Keralan Fish Curry
An amazing fish curry that is so full of flavour, warmth and spice. Enjoy with your choice of sides.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp groundnut oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 20 curry leaves
- 6 shallots finely sliced
- 4 cloves garlic finely sliced
- 1 fresh green chilli finely sliced (see Notes)
- 2.5cm piece of ginger finely sliced
- 1 tbsp chilli powder I use hot chilli powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 750g firm white fish cut into chunks, eg: cod, cod cheeks, haddock, basa, monkfish, monkfish cheeks
- 400g tin light coconut milk
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- a few sprigs of fresh coriander leaves only, chopped
To serve (optional):
- basmati rice
- naan bread
- poppadom crisps
- mango chutney
Instructions
- Heat the groundnut oil in a large saucepan on a high heat, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves and cook until the seeds start to pop (about 1 to 2 minutes).
- Add the shallot, garlic, chilli and ginger, and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes, or until softened.
- Mix the chilli powder and turmeric together with a splash of water, and stir into the pan. Fry for 1 minute, then add the fish, coconut milk and tomatoes.
- Season, bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked and the sauce has reduced.
- Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves and serve with your choice of optional sides.
Notes
- Make ahead – the curry can easily be made ahead a couple of days and kept in an airtight container in the fridge until you’re ready to reheat it on the hob.
- Green chilli – when reducing the recipe to make it for the 2 of us, I used a small green finger chilli and left the seeds in. I was expecting it to make the curry pretty hot, along with the hot chilli powder, but the end result was a nice heat that was full of flavour.
- This keralan fish curry recipe is easily adapted if you’re cooking for less or more people – when I made it the first time, I divided the ingredients by 3 and used 250g cod cheeks, to feed the 2 of us.