Malaysian Fish Curry – (Kari Ikan)

Unlock the secrets of this intensely fragrant and complex Malaysian Fish Curry known as Kari Ikan. A rich and creamy curry packed with flavour. It’s the perfect blend of fresh and spicy ingredients that surround the perfectly soft and flaky fish.

This Malaysian Fish Curry (Kari Ikan) is one of the most delicious curries I cook at home. I'm a massive fan of Malaysian and Singaporean food. With vibrant orange hues, soft and tender fish pieces and intense fragrance and flavour it's almost impossible to find any fault. Malaysian food has such depth and quite literally overloads every sense with each delicious spoonful. Kari Ikan is just one of the favourites from my Best Malaysian Curry Recipes - check one, or all, of those out too.

Unlike a Thai curry, my Kari Ikan recipe doesn't only rely on chilli heat, the fragrance of lemongrass, shrimp paste and a cornucopia of fresh and dried ingredients make for a complex melding of authentic Malaysian flavours.

I especially love the addition of puffed, fried tofu in this curry. Its spongy texture soaks up the sauce and creates a magical burst of flavour in your mouth! You can find these in most Asian supermarkets. Incidentally, they're also a key ingredient in the most spectacular Malaysian dish of them all. Malaysian Prawn Curry Laksa - a dish of the GODS!

What's Ahead?

What is Kari Ikan?

Kari= sauce, Ikan = Fish.

Kari Ikan is a Malaysian fish curry dish, that features a spicy and aromatic gravy made with coconut milk, lemongrass, and various spices, simmered with fish fillets. It is somewhat of a fusion dish, incorporating both the local cuisine of Malaysia and the immigrant spices and techniques of Indian cuisine. The results are uniquely Malay with a blend of fresh fragrant ingredients together with ground spices.

Why it works?

It's uniquely Malaysian - In my humble opinion, Malaysian curries are the most memorable in South East Asia. The prominence of Indian cuisine in Malaysia is what gives this curry its distinctive flavour. Malaysia's Indian community are descendants of immigrants from Sri Lanka and the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India. As such, the unique cuisine of Malaysia and Singapore sees a melding of traditional South Indian and Sri Lankan dishes alongside and incorporated into traditional Malaysian dishes.

Complex curry powders, curry leaves (an Indian influence) alongside lemongrass, coconut, kaffir lime, galangal create a truly wonderful combination. A complex and heady melding of freshness. Malaysian curries are the perfect middle ground between Indian and Thai cuisines.

Fish curry powder

One of the most important stages of this curry is to create an authentic Malaysian curry powder. Meat and fish curry powders are slightly different in their approach - over the centuries, mothers, aunties and grandmothers have concluded some spices work better with fish than others. Who are we to argue? While curry powder recipes change from family to family they generally incorporate similar ingredients:

• Chilli powder (for heat), Paprika (for colour), Coriander powder (for fragrance), Cumin powder (for fragrance and flavour), Turmeric powder (for colour)

Stuff you'll need

This curry does contain a fair few ingredients, but when you take into account how complex the flavour is, you'll see why. All good things come to those... who have the ingredients! Rest assured that once you have all the ingredients, you can make all manner of tasty Malaysian recipes.

• Fish - a firm flaky fish is the way to go. Something that will hold its shape a little.
• Curry powder - a blend of ground paprika, coriander, cumin and turmeric.
• Onion paste - onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass and shrimp paste.
• Whole spices - cinnamon sticks, star anise, salt and pepper
• Aromatics - fresh curry leaves, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and tamarind
• Fresh - snake beans (long beans) and tomatoes
• Other - vegetable stock, coconut milk and fried tofu puffs.

Step by Step

There are a few steps, but it's all just adding and stirring at the end of the day. You'll be surprised how quickly this curry comes together - you may well spend more time gathering and measuring all the ingredients than you do actually cooking! I recommend having everything ready to go by the way, it makes for a stress-free experience. Here's how...

1. Step 1 - Start by blending the ground spices wiuth a little water to make a thick curry paste. Set aside.
2. Step 2 - Blend together the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, shrimp paste into a smooth paste. Set this aside too.
3. Step 3 - Heat the oil in a wok until hot then add the curry leaves. Let them splutter briefly before adding the spice paste. Stir well for about 5 minutes to cook it out.
4. Step 4 - Add the onion paste to the pan and stir fry this for another 5 minutes or so.
5. Step 5 - Add the cinnamon and star anise.
6. Step 6 - Pour in the vegetable stock, followed by the tamarind, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and lemongrass stalks. Let this simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
7. Step 7 - Pour in about half of the coconut milk and stir well.
8. Step 8 - Add the fish and tofu and shake into the sauce to submerge and cook for about 5 minutes.
9. Step 9 - Add the cooked beans and tomatoes and very carefully stir in. That's it! Remove from the heat and serve.

Pro Tips - what fish to use

This is the eternal question and depending on where you live, the answer will be different. In Singapore, they use fish heads with this recipe to create the famous (and utterly delicious) fish head curry, you can use oily fish like mackerel or even dump the fish completely in favour of shrimp and scallops.

But loosely speaking, you'll need a firm white fish - something which won't completely disintegrate when it cooks. Here are a few examples:

1. Haddock
2. Pacific Cod
3. Monkfish
4. Grouper
5. Halibut
6. Striped Bass
7. Swordfish

You can use chunks or have the fish cut into steaks to help hold their shape. The bones will also help with flavour. And if the fish does break up during cooking, it's not the end of the world. The flavour will distract anyone who'd normally point it out!

Serving & Storage Suggestions

This Malaysian fish curry is very delicious served with a plentiful supply of fluffy jasmine rice. I also love this over vermicelli rice noodles as there's a lot of delicious sauce. There's all the flavour and texture you'll need in the curry itself, so I don't really ever serve it with other dishes.

• Fridge - Leftovers should be refrigerated for 1-2 days only and reheated carefully in the microwave. The fish tends to fall apart completely, so I don't really like to reheat this curry.
• Freezer - Freezing is not recommended for that reason, the fish can't handle it and turns to mush. Fresh is best for this curry! Just ensure you have plenty of people gathered round to enjoy it all in one sitting.

Ready to get cooking?

So, it's time to unlock the magic of Malaysian curries. You'll be magnificently surprised at how much flavour they've managed to squeeze into this wonderful dish. And I just want to underscore just how authentic this dish is in flavour. The Kari Ikan fish curry in coconut sauces I've eaten in Malaysia and Singapore are exactly the same! See for yourself with the video below and brace yourself for a taste explosion!

More delicious Malaysian recipes

If you liked this recipe for Kari Ikan, I'm sure you'll love some more of my best Malaysian recipes.

• Malaysian Beef Curry
• Malaysian Chicken Curry (Kari Ayam)
• Malaysian Chicken Kapitan Curry (Kari Kapitan)
• Malaysian Prawn Laksa
• Ayam Kleo (Nyonya Chicken Curry)
• Sambal Udang (Sambal Prawns)
• Hainan Chicken and Rice
  
• Ayam Goreng (Malaysian Fried Chicken)
  
• Satay Chicken Curry
  
• Sambal Udang (Sambal Prawns)
  
• Malaysian Sambal Sauce
  
• Babi Pongteh (Malaysian Pork Stew)

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