Fish Curry Masala

I go to an Indian store pretty frequently due to an addiction to Bollywood movies, and last time we were there I picked up a box of seasoning mix for Fish Curry Masala. I checked the ingredients and there was nothing vague like "spices" to cover for MSG, so I figured it was pretty safe to use. The brand is "MDH".

The instructions on the box say "Coconut fish curry: Clean 1/2 kg fish, apply salt and keep aside. Soak 30g coconut powder/milk in half a cup of water and add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 20g Fish Curry Masala and salt to taste. Chop 120g red onions finely and saute in 30g cooking oil in a flat pan till light golden. Add paste & stir for 5 min. Add 200 ml water. Simmer till the sauce reduces to half. Stir occasionally. Add fish and simmer till cooked."

What I did was use frozen haddock fillets, which were all stuck together. I tried soaking them in cold salted water to thaw them but they just got more stuck together. I added 4 teaspoons (20g) of the seasoning mix and 1/2 tsp turmeric to 1 can of coconut cream (pure - no added ingredients), then chopped an onion and fried it in 2 tablespoons of butter. When it was browned, I added the coconut cream/seasoning and let it simmer until it was thick, then added the fish, still stuck together, which I had roughly chopped into about 1.5" chunks. I covered the pan and let them simmer until the fish had thawed and I could break it apart, then let it simmer another 20 min. until the watery sauce was again thick (the fish had a lot of ice stuck to/between them!)

Despite all these problems, it turned out delicious! It was really good. Cooking the fish all that time didn't make it tough at all - it was tender and delicious!