Fish curry was the first Indian dish that I ate. An acquaintance cooked it for me many years ago, and I immediately fell in love with the myriad of flavors of this dish in particular and the comforting nature of rice and curry in general. I remember asking my acquaintance for the recipe because I had constant cravings for the curry. Considering the fact that I wasn’t much of a cook at that time and didn’t enjoy kitchen work at all, you can get an understanding of how big my love for this dish was.
I cooked the curry once. I cooked the curry twice. And I didn’t stop cooking it ever since. For a while it was the only dishI could cook (but one bound to impress everyone). Soon enough I knew the recipe by heart as it requires only a couple of ingredients, and the different spices call for the same quantity so it’s easy to remember the exact measurements (1.5 teaspoons of each cumin, chili powder, ground coriander and salt).
I’m not quite sure anymore how the original recipe goes as I did some tweaking to it over time, the major one being changing the recipe to make it vegan. The original recipe called for salmon, but I find that soya protein chunks cooked in vegetable broth make for a great substitute since they absorb the spices well. I also tried plain tofu and chickpeas, but the former was too bland, and the latter altered the overall flavor of the dish.
I hope you will enjoy this dish as much as I do.
🍽 Recipe
Vegan Fish Curry
Ingredients
Curry
- 125 g soya protein chunks small
- 500 ml vegetable broth
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1,5 teaspoons ground cilantro coriander
- 1,5 teaspoons cumin
- 1,5 teaspoons chili powder
- 1,5 teaspoons salt
- 1 midsize red onion peeled and chopped coarsely
- 3 tablespoons of rapeseed oil or coconut oil
- 2 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped coarsely
- 2 tablespoons of ginger peeled and chopped finely
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 400 g canned tomatoes or 400 ml tomato passata
Rice
- 400 g basmati rice white or brown, both work well
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds optional
- Salt
Topping
- 3-4 sprigs cilantro for decoration optional
Instructions
- Cook the soya protein chunks with the vegetable broth for 20-30 minutes on low heat (lid on).
- Combine the lemon juice with the ground cilantro, cumin, chili powder and salt until you get a thick paste.
- In a large pan, fry the onion in the oil until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until the garlic smells nice. Add the spice paste and cook stirring continuously until the yummy smell of the spices fills the kitchen.
- Add the coconut milk and the canned tomatoes (or tomato passata) to the pan, give it a gentle stir to combine everything.
- Drain the soya protein chunks well and add them to the pan.
- Cook on low to medium heat for 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. At the beginning it’s quite runny, and you want to allow it to reduce by half with the lid off. This might cause a little mess of red sprinkles around the pan, as the tomato coconut mix will be quite bubbly.
- Taste test it to know if it’s done. It shouldn’t be runny anymore but more like a sauce and should burst with flavors.
- Cook the rice according to the package instructions, adding a generous pinch of salt and caraway seeds if you fancy. The seeds are optional, but I find they add a gorgeous depth of flavor to the rice.
- Serve the rice with curry and some cilantro leaves.
Psst ... you'll also love this Amazing Watermelon RIND Curry and the Lemony Cauliflower Curry.
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Cristina says
This looks delicious! I'm obsessed with all things Thai & curry so I can not wait to make this!
Ramona says
Thank you, Thai food and curry dishes do have something so filling and satisfying, to me they are the healthiest comfort food.
I hope you will love this curry recipe just as much as I do. I'd be happy to hear how it went once you get the chance to cook it.
Anja says
Dear Ramona,
we tried your curry two days ago and it was really, really tasty, although it is easy to make and has few ingredients... I can understand, why this recipe accompanied you for so long! Great you found a way to exchange the fish. What soya protein do you use? I tried the "pulled soya" from veganz and it really fitted well! We will eat this again, I am sure.
Thank you for sharing!
Anja
Ramona says
Dear Anja,
So happy that you tried out the vegan fish curry and that both of you liked the dish. 🙂 It really is one of my favorite meals, and one that I never grow tired of.
As to the soy protein: I don't have a particular brand that I can recommend as I'm using different organic brands and I liked all them (anything I can find at Denns, Alnatura, or DM). I just pay attention to buy the ones that are not too fine-grained (not minced) but rather the cube-sized ones.
I haven't tried the "pulled soya" from Veganz, thanks for the tip, will give it a try soon.
Foodgoggle says
Love the vegan version of fish curry.
Ramona says
Thank you, so happy you like it. In fact, it's one of my all-time favorite recipes that I cook very often.
Nicola Aslam says
I couldn’t see anything in the recipe that would make it ‘fishy’. I was wrong! It is absolutely delicious and somehow has a distinct fishy flavour. My husband can’t get enough of it, and it will become a regular dish in our house! Thank you 🙏
Ramona says
Thanks for your nice feedback, Nicola. So happy to hear you and your husband like the vegan fish curry. Isn't it amazing how "fish-like" it tastes even though there is no particular "fish" flavor in it? It's like a miracle curry.