This Kerala Red Fish Curry is the recipe that comes to mind when I think of comfort food. With its nostalgic, bright red color, tangy tamarind flavor, and perfect level of heat, it is truly a pot of joy.
Growing up, I’d watch my mom freshly scale and filet a whole salmon or king fish. While she prepped the fish, the kudam puli would be soaking in warm water. While it soaked, she’d move into chopping up the fresh ingredients. Finally, everything would come together in her old black, clay meenchatti.
A chatti is an earthen clay pot. Similar to why people love cooking with cast iron or woks, this type of cooking vessel holds it’s flavor like a fine wine over time. Because the chattis are not glazed, it’s able to retain and circulate moisture throughout the dish, making the fish extremely flavorful and evenly cooked. If you do not have a chatti, you can still make Red Fish Curry in a heavy bottom pot like a duth oven.
Another thing to note is the use of kudam puli. This ingredient is what makes Kerala Red Fish Curry. It’s sour and irreplaceably smoky in flavor. You can find it in Indian stores, but it may be easier to find it online. Online, you can search for it as kudam puli, cambodge, or malabar tamarind.
Kerala Red Fish Curry used to be one of those recipes I was so intimidated to make because it is such a staple dish in our household, but I’ve broken this recipe down so that it hopefully makes Indian recipes like this easy to follow and easy for you to recreate.
Be sure to leave a review and tag me @thefamiliarkitchen on instagram if you decide to make this Kerala Red Fish Curry. I’d love to see your recreations!
If you like this recipe, you might also like these recipes:
Coconut Lemongrass Chicken Soup
Beans Mezhukkupuratti (Stir Fry)
Kerala Red Fish Curry
Ingredients
- Salmon or King Fish 2 lbs, cut into medium-sized chunks
- Kudam Puli/Malabar Tamarind 3-4 pieces, soaked in 1 cup warm water
- Coconut Oil 2-3 tbsp
- Mustard Seeds 1 tsp
- Fenugreek Seeds 1/2 tsp
- Curry Leaves 2 sprigs
- Shallots or Red Onion 3 shallots or 1 red onion, finely diced
- Green Chili Peppers 2-3, diced (thai or serrano peppers are fine)
- Tomato Paste 3 tbsp
- Salt to Taste 2-3 tsp
Paste ingredients
- Ginger 2 inches, chopped
- Garlic Cloves 8, chopped
- Red Chili Powder 1 tbsp
- Coriander Powder 1 tbsp
- Kashmiri Red Chili Powder or Paprika 1 tsp
- Turmeric Powder 1 tsp
Instructions
Soak the tamarind.
- Wash the kudam puli pieces first and then soak it in 1 cup of warm water.
- Set aside.
Make a paste.
- Place all of the ingredients listed under "paste ingredients" in a mortar and pestle or small cup blender.
- Mash this into a smooth paste. *Take 1-2 tbsp of the tamarind soaking water to help smooth out the paste if needed, but the ginger and garlic should release moisture
- Set aside.
Season the oil.
- In your chatti or heavy bottom pot on medium high heat, add in the coconut oil.
- Once the oil is melted and hot, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, and curry leaves.
- Once the mustard seeds pop, add the shallots and green chili peppers.
- Cook this until the ingredients soften and lose its rawness.
Form the gravy.
- Now add in the paste.
- Sautee this for about 30 seconds to cook the garlic and ginger and also release the red color into the oil.
- Now add the tomato paste and cook for 10-15 seconds.
Cook the fish.
- Now add the soaked tamarind and soaking water into the pot along with the fish.
- Cover the pot on low heat for about 15 minutes to slow cook the fish and allow natural moisture to release from it.Check periodically to see if you need to add water. If there isn't enough moisture to submerge the fish at this point, add some warm water to the pot.
- Now that the fish is in the pot, try not to mix it. If you move the fish too much, it could cause it to break up into pieces. I recommend using a soft silicone spatula if you need to move the fish or, the best thing to do is, rotate your pot in a circular motion to mix.
- Once the gravy thickens and the fish easily flakes when your cooking spoon touches it, it's ready.
- Taste for salt and done!
Halak B Mehta says
Is the Kokum wet or dry? I see two types available.
The Familiar Kitchen says
Hi there! I use a dry kokum and soak it in warm water, but you can totally use wet kokum. It still gives that lovely smokey/tangy flavor 🙂
Halak says
Thanks! Also, how much water do you use to soak?
The Familiar Kitchen says
Just enough water to submerge the tamarind 🙂
Shameem A says
Red fish curry is so awesome…………
Joyce says
Hi Ann thanks for posting this recipe! Trying to make fish like mom’s is indeed intimidating. Hoping you can clarify the video vs the instructions though because you don’t have a measurement for paprika in the text but mention it in the video and in the video you made a paste but the instructions have adding the spices after the ginger and garlic. Thanks so much! Also wondering if the goal is to just bring the gravy to a simmer or just to cook the fish.. found 15 minutes for salmon was too much and dried it out completely.
The Familiar Kitchen says
Hi Joyce! Ah yes, I have updated the recipe notes to match what I am showing in the video tutorial. I’ve kept the cooking time at about 10-15 minutes on low heat. In this time, we begin forming a sauce base by allowing the natural/flavorful moisture from the fish to extract while it is covered on low heat – this helps so we don’t have to add in as much water 🙂 Hope this helps!
Arpita Patel says
This looks so good…I’ll be trying this one soon for sure! Thanks for posting!
The Familiar Kitchen says
Excited for you to make it!
Sejal says
Hi I was so excited to make this for my husband, but after trying it he said it’s tastes like nothing that he has ever had before. I am Gujarati and he is Malyalee and I’m not sure what went wrong- he said it tasted sweet- was it that I used tamarind instead of the other options? and by chunks can you quantify that into a measurable amount?
The Familiar Kitchen says
Hi there! Oh no, I am so sorry to hear this! I’m thinking the type of tamarind used is what made this taste sweet. What makes Red Fish Curry special is the use of “malabar tamarind” which is a dry, black tamarind. It’s also known as kokum or garcinia cambogia. That brings out this smoky/tangy flavor. Here’s a link to see what it looks like for reference: https://www.amazon.com/Yuktha-Green-Tamarind-Garcinia-Cambogia/dp/B07HGVV36C/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=malabar+tamarind&qid=1589912611&sr=8-3
For the salmon, 2 lbs of fish roughly gives me 15-20 chunks/pieces of bite-size fish. The chunks are cut about the size of a lime. Hopefully the video link above helps for reference.
Sonie says
Hi Ann! This looks amazing.
I saw a previous comment that someone used tamarind and the curry was too sweet. I cannot find kokum here at all, even at Patel Brothers, so I bought their tamarind as a backup. I also cannot find a way to get an unglazed chatti any time soon.
Do you have any tips to temper the sweetness from the tamarind? And do you find cast iron pots to be ok enough? Thank you
The Familiar Kitchen says
Hi there! Sorry for the late reply!
The black tamarind can be tough to find at local grocery stores, but I have had luck finding online. Here’s one option on Amazon (and you can see all the different names this type of tamarind goes by if you want to look for it elsewhere) https://www.amazon.com/Garcinia-Cambogia-gummi-gutta-Malabar-tamarind/dp/B01N4WMT12/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1FF6V6YHBRW2P&dchild=1&keywords=malabar+tamarind&qid=1601747603&sprefix=malabar+tama%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-4
For the clay chatti, I recently ordered from this company called Green Heirloom. I emailed them to coordinate shipping it to the U.S.. The price and shipping cost was reasonable (just need to make sure it is wrapped extra since it’s very easy to crack it)
https://greenheirloom.in/product/blackened-clay-pot/
Alternatively, you could make this dish in a heavy bottom wok. Cast iron can work well!
I hope this helps!
Ashok says
Thanks Guys, Your Recipe Was Too Fantastic. Me and My Family Loved it. I Will Share your Rrecipe with my friends.