South African fish curry also known as Mchuzi Wa Samaki is a delicious flavourful fish curry cooked in a spicy coconut milk sauce. The curry can be served with turmeric rice.
African Fish Curry
This is a delicious south african fish curry recipe. It is flaky fish cooked in a coconut milk sauce. Delicious and mild and taste just amazing. I served it with fragrant turmeric rice and it was yum.
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About African Fish Curry
Delicious African fish curry also known as Mchuzi Wa Samaki in Africa is one of the most popular and tasty fish curry you could ever make. It is made with onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and basic spice powders.
Searing the fish first in oil makes it more flavourful. The curry base itself is simple to make, it all starts by sauteing onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes with spices. The curry is finished with coconut milk which gives the required creamyness to the curry.
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Watch South African Fish Curry
African Fish Curry Ingredients
- Fish Pieces
- Oil
- Onions. Tomatoes, Ginger & Garlic
- Curry Leaves
- Green Chillies
- Spice Powders
- Tamarind Pulp
- Salt & Sugar
- Coconut Milk
- Coriander leaves
How to Make African Fish Curry
Pre-preparation - Soak tamarind in water for 10 mins. Squeeze and extract all the juices. Apply salt and pepper on fish pieces and mix well. Set aside.
Frying Fish - Heat oil in a pan, place fish in oil and sear on both sides, remove it and set aside.
Make Masala base - Now in the same oil, add onions and cook till golden brown. Add ginger and garlic and saute for couple of mins. In goes tomatoes and tomato puree and cook till oil separates. curry leaves and mix well. Add in spice powders and a little water to make sure the spices dont burn. Now add in tamarind juice, salt and sugar and mix well.
Make African fish curry - Add in coconut milk and mix well. Bring it to a boil. Add the fish pieces back in and simmer it for 10 mins. Garnish with Coriander leaves and mix well. Serve with rice.
How to Make African Fish Curry (Stepwise Pictures)
Marinating & Frying Fish
1)Take fish pieces in a bowl, season with salt and pepper.
2)Mix salt and pepper into the fish and mix well. Allow it to marinate for 10 minutes.
3)Place the fish in oil and fry for 2 minutes on each side.
4)Now the fish is fried well.
5)Remove the fried fish to a plate and set aside.
Saute onions and tomatoes
6)In the same oil. Add in chopped onions. Instead of onions, you can use chopped shallots too.
7)Saute the onions till golden brown.
8)Add in grated garlic and ginger. Cook this for 2 minutes till fragrant.
8)Now add in chopped tomatoes and tomato puree.
9)Add in curry leaves and cook tomatoes for 3 to 4 minutes till the tomatoes get mushy.
Making Masala Base
10)Now add in all the spice powders. Here I am using turmeric, chilli, coriander powder, curry powder, black pepper and garam masala.
11)Since this has lots of spice powders, you have to add some water so the spice powders doesn't burn.
12)Cook the spice powders with the masala and water till raw smell leaves.
13)Pour in tamarind water and mix well.
14)Cook this till oil separates.
15)Now add in salt to taste.
16)Add in coconut milk.
17)Add in sugar. This balance the taste.
18)Mix this well. Cook on low heat.
Adding in fish
19)Now add in fried fish and mix well.
20)Mix the fried fish into the curry.
21)Cover and cook on low heat.
22)Now the curry is cooked.
23)Add in coriander leaves and mix well.
24)Serve hot with rice.
Expert Tips
- use any firm fleshed white fish for taste and better texture.
- You can use fresh coconut milk or use canned coconut milk.
- Make sure to cook on medium heat so the spices doesn't burn.
- You can use canned tomatoes, if you don't have fresh.
More Fish Recipes to Try
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African Fish Curry Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 500 grams Fish Any Firm White Fish
- 5 tablespoon Cooking Oil
- 2 large Onion peeled & chopped finely
- 2 inch Ginger peeled & grated
- 6 cloves Garlic peeled & grated
- 2 medium Tomato chopped finely
- 1 medium Tomato pureed
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri Chilli Powder
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 2 teaspoon Cumin Powder
- 1 tablespoon Coriander Powder
- 2 tablespoon Curry Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper Powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 2 teaspoon Tamarind Pulp
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- Coriander leaves a handful finely chopped
- 2 cups Thick Coconut Milk around 1 can
Instructions
- Soak tamarind in water for 10 mins. Squeeze and extract all the juices. Apply salt and pepper on fish pieces and mix well. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan, place fish in oil and sear on both sides, remove it and set aside.
- Now in the same oil, add onions and cook till golden brown. Add ginger and garlic and saute for couple of mins. Add in tomatoes and tomato puree and cook till oil separates. Add curry leaves and mix well.
- Add in spice powders and a little water to make sure the spices don't burn. Now add in tamarind juice, salt and sugar and mix well. Add in coconut milk and mix well. Bring it to a boil.
- Add the fish pieces back in and simmer it for 10 mins. Add coriander leaves and mix well. Serve with rice.
Video
Notes
- use any firm fleshed white fish for taste and better texture.
- You can use fresh coconut milk or use canned coconut milk.
- Make sure to cook on medium heat so the spices doesn't burn.
- You can use canned tomatoes, if you don't have fresh.
Nutrition
If you have any questions not covered in this post and if you need help, leave me a comment or mail me @aarthi198689@gmail.com and I'll help as soon as I can.
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Anonymous
Hi Arthi Ur blog is just awesome my day never ends without ur blog. BTW im so eager to know the source of this recipe nd the reason behind the name too.
Aarthi
i got a request for this from a person
Shyamala Sundar
Looks yummy����.. gonna try tmrw. Curry powder Na enna?
Aarthi
it is a spice mix which you can easily get in stores. look near garam masala powder
Anonymous
What fish did you use Aarthi?
Pranavi
Nice Blog... Thank you for sharing this information..
Provident Kenworth
Vaswani Menlo Park
Marina Skies
Anonymous
HI Aarthi, I am a big fan of Indian recipes and I really like the ones you have on your blog. Just to let you know that what you have as a South African recipe is actually a Kenyan recipe. Its from the Coastal part of the country so it should named a Kenyan fish curry. Mchuzi wa samaki is Swahili for fish curry...
Lizzie
I tried this last night, it's so yummy! I cooked the fish separately until it was done so I could leave some out of the sauce for my non curry eating four year old. We served it with spiced roast cauliflower and peas. I think I might make some of the paste to freeze next time for easy dinners.
Nicky kaul buch
Evrytym i mke this dish nd hv it . I love it even more. Nd i love the nme south african fish curry . Its kinda intriguing as to y such nme. B whtevr i blindly follow nd cook ur recipes. I hv been following u
since the past 2 - 3 yrs.
Parveez
Hi Arthi I use to love looking for recipes on your blog but I hate it now because it’s full of adverts and sometimes you can’t even get to the recipe because of the adds. I know you want to make money but you will loose your fans.
Aarthi
I will look into it.
Maryann
Made this and it was awesome!