Gulai Ikan 娘惹咖喱魚 Nyonya Fish Curry

My blog is almost 2 months old and I just realised I have posted only one curry recipe, namely the very lonely Malaysian chicken curry mee . My family and friends back home are wondering why being a huge curry fan, there is such a lame effort in my curry department. With left over spices and herbs (used for asam laksa ) like lemongrass, turmeric, shallots, ginger flower and Vietnamese mint saying hello to me every time I open the fridge, I thought it might be a very good time to cook some fish curry tonight.

They are many fish curry recipes out there with slight differences; some are heavily influenced by Indian cooking, this is more a Malay/Nyonya version. I have been eating this since I was very little and started making the spice paste as soon as I was strong enough to work the mortar and pestel!. As more wet spices are used in this curry, the taste is naturally lighter and fresher than an Indian curry, one of the reasons why I used snapper fillets as oppose to stronger fish like spanish mackeral. With all the added vegetables in the dish all you need is plenty of plain rice or some roti to mop up the very tasty gravy!!

I kept thinking how lucky I am to grow up with not just the freshest produce but also the endless array of cuisines to choose from. I think Malaysian cuisine is such a unique and exciting one because people are forever so willing to adopt new ingredients and ideas from others, this dish is a great example of that openness!!

P.S Quite lavish when it comes to the preparation, this is also to celebrate one of the tummies promotion at work.

serves 4 with plenty of plain rice

for the curry paste you'll need;

a knob of ginger, sliced

10 shallots, sliced

3 cloves of garlic

5 red chilies, sliced

1 knob of galangal, sliced

10 dried chilies, soaked and cut into pieces (remove seeds for a milder curry)

2 stalks of lemongrass, chopped (white part only)

a small piece of turmeric (or 2 tbs of turmeric powder)

1 tbs of cumin powder

3 tbs of coriander powder

a small piece of shrimp paste (toasted)

Blend everything til you get a wet paste

you'll also need;

1 kg of snapper fillet cut into large pieces, mixed with a dash of turmeric powder, pan fried

15 okras, blanched and refreshed

10 long beans, cut into 2.5" pieces, blanched and refreshed

1 eggplant or 3 Japanese eggplant, cut into bite size pieces

1 can (400ml) of coconut milk

3 tamarind peels

3 tbs of tamarind paste

half a ginger flower

2.5 l of water

half a ginger flower, thinly sliced

1 red chili, thinly sliced

mint leaves

Fry curry paste with 4 tbs of cooking oil til oil separate.

Add water, coconut milk, ginger flower, vietnamese mint, tamarind paste and peels and water and simmer for 20 minutes

Cook eggplants til tender and add blanched long beans, okras and tomato pieces follow by the fish.

Bring it back to a boil and check for seasoning.

Serve it in a large bowl, garnish with sliced ginger flower, chilies and mint. Oh plenty of plain rice please!!