Quick and Easy Fish Curry With Coconut Milk Recipe

I used to help in our family restaurant, love good food and enjoy thinking up creative ways to cook and use leftovers to avoid food waste.

Mildly Spicy Fish Curry

I sometimes make this curry for my grandchildren, who like spicy flavors but don't like anything very hot. They all rave about it.

I like to add extra vegetables for extra nourishment. If a smoother curry is preferred, you can always blend the vegetables before adding them to the sauce, or you can omit them altogether.

How I Learned to Make This Curry

Many years ago, in the mid-1960s, I worked in a typically English restaurant with an Indian person. He wasn't actually a chef, but we decided to produce Indian curries on the menu, and he taught me how to cook and use Asian spices the way his mother had shown him in India.

The dishes we cooked were not necessarily the dishes you would normally find in an Indian restaurant, but they were popular, and we enjoyed branching out a bit.

The skills and taste for hot and spicy food have remained with me, and in turn I have passed them on to my family who are all very creative in their cookery.

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Cook Time

Ingredients

• 3 medium to large fresh carrots, sliced thinly
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, or other cooking oil
• 1 large red pepper, sliced and chopped
• 2 tablespoons green vegetables (e.g., cabbage, spinach, broccoli or even lettuce)
• 4 lbs. (2 kilos) white fish (you can use any fish, so I use the cheapest, which is usually basa)
• 1 tin coconut milk (or coconut cream or powdered coconut milk)
• 2 teaspoons garlic and onion paste
• 2 to 3 teaspoons fish curry paste, depending how hot you want your curry: when cooked, taste it and add more for a stronger flavor
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 to 3 tablespoons peas, frozen
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh coriander (optional)

Instructions

1. Peel the carrots and cut into fairly thin slices. Put them on to boil in a small amount of water, just covering them. So they will be boiling whilst you are preparing everything else.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan whilst peeling and chopping the onions. Then fry the onions on medium heat, so that they brown and sweat without burning. Stir them every now and then, whilst preparing the other ingredients, and add the red pepper.
3. Chop the greens up fairly small and add them to the carrots, making sure the water covers them.
4. Cut the fish into pieces, either lengthwise or widthwise, about 4 inches long (although precise size doesn't matter).
5. Mix the curry paste with a little hot water from the carrots. Then mix it in with the coconut milk.
6. Add the fish to the pan of onions on a very low heat, sprinkling all over with the turmeric. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the curry and coconut mixture, the garlic and ginger paste and the frozen peas and the carrots and greens. Stir gently to mix the ingredients. The sauce should be fairly thick and creamy, If it looks a bit dry, add some of the vegetable water.
7. The fish only takes about 5 minutes to cook from frozen, so make sure it does not fall to pieces from overcooking. Let the dish stand for a few minutes or more so that the fish absorbs some of the flavors.
8. Serve with rice (see video below if you are not sure how to cook rice).

Fish Curry Paste: Available in Asian Shops

Fish curry in various forms is so popular all over Asia that you can ring the changes with different fish curry sauces from different countries. The ones I use most are Sri Lankan.

How to Cook Rice, by Jamie Oliver

More Curry Recipes

• How To Make Curry Puffs Recipe - Delicious Deep Fried Pastry Puffs with Curried Meat and Potatoes
  Curry puffs are popular snacks in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. They are not only delicious to eat but easy to make, too. Check out these curry puff recipes here.
• Curries: Stories, Tips, and Recipes
  Curry is a blanket term used to describe a vast range of Asian spicy stewed dishes. There are many different styles of curries. Not all are hot. Get tips and recipes for curries here.

Do Leave a Comment or Question. I love to Get Feedback From Around the World!

Diana Grant (author) from United Kingdom on July 14, 2020:

RoadMonkey: It's very useful to be able to use up odd bits of fish in a curry, and as the taste is somewhat disguised by the spices, the cheapest possible fish can be used instead of something more fancy

RoadMonkey on July 12, 2020:

Hmm, I like curry and sometimes cook it from the absolute basics but have never tried fish curry. When you mentioned "frozen", I remembered I have some fish in the freezer that needs used up and this would be a tasty and quick way to do that. Thanks.

Louise Powles from Norfolk, England on October 10, 2017:

I love fish curry. Although I've never tried making it myself, but will definitely give this a try. Thanks. =)

Diana Grant (author) from United Kingdom on September 13, 2016:

Yes, I make it very regularly, Larry

Larry Rankin from Oklahoma on July 03, 2016:

I have recently discovered I love curry dishes but have yet to make my own.

I'll have to give this one a try. Sounds terrific.

Diana Grant (author) from United Kingdom on November 28, 2015:

Yes, I saw we have lots of common interests when I first started following you, Colleen

Colleen Swan from County Durham on November 28, 2015:

Hi Diana, Super recipe. As it happens we were talking here yesterday about making a fish curry. Aside from that, having read your profile I think you and I have a lot in common and look forward to getting better acquainted.

Diana Grant (author) from United Kingdom on September 21, 2015:

Glimmer Twin Fan: I looked again at the ingredients quantities and I think 2 tablespoons of greens is about right. You'll see from the photo that the dish is not loaded with greens - but no reason why you shouldn't experiment to find what works for you. I sometimes do a separate dish of curried vegetables to go with my curries

Linda Crampton from British Columbia, Canada on September 20, 2015:

This sounds very tasty. I love spicy food, so I think I would enjoy your recipe very much!

Claudia Mitchell on September 20, 2015:

Oh this looks delicious. One question, the greens and peas amounts seem low to me, especially if the recipe serves 6 people. Should that read cups? I love my greens so I would definitely add more. Nice recipe!