In case you don’t know, I love trying out and preparing food from different cuisines. Fortunately, my family is also open to all my experimenting and are enthusiastic taste testers. I made Indonesian fish curry aka Gulai Ikan Karang a couple of months ago and my family really loved it. I’ve made a lot of such South east Asian fish curries in the past, but this is by far the best.
Look at the beautiful yellow color from fresh turmeric
Gulai Ikan Karang is a popular dish across all Indonesia. There are several recipes online for this with slight differences but I settled for one from the Asian food channel.com. What makes this recipe different from other Indonesian fish curries is that the fish is baked separately and is then served in spicy coconut curry. The ingredients used in it are very few and using the same spice paste for both the marinade and the curry doubles up on flavor while keeping the cook time to a minimum.
Gulai is a term that refers to dishes served in a curry-like sauce, and ikan means fish. The Gulai curry commonly consists of ingredients such as turmeric, coriander, black pepper, galangal, ginger, chilli pepper, shallot, garlic, fennel seeds, lemongrass, cinnamon and caraway, which are ground into paste and cooked in coconut milk. This is a very easy dish to prepare, once you get your hands on the ingredients. I’ve tweaked my recipe a little from the original recipe: I used thick snapper fillet instead of steaks as they are easily available at most fish shops and grocery stores. I had to use thai basil leaves because I could not find laksa leaves but it lends incredible flavor to the finished curry. As this recipe has more wet spices, the taste is lighter, fresher and healthier. Serve with a side of steamed rice to soak up the fabulous curry.
I hope you’ll like this recipe because we did!
If you make this curry, click a pic and tag it on Facebook , Twitter or Instagram. This will keep me motivated to develop more interesting recipes.
Aromatic Indonesian fish curry for seafood lovers. Big on flavor yet light and healthy.
Ingredients
- 1kg snapper fillet, cut into 4-6 pieces
- 1 lemongrass, smashed
- 25 g tamarind
- 400 ml coconut milk
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice
- 250 g shallots, halved
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 3 cm fresh turmeric or 3/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 10 thai red chillies, more for garnish (if desired)
- big handful of fresh thai basil leaves, more for garnish (originally laksa leaves are used)
- 2 tbsp canola oil (divided)
Instructions
- Pat the fish fillets dry and rub a little salt and lemon juice. Set aside.
- Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup hot water for 10 min. Mix it together and strain through a fine sieve. Throw away the pulp and use the liquid.
- Place halved shallots and garlic cloves in dry skillet over medium-high heat. Dry roast turning often, about 5 to 8 minutes, or until shallots and cloves are golden brown with spots of dark.
- In a blender, blend charred shallots, garlic, thai red chilies, fresh turmeric, and basil leaves. Use 1 tbsp canola oil and 2 tbsp tamarind water to help achieve a smooth consistency.
- Line a baking sheet with foil. Apply 2-3 tsp paste on each fish piece.
- Bake in 400° oven for 10 minutes or until evenly cooked.
- Set the oven to broiler setting. Broil for 1-2 minute or till you achieve the desired charred look (Please keep an eye as every oven is different and too much broil will burn the fish).
- Now, heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a work over a medium heat.
- Throw in the smashed lemongrass stalk and spice paste, fry till aromatic
- Add tamarind liquid, salt and 1/2 cup water. Give it all a good stir.
- Simmer on medium heat for 1 minute before adding coconut milk.
- To serve ladle curry in the bowl. Arrange fish pieces. Garnish with red thai chili and basil leaves.
I am bringing Indonesian Fish Curry to CookBlogShare @ easy peasy Foodie.
Abbe@This is How I Cook
There isn’t much better than a coconut curry. I love this simple recipe!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
I can’t tell all the difference between curries, but I adore all of them! This looks really amazingly delicious.
Corina Blum
This sounds delicious! I love the flavours in it and it sounds like a fish curry my husband would eat too. He always says he doesn’t like fish curries but I think it’s mainly because he doesn’t like fish cooked in the sauce!
amrita
Love this Indonesian fish curry…never tried however I would love to try it soon
Loretta
I love the idea of the fish first baked and then cooked in that velvety sauce. Will definitely be bookmarking this as we love fish. thanks for sharing 🙂
Balvinder
Loretta, the fish is not cooked in the sauce.
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder
This curry sounds so good Balvinder! I really like the fact that the fish is baked separately and then broiled with the spice paste forming that gorgeous tasty almost “skin” on top. That and the sauce sound perfect!
Emma - Bake Then Eat
That gravy sounds and looks delicious, so fragrant and colourful.
Blackswan
Wow, love those colours, dear! xoxo
Jacqui Bellefontaine
OMG this sounds just so delicious I want to make it asap
Hashmanis
This sounds like an utterly gorgeous recipe! I have some monk fish in my freezer calling out to be made into this.
Adina
It looks mouthwatering and so easy to make, the perfect meal for me. I am sure that even the kids would love it, they like coconut curries and they even started eating fish lately. This would be a perfect combination for them, with less chilies, of course 🙂 .
natalia20041989
Amazing colors☺
natalia20041989
I think I will make this dish, looks amazing ☺☺
Tanza Erlambang
I miss Indonesian curry for long time.
thank you for sharing recipe
torviewtoronto
delicious flavour
Blackswan
Fabulous plate of fish, dear! My hubby loves curry! xoxo
Tammy
It would be so awesome if you could also add the English USA measurements. Conversion charts are impossible to use correctly. I really did want to make this. – but will have to jump off of this site and find one with measurements I can use. 🙁
Balvinder
Hi Tammy,
Sorry for the inconvenience. I know it’s a big hassle to convert everything but I am from India and grew up weighing ingredients in metric system as it’s the norm there. And even here is Canada many things are weighed in mixed measurements. So what I can do is to convert the gram ingredients of my recipe for you
1kg snapper = approx. 2.205 lbs.
25 g tamarind = 0.88 oz
250 g shallots = 8.81oz
And if you need further help with any other ingredient let me know or look into this website for basic cooking conversions. It’s the best.
https://whatscookingamerica.net/equiv.htm
You can also invest in a scale. it’s actually very cheap and the easiest and most accurate way to measure weight.
I hope that helps.