Fish Curry Recipe

This Spicy and tasty Fish Curry is made with onions, tomatoes, spices and coconut. This one dish is renowned as one of the most favourite dish of many people around the world. Serve this curry with chapati, naan or roti as you prefer but our family favorite is with steaming plate of kerala red rice. Learn how to make a perfect basic fish curry with step by step pictures and video.

Fish curry

Fish Recipes are most popular posts in this blog. I have over 50 recipes using fish already posted with step by step pictures. Born and brought up in Kanyakumari which is known for its sea food cuisine. Fish takes part in our menu almost daily. We cook them in different style like this meen kuzhambu, malabar fish, fish fry and many more.

This recipe for fish curry is our basic and go to version. It has onions, tomatoes, minimum spices and coconut. Serve them with rice and you are literally in food heaven.

About Fish Curry

Fish curry is the most popular dish in many South Asian countries. You can make this curry in many different ways with coconut, without coconut, using coconut milk or even tamarind based fish curry.

This recipe for fish curry uses onions, tomatoes, coconut, spice powders to form a base masala which is used to thicken the curry. The recipe also uses tamarind which gives the sour taste which is very essential in a good tasting fish curry.

We use Freshly caught fish for making this curry. Fish is scaled, cleaned and chopped into pieces. We usually marinate it with little salt turmeric powder and lemon juice for minimum 10 minutes to remove the fishy smell from it. Traditionally we make fish curry in clay cookware which impart flavour and taste.

Watch Fish Curry Video

My Recipe for Fish Curry

Fish curry is one of the recipe which is easily adaptable to your taste buds and available ingredients. It is very easy to make if you understand how to balance the taste of this.

Fish curry taste great when it has the correct amount of spicy and sour taste. We like our curry spicy. So I add extra green chillies. The amount of tamarind is important too, taste and adjust it as your preference.

Onions and tomatoes are used taste and to provide thickness to the curry. Along with that coconut is added for flavour and thickening purpose. If you want to skip coconut, you can do it or check my no coconut fish curry or fish curry with coconut milk.

Try these delicious fish recipes

Goan Fish Curry
Anchovies Fish Curry
Sardine Fish Curry
Malabar Fish Curry
Mackerel Fish Curry

Fish Curry Ingredients

These are the Ingredients used for making masala for fish curry. The masala base is made with onions, tomatoes, fennel seeds, spice powder and coconut. These ingredients are stir fried in oil and ground into a paste. This adds thickness to the gravy.

Onions & Tomatoes - like all curries, this fish curry has onion tomato as base. I like to slice my onions for faster cooking. These provide a thickness to the curry and adds a sweet taste.

Coconut - like all south Indian curries this one also has coconut. You can use fresh, frozen or even desiccated coconut. Roast them with onions and tomatoes till light golden.

Spice Powders - I use kashmiri chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric in this. Instead of powder spices you can use them in whole. In that case, you can add 5 to 6 dry red chillies and 3 tbsp coriander seeds.

Fennel seeds - adds a refreshing minty aroma to the dish.

Ginger & Garlic - I used ginger garlic paste, you can add 1 inch piece of chopped ginger and 6 whole garlic cloves.

These are the ingredients which is added to the gravy. The variety of fish you can add in this curry is given below.

Fish - for fish curry you can use any variety of fish. Usually fish with bones still intact adds flavour to the curry. But if you prefer boneless you can use them too.

Onions, Tomato & Green chillies - small amount of onions and tomatoes is added to provide texture to the curry.

Tamarind - dried tamarind is soaked in water, squeezed to extract the pulp and used in the curry. Tamarind adds sourness so you can add as much as you prefer.

Coconut Oil - the one oil which I used when making any fish dishes including fish fry is coconut oil.

What kind of fish is good for curry?

Fish curry can be made with wide variety of fresh fish which is available in your place. This recipe can be customised and adapted to your preference. I have made this recipe over 100 times now and used many variety of fish, everything turned out great. Here are some options which I can share.

Mackerel - loved the flavour it gives the curry, but this fish tends to have more bones, so you have to be extra careful when eating.

King fish - usually we buy one medium size fish and ask our fishmonger to clean and chop it for us.

Seer Fish - easy to eat and very meaty. Best ever choice.

Sardines - this is what my husband prefers, it cooks faster and taste even better the next day.

Salmon - marinate it with some salt and turmeric powder before adding it to the curry which makes the chunky fish more flavourful.

Some other fish variety you can use are mahimahi, tilapia, basa, barramundi, cod, catfish. I would suggest you to use fish with bones because bones is where the flavour is.

How do you get the fish smell out of fish curry?

• Mix salt and turmeric in fish and leave to marinate for 10 mins. Rinse it well.
• Apply vinegar or lemon juice over fish and wash it well.
• Apply, salt, turmeric, lemon juice over fish and marinate for 10 mins. Now wash it well.
• Soak it in milk: Casein, a protein found in milk, will bind to the TMA and leave the fish smelling fresh as ever.
• Mixture of corn starch, salt and powdered turmeric. Apply this over fish and wash it well.
• Plain salt water can get rid of the fish smell.

If you love this recipe, you will definitely enjoy my Tandoori Fish.

How to Make Fish Curry (Stepwise Pictures)

Making Masala for Fish

1)Heat coconut oil in a claypot. Add in fennel seeds and saute it for a min. It should sizzle and flavour the entire oil.

2)Add in sliced onions and stir fry for another minute. 

3)Cook till onions turn translucent. It will take only one minute. 

4)Add in ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell leaves from it. Instead of ginger and garlic paste you can use chopped ginger and peeled whole garlic cloves.

4)Add in tomatoes and mix well. Chop the tomatoes roughly, don’t need to chop it fine.

5)Add in spice powders and saute for a minute. Instead of using spice powder, you can add whole spices like dry red chillies and coriander seeds. Check notes for tips.

6)Instead of using spice powder, you can add whole spices like dry red chillies and coriander seeds. Check notes for tips.

7)Add in grated coconut and roast for 4 to 5 minutes. I used fresh coconut, you can add frozen coconut or dried coconut (desiccated coconut).

8)now the coconut is well roasted.

9)Allow this mixture to cool for 10 minutes. Take the mixture in a blender.

10)Add in enough water and make it into a smooth paste. Set this aside till use. 

Making Fish Curry Sauce

11)Now let's make the fish curry. In the same kadai, add in coconut oil and let it heat Add in mustard seeds and crackle it.

12)Add in chopped onions and curry leaves. Saute till is golden.

13)Pour in the ground coconut masala and mix well. Stir fry in the oil for 5 to 6 minutes and Cook till oil separates. 

14)Season with salt.  You can use rock salt as well. 

15)Add in the sliced tomatoes and toss well. No need to saute the tomatoes till mushy. Let it remain whole. 

16)Pour in tamarind extract. For making the extract, take small lime size tamarind in a bowl, cover it with water and let it soak for 10 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind with your hands and extract the pulp. 

17)Now add enough water to form the gravy. Bring this to a boil and reduce the flame. 

18)Add in fish pieces and mix well.

19)Cook this on low medium heat for 10 minutes. 

20)Now the oil will float on top. Thats when you know your fish curry is ready. Taste and adjust seasoning.

21)Add in coriander leaves, cover with lid and let it sit for 30 minutes for the flavours to mingle together. 

22)Serve over rice. 

Expert Tips & Tricks

• Roast the coconut till golden and toasted for flavour. 
• Instead of spice powders like chilli and coriander. You can use whole spices like coriander seeds and dry red chillies.
• Instead of kashmiri chilli powder you can add regular chilli powder. 
• Make sure you grind the masala smooth which forms the base of the gravy. 
• you can use any fish variety, use fish with bone-in. 
• Cook the fish curry till oil separates which adds flavour.

FAQ

Which fish is best for curry?

you can use any variety of freshly caught fish to make fish curry. Fish like seer fish, mackerel, sardines, king fish, basa, tilapia can be used. Usually fish with bones still intact adds flavour to the curry. But if you prefer boneless you can use them too.

What are ingredients of fish curry?

Fish curry is made with onions, tomatoes, spice powders, coconut, curry leaves and whole spices. But you can make variations of fish curry like this Kerala fish curry, Village fish curry, Bengali fish curry and Andhra fish pulusu.

How do you clean fish for curry?

Freshly caught fish can be cleaned easily. First remove the fins, scales using the necessary equipments. Slit the fish in the belly area and remove the giblets. Some people like to use head when making curry. You can remove the head and tails if needed. Wash it really well, marinate it with salt, turmeric powder and lemon juice. You can check this video for clean instructions.

ecent fish curry.

This recipe needs no coconut as well.

What does fish curry taste like?

It taste spicy, tangy and it gets the flavour from the fish we add. It is thick and saucy. Taste amazing when paired with rice, idli or dosa.

How to serve fish curry?

Serve this curry or Fish masala with chapati, naan or roti as you prefer but our family favorite is with steaming plate of kerala red rice. You can enjoy with steamed basmati rice.

📖 Recipe Card

If you have any questions not covered in this post and if you need help, leave me a comment or mail me @[email protected] and I’ll help as soon as I can.

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