KADAMBA / KANAVA MASALA /SQUID FISH CURRY

Hi,

Sea has lot of creatures in it that we can cook and we were much more unaware of many .

Squid fish is one among the yummy species which I was totally unaware even after coming to Chennai.One day in market I saw them and surprised that they are selling octopus ( it looked like that to me :)).

Then I surfed in net and found actually they are squid ( kadamba / kanava) and not octopus , My friend Saranya cooked this gravy for us during her visit to our home .I copied the recipe from her and tried next week itself.Though the squid fish looks very weird the taste was so yummy and there is no fish odor in that.It just tasted like mutton.

The cleaning part is little tricky but easy, I suggest once you finished cleaning dispose the waste immediately out of your house as the waste from squid fish is very smelly and also it starts leaving water .So dispose the waste of squid as quick as possible.

Other than that the fish tastes heaven , spicy, yummy and very easy to cook.

I have given step by step cleaning pictures also for you to clean easily.

Lets see the recipe,

INGREDIENTS :

Squid fish – 1/2 kg.

Onion – 2 nos ( big).

Tomato – 3 nos ( medium sized).

Ginger – 2”piece – 1 no.

Garlic – 8 pods.

Cinnamon/pattai – 1” piece – 2 nos.

Cloves / krambu – 3 nos.

Fennel / Saunf / Sombu – 1/2 tsp.

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp.

Chilli powder – 1 tsp.

Coriander powder – 2 tsp.

Chicken masala / Mutton masala – 1 tsp.

Salt – as required.

Oil – 1 tsp.

Mustard – 1/4 tsp.

Curry leaves – a sprig.

Coriander leaves – a bunch.

NEEDCLARIFICATION ABOUT MY MEASUREMENTS? PLS CLICK TO CLARIFY.

METHOD:

SQUID FISH CLEANING :

1. Squid fish has two parts , outer layer and inner layer with wings and a string (refer picture).

   

   SQUID FISH
2. We are going to cook only outer layer . The inner layer is waste it must be removed.
3. Pull the wings part from the outer layer , then remove the string also( looks like transparent plastic stick).

   

   REMOVED INNER LAYER AND STRING FROM OUTER LAYER

4. Wash and clean the outer layer well with running water to remove the dirt .
5. Peel the pink colour skin also and now white tube like part is edible which we are going to cook.
   
6. Chop the cleaned squid into thin circles and marinate it with little salt , turmeric powder and keep aside till cooking.
   
   
   
   

COOKING : 

 

1. Chop onion,tomato to small pieces , grind ginger , garlic to paste.
2. In pressure cooker heat oil followed by mustard, saunf ,cinnamon , cloves and saute in low flame.When saunf starts browning add onions , curry leaves , ginger garlic paste and fry till onions turns golden brown.
   
3. Now add tomatoes and fry till mushy , now its time to add our spice powders – add chilli powder , coriander powder , chicken or mutton masala and fry for a minute.
   
   
   
   
4. Add chopped squid , 1/4 cup water ( optional) ,salt ,mix well for a minute and close the pressure cooker ,cook for 3 whistles.
   
   
   
   
5. When pressure subsides open the cooker ,garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice,chapathis,pulkas,dosa of your choice.
   
6. If the gravy looks too watery you can boil for 5 more mins till you get required consistency.
   

NOTES :

1. Squid fish itself will leave water while cooking , so adding water while cooking is optional .As I had a fear of burning I added 1/4 cup water.
2. I want the gravy to be very thick so I boiled till I get thick , you can remove from flame as per your requirement.
3. Don't reduce ginger garlic quantity , you must add around 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste.Also be generous in adding onions and coriander leaves,As they add flavour to curry.
4. Cleaning of squid is very important so take time and clean properly.
5. Instead of chicken or mutton masala you can add garam masala too ( I added chicken masala).
   

You can also try below sea food recipes,

1. Chettinad prawn kuzhambu.
2. Traditional fish kuzhambu.
3. Roasted masala fish kuzhambu.
4. Dry fish gravy.

HAPPY COOKING!!