What is Kerala Fish Curry?
I learned how to make this fish stew from my mom-in-law, a marvelous cook who makes incredible Keralite food. I’m always amazed by the flavors in this type of food – it’s so different from the North Indian food I grew up eating (e.g., butter chicken, shami kebab, sarson ka saag). Just goes to show, “Indian food” is far more diverse than most realize. If you’re familiar with this Keralite dish, you may notice that this recipe is very similar to a dish known as meen moilee (pronounced “Molly”), the main difference being that for this dish, we’re cooking the fish in the stew, whereas with meen moilee, the fish is first shallow fried and then put into the stew. You can always take that extra step, if you’d like. For this stew, we prefer to use wild-caught rockfish. In Kerala though, they typically use karimeen, which is also known as pearlspot fish. You can use any type of fish – just make sure it’s a firm, meaty fish because otherwise, it’ll fall apart in the curry. While this stew is easy enough to make any time, I typically reserve it for special occasions. It’s a staple at our Easter brunch (along with honey ham, biryani, and beef croquettes). These are some photos from Easter at my husband’s house (he’s wearing the bunny ears, you can’t miss him lol). You can’t see the fish stew, but I assure you, we ate some that day, haha. This Kerala fish stew is a light, yet filling dish. It’s perfect for spring or summer. I hope you love it so much that it becomes part of your holiday celebrations too. 🙂 Like this recipe? Pin it to your favorite Pinterest board now so you will remember to make it later!
