Chettinad Fish Curry (without Cocunut)

Ingredients
Fish : appr 1 kg
Small onions : 10 -15 nos or Big onions : 2 med sized, chopped finely
Tomatoes : 3 med sized,choppped roughly
Garlic : about 15 flakes,
Corriander powder : 3-4 tsps
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
Fennel seeds : 2 tsps
Chilli powder : 4 tsps
Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp
Tamarind : med lemon sized, soaked in 1/2 cup of water.
Curry leaves : a few sprigs
Black gram dhal : 1/2 tsp
Whole pepper corns : 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds : 1/2 tsp
Oil : 3 Tblspns
Salt as per taste

Method
Clean the fish and cut it into slices.
Apply some salt, 1 tsp turmeric powder and keep it aside.
Heat oil in a kadai, add the black gram dhal, fenugreek seeds, and pepper corns.
After they start spluttering (about 1 min), add the chopped onions, pinched curry leaves and garlic.
Fry till the onions give out an aromatic smell and become translucent (about 5-10 mins).
Grind together the corriander seeds, cumin, fennel,turmeric and chilli powder.
Add a little water to the ground powders and add it to the onions.
Fry for a few minutes.
Now add the tomatoes.
Fry till the tomatoes are pulpy.
After this point add about 3 cups of water to this,( the amount of water may be varied depending about how thick or thin you want it to be).
Make a thick paste out of the soaked tamarind.
Discard the tamarind pieces and and add the paste to the kadai.
Let this mixture boil on low flame for some 15 minutes.
Now the mixture would have reduced considerably and will be quite thick.
Add some water if you want.
Then add the fish pieces and some salt (keep in mind that you have already added salt to the fish) as required .
The fish will cook very quickly in a matter of five minutes.
Don't overcook the fish as they will break.

Serve it hot with rice.