Here in Peshawar, Pakistan all the way up in to Afghanistan hardly anyone uses a lot of masala.
That is the norm here. However lots of onions and garlic is used along with turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala is used in nearly everything here in Peshawar. Enough said, It is time to start cooking.
Any type of fresh or frozen fish only can be used. I used 1 kilo or 1 lb. of fish. If it needs scaling, take the front end of the spoon and work from the tail on all the way down to the head to descale this fish.
I used 4 tbs of white vinegar to kill the smell and clean the fish in 1 cup of water and rinsed very well.
I added 1/4 cup of cooking oil to a wok or cast iron skillet and fried all of my cleaned fish in batches of 3 or 4 until they are opaque so they can hold its shape.
I set this aside on a plate and repeat until all are done. Now it’s time to start the curry base.
I added 8 cloves of garlic with 1 small piece of ginger cleaned and peeled. I pounded this until it was a pulp then set this aside on a plate.
I added 1 pinch each to mortar and pestle black pepper corns, Garam Masala and coriander seeds. I ground it to a coarse powder.
I chopped 1 onion and added 1 pinch either pink salt or kosher salt. I fried the onion until it was brown.
I cut 1 green chili and removed the seeds and vein to contol the heat of the chili before I added it to the onions.
I added the ginger and garlic next. I added the contents from the mortar and pestle with 1 pinch each of red chili powder and turmeric.
I stirred and added 2 pinches of kasoori methi and 1 chopped tomato and cooked it til it was mushy.
I readded the fish back to the wok or skillet and covered for 6 more minutes.
It is done at this point and ready to enjoy with either rice, pasta, or naan.
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