Fish Curry using Coconut Milk - No grinding

This post has been long due. Today we had a fish meal at home and I was finally able to take some pictures of the fish curry I made. My ancestors in Mangalore might be rolling in their graves if they heard that the masala for the fish was not ground. A typical Mangalorean fish recipe entails finely grinding whole spices - long and short chillies, whole piece of turmeric, tamarind, coriander, mustard and cumin seeds. All these spices and freshly grated coconut are ground either on a stone or in a worst case scenario a mixie. Using powders thus is totally out of question.
I obviously do not have a grinding stone here in Atlanta, but I normally use a mixie and grind whole spices for the masala. So when a good friend asked for a recipe without grinding, I was wondering how it would turn out. I'm glad to say that the gravy got rave reviews from my husband who is a very tough critic.


Ingredients
2 Pomfrets: gutted,cleaned and cut width wise into pieces
Onion: 1 Small, thinly sliced
Tomato: 1
Ginger Garlic Paste: 1 tsp
Chilli Powder (I use the extra hot variety) : 4 tsp
Coriander Powder: 2 tsp
Cumin Powder: 1/4 tsp
Tamarind Paste: 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
Cilantro: for garnishing (optional)
Coconut Milk: 1 Can
oil: 2 tsp

Kitchen Item Required
A broad thick bottomed vessel to cook the fish in
A bowl to mix all the powders in

Method

1)In a bowl, mix in all the powders (chilli, turmeric, coriander, cumin) and the tamarind water. Add hot water to the tamarind paste to get tamarind water. The resulting mix should not be too watery. Just make a thick paste and keep aside
2)Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel and when hot add onions. Fry onions till they turn golden brown.
3)Add ginger garlic paste and stir for 10-15 seconds.
4)Now add the paste from step 1 and fry the masala on medium high heat for about a minute till the spices are nicely roasted but not burnt. Add tomato and stir.
5)Now add the coconut milk into the mixture and bring to boil. Keep stirring the milk so it does not curdle up.
6)Add water if required only and bring the gravy to boil.Add salt. Taste the gravy to see if anything is required. If you need more sourness, you can add a little bit of vinegar.
7)Now add the cleaned fish and bring to another boil. Switch off the stove.
Fish cooks very fast. It will split up into pieces if you stir it or cook it too long. So handle it delicately.
8)Serve hot with rice.