Kaane Masala Fry

I had tasted this dish in a restaurant in Kundapur and fell in love with it immediately so much that I asked the waiter for the recipe :) Of course, I did not remember the recipe word to word and cooked my own version.
We dont get as big Kaane fish ( also called Nogli ) here so managed with smaller ones. This fish is probably called Lady fish in English (not sure though - Google came up with some results which said that)




Method
1. Clean the fish, cut off the head and the tail. Make slits in the fish for masala to sink in. Marinate the entire fish with salt, turmeric and chilli powder. 
2. Grind together 1/2 onion sliced, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 3 red chilli, 5-6 garlic flakes, 1 marble sized tamarind, a pinch of asafoetida, 1 tsp turmeric and 1 inch ginger.


3. Add this masala to the fish and keep it aside for 1 hour.
4. Take a pan and add 2 tbsp coconut oil. Add 1 small onion finely clopped and saute till translucent. Add 1 twig of curry leaves. Now add the fish along with the paste and let it cook on low flame. Dont stir too much. Let the fish cook in the masala. It takes around half an hour for the raw taste of the masala to go away.