Red Fish Curry Masala (Kottayam)

Kottayam style is the red, sour, coconut-free one. It is soured with kudampuli rather than tamarind and is far more chilli-forward than Malabar fish curry, which uses coconut milk and a gentler blend. The two are not interchangeable.

Kudampuli, also called Malabar tamarind or kodampuli, is a smoked dried fruit rind used to sour Kerala fish curry. It is essential to the Kottayam style — ordinary tamarind gives a different, blunter sourness. Soak two or three pieces before adding.

Firm-fleshed fish that holds up to a long simmer — seer, kingfish, sardine and karimeen are all traditional. Delicate fish tends to break up in the reduction.

Yes, by design. Kottayam meen curry is a hot, sour curry and the blend reflects that, unlike the coconut-milk Malabar style. We can grind it milder to order, though it moves the dish away from the traditional taste.

The kudampuli keeps releasing sourness and the masala continues to penetrate the fish as it stands. Kerala households routinely cook it a day ahead, and a clay pot helps.

Yes. It is made from spices, dal and salt only, with no animal-derived ingredient and no anti-caking agent.

No. No MSG, no artificial flavour, no colour and no preservative. The flavour comes from roasting the whole spices properly, which is also why it has a shorter shelf life than a supermarket packet.

It is blended and ground in small batches from whole spices rather than produced in a long factory run and warehoused. There is no filler, no colour and no preservative in it, so it smells of the spices themselves - and it has a shorter useful life than a packet, which is the honest trade-off.

Yes, in small batches. Ground spice loses its aroma within a few months, so holding large quantities of a finished blend would defeat the point.