Fish Head Curry

Name: Fish Head Curry
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Singaporean (Indian)
Ingredients: 1 large Red snapper head; 4 tbsp Fish curry powder; 3 tbsp Tamarind pulp; 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds; 1 tsp Black mustard seeds; 2 sprigs Curry leaves; 8 Shallots, sliced; 6 cloves Garlic, sliced; 4 cm Fresh ginger, julienned; 6 Dried red chillies; 2 Tomatoes, quartered; 10 Okra (lady's fingers); 1 Aubergine (brinjal); 8 Long beans; 200 ml Coconut milk; 4 tbsp Neutral oil; 2 tsp Salt; 1 small bunch Coriander leaves; 4 portions Steamed rice or bread, to serve

A whole red snapper head simmered in a tamarind-sharp South Indian curry with okra, aubergine and coconut milk — a dish that exists because a Kerala cook in Singapore noticed his Chinese customers prized the part his own kitchen threw away.

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สูตรโดย Indian-Singaporean kitchens · 🏺 ดั้งเดิม · South Indian and Indian-Muslim cooking in Singapore — Little India and the 24-hour prata shops

Singaporean dish · South Indian cooking in Singapore — The canonical reference records that fish head curry is 'believed' to have been invented by chef M. J. Gomez, from Kerala, who first sold it in Singapore in 1949 after noticing that Chinese customers considered the fish head a delicacy though it was not widely served in India. Because the reference hedges with 'it is believed', and because Gomez published no recipe, his name is stated here as an attribution and is deliberately NOT entered in the `cook` field — this is not his written recipe. The article also confirms the red snapper head, okra, eggplant, long beans, tamarind and optional coconut milk that this version uses. Quantities and method are this book's own.

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Rinse the fish head thoroughly, especially inside the gill cavity, and rub it with a teaspoon of salt. Leave it while you build the gravy.
💡 Any dark blood left along the spine end will turn the whole pot bitter. Scrub it out under running water.
Mix the curry powder with 6 tablespoons of water into a loose paste and set aside. Heat the oil and pop the mustard seeds, then add the fenugreek, curry leaves and dried chillies for 30 seconds.
💡 Fenugreek burns fast and turns acrid. Thirty seconds, then move on immediately.
Add the shallots, garlic and ginger and fry 6 minutes until soft and lightly browned. Stir in the curry paste and fry another 5 minutes until the oil separates out around the edges.
Pour in the tamarind water and add the tomatoes and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook 10 minutes, then add the aubergine and long beans and give them 5 minutes.
Lower the fish head into the pot, spoon gravy over the exposed side, cover, and simmer gently for 10 to 12 minutes. Add the okra for the last 5 minutes.
💡 Do not stir once the head is in — it will fall apart. Tilt the pot and ladle the gravy over it instead.
Pour in the coconut milk, warm it through for 2 minutes without letting it boil, and check the salt. Scatter coriander and take the whole pot to the table.
💡 It tastes better after 20 minutes off the heat, and better still the next day. Do not rush it to the table straight off the flame.

💡 เคล็ดลับ

Halal — fish, vegetables and spices only, with no pork or alcohol anywhere in it. It is served at both Indian-Muslim and Chinese-run restaurants in Singapore.
The cheeks and the gelatinous flesh around the eye are the prize, and the person who gets them is chosen at the table. This is a communal dish; do not portion it out in the kitchen.
One of the few dishes in this book that is a documented Singaporean invention rather than something inherited — the Indian and Chinese sides of the city produced it together, and neither had it at home.