5.Add Some More curry leaf for garnishing.



6.Now switch on the stove and let it come to Rapid boil, then lower the flame, cover and cook for 20 min, then switch off flame and let it sit for 20 min.


7.Then serve with hot white rice.