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    African Fish Curry Recipe

    Last Updated On: Apr 6, 2025 by Aarthi

    2.9K
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    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.

    Jump to:
    • About African Fish Curry
    • Watch South African Fish Curry
    • African Fish Curry Ingredients
    • How to Make African Fish Curry (Stepwise Pictures)
    • Expert Tips
    • 📖 Recipe Card

    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.

    Similar Recipes

    Nethili Fish Curry

    Meen Kuzhambu

    Fish Curry

    Malabar Fish Curry

    Watch South African Fish Curry

    YouTube video

    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

    • Crab Curry Recipe
    • Nethili Meen Thokku Recipe
    • Village Syle Fish Curry Recipe
    • Fish Biryani Recipe
    • Meen Kuzhambu Recipe
    • Nethili Fry Recipe

    📖 Recipe Card

    African Fish Curry Recipe

    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.
    3.91 from 11 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
    Servings: 4 servings
    Calories: 594kcal

    Equipment

    • Cooking pot

    Ingredients

    • 500 grams Fish Any Firm White Fish
    • 5 tbsp 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 tbsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder
    • 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
    • 2 tsp Cumin Powder
    • 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
    • 2 tbsp Curry Powder
    • 1 tsp Garam Masala Powder
    • 1 tsp Black Pepper Powder
    • Salt to taste
    • 1 tsp Sugar
    • 2 tsp 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

    YouTube 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

    Serving: 1serving | Calories: 594kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 127mg | Potassium: 1147mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1428IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 115mg | Iron: 7mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @yummytummyaarthi or tag #yummytummyaarthi!
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    Aarthi

    About Aarthi

    Over the past few years I’ve been on a mission to find and create recipes that I can make from scratch. I hope you enjoy the recipes on this blog as they are tried and true from my kitchen to yours!

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Anonymous

      at

      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.

      Reply
      • Aarthi

        at

        i got a request for this from a person

        Reply
    2. Shyamala Sundar

      at

      Looks yummy����.. gonna try tmrw. Curry powder Na enna?

      Reply
      • Aarthi

        at

        it is a spice mix which you can easily get in stores. look near garam masala powder

        Reply
    3. Anonymous

      at

      What fish did you use Aarthi?

      Reply
    4. Pranavi

      at

      Nice Blog... Thank you for sharing this information..

      Provident Kenworth
      Vaswani Menlo Park
      Marina Skies

      Reply
    5. Anonymous

      at

      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...

      Reply
    6. Lizzie

      at

      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.

      Reply
    7. Nicky kaul buch

      at

      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.

      Reply
    8. Parveez

      at

      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.

      Reply
      • Aarthi

        at

        I will look into it.

        Reply
    9. Maryann

      at

      Made this and it was awesome!

      Reply
    3.91 from 11 votes (11 ratings without comment)

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