Assam Fish Curry

Assam Fish Curry is a traditional Malaysian recipe for a mackerel and okra curry in a sour tomato gravy with tamarind paste. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Malaysian version of: Assam Fish Curry.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

15 minutes

Total Time:

35 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry Spice Recipes Malaysia Recipes

Despite the name, this is not an Indian recipe. Rather, it comes from Malaysia, where assam is the Malay word for sour. So this is a sour Malaysian fish curry.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
10 fresh curry leaves
1 small onion, peeled, halved and sliced into fine semi-circles
5cm piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 ½ tbsp chilli powder
¾ tbsp ground coriander
¾ tbsp turmeric powder
½ tbsp fennel seeds
50ml water
2 tbsp tamarind paste
1 ½ tbsp white sugar
2 tsp sea salt
200g tinned chopped tomatoes (or 2 tomatoes, chopped into 8 pieces)
500ml (2 cups) water
500g mackerel fillets (or other oily fish such as sardines, pilchard, salmon or trout)
100g okra, tops cut off and pods sliced in half

Method:

Place a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once hot add the oil and use to fry the mustard seeds and curry leaves. As soon as the mustard begins to pop and splutter add the onion and fry for about 2 minutes, until the edges start to turn translucent. Now add the ginger and garlic and fry for 1 minute more.

In the meantime, stir together the chilli, ground coriander seeds, turmeric and fennel seeds with the 50ml water to form a paste. Add this to the pan and fry over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the red-coloured oil separates (about 3 minutes)

Now add the tamarind paste, sugar, salt, tomatoes and the water. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the fish fillets and okra. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

Take off the heat, turn into a warmed serving bowl and bring to the table.