Recipe for Goan Fish Curry made with home made goan fish curry paste and spices. Recipe with step by step pictures.
Here are other fish recipes from the site.
Fish Recipes
Here is the video of how to make Goan Fish Curry
I came across this Goan fish curry from the Instagram handle of Chef Floyd Cardoz. I have been eyeing the recipe for a long time. Finally I made it today. Its a very simple recipe and comes together in no time. A simple goan masala is ground and this paste is what makes for the base of this curry. The bright red color is from the Byadagi chillies / Kashmiri Chillies. The addition of the famed konkani spice “Teppal” makes the curry very aromatic and unique in taste. The fish steaks are slow cooked / poached in the curry and it tastes so divine. Everyday comfort food!!!
I think Teppal / Tirphul / Tripala is the least known spice in South India. It is the most common konkani spice that is used extensively in Coastal Karnataka and Goan cuisine. Teppal is a close cousin of sichuan peppercorn and has a strong biting taste. Very little of this spice is used as its very strong and can make the tongue numb if too much of it is added. The Teppal berries are dried and the seeds are discarded. The outer coating is what is used as a spice to flavor the curries. It is usually not eaten. It is discarded at the end just like the normal spices – cinnamon, clove etc.. It can flare up the tongue when accidentally bitten into just like sichuan peppercorn.
PS: Please note that Teppal / Tirphul spice is very different from the ayurvedic triphala powder.
The bright red color of the fish curry comes from bydagi chillies. Byadagi Chillies come from the Haveri district in Karnataka. The chilli is long and wrinkled and deeply red. Its not very hot but imparts a dark color and aroma. Its not a very spicy variety of chilli. So if you can get Byadagi chillies, its good. Else you can use Kashmiri chillies.
Here is how to do Goan Fish Curry.
Homemade masala paste
We need to make a raw paste. Here is what you will need. If you do not have Teppal, just omit it.
Grind all the ingredients for the masala paste with half a cup of water. Grind to a very smooth paste. Set aside.
Salt the fish steaks. Sprinkle half a teaspoon of salt on both sides of the fish. Set aside. I have used sea salt. I have used the fish variety called Indian Salmon (Rawas Fish) today.
Heat coconut oil in a pan and add in the sliced onions. Saute for a few minutes till the onions are soft.
Add in the ground paste. Add in the turmeric powder and the salt. (The fish is already salted. So go easy on the salt). Saute for 4-5 minutes till the masala is cooked and the mixture looks dry.
Add a cup of water to the empty mixie jar and wash off all the leftover masala paste and add it back to the pan.
Soak half a lime size tamarind in one cup of water for 20 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind in the water to extract all the juices. Strain the juice and set aside the tamarind pulp / juice. Discard the tamarind seeds and the pith.
One of the main ingredients for the Goan Fish Curry is Kodampuli – Malabar Tamarind. Kodambuli – Malabar Tamarind is a dried fruit used in curries as a souring agent. It gives the curries a sweet sourness and its slightly smoky. Do not use a lot of it. Add three pieces of kodampuli to the pan. Also add the tamarind pulp to the pan.
Add in one more cup of water to the pan.
Cover the pan and let the curry simmer for 20 minutes on a medium flame. Mix the curry once in a while to avoid scorching at the bottom of the pan.
Add in the salted fish pieces. Cover the pan and let it simmer on a very LOW flame for 20 minutes. Let the fish poach on a low flame.
The fish curry is ready after 20 minutes. Check for seasoning. Add more salt if necessary. Discard the kodampuli.
Serve hot with rice.
Goan Fish Curry
Recipe for Goan Fish Curry made with home made goan fish curry paste and spices. Recipe with step by step pictures.
- Total Time: 55 mins
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the Masala Paste
- 1/2 cup coconut
- 5 cloves garlic
- 4 teppal berries
- 7 bydagi chillies
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
Other Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 onion, sliced (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- half a lime size tamarind
- 3 pieces kodampuli
For salting the fish
- 500 grams fish steaks
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Grind all the ingredients for the masala paste with half a cup of water. Grind to a very smooth paste. Set aside.
- Salt the fish steaks. Sprinkle half a teaspoon of salt on both sides of the fish. Set aside.
- Heat coconut oil in a pan and add in the sliced onions. Saute for a few minutes till the onions are soft.
- Add in the ground paste. Add in the turmeric powder and the salt.
- Saute for 4-5 minutes till the masala is cooked and the mixture looks dry.
- Add a cup of water to the empty mixie jar and wash off all the leftover masala paste and add it back to the pan.
- Soak half a lime size tamarind one cup of water for 20 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind in the water to extract all the juices. Strain the juice and set aside the tamarind pulp / juice. Discard the tamarind seeds and the pith.
- Add three pieces of kodampuli to the pan. Also add the tamarind pulp to the pan.
- Add in one more cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan and let the curry simmer for 20 minutes on a medium flame. Mix the curry once in a while to avoid scorching at the bottom of the pan.
- Add in the salted fish pieces. Cover the pan and let it simmer on a very LOW flame for 20 minutes. Let the fish poach on a low flame.
- The fish curry is ready after 20 minutes. Check for seasoning. Add more salt if necessary. Discard the kodampuli.
- Serve hot with rice.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: Goan
Made the fish curry in recipe with king fish. Turned out very tasty and unique. Kudos and keep it up.
Thank you so much.
Awesome
Thank You!
It was perfect, added peper instead of triphal and tomoatoes instead of tamarind. Still tastes exactly like i used to have in goa. Thank you 🙂
Thank you so much!
Hi Suguna, can i use dessicated coconut if i dont have fresh for this recipe? Thanks
You will need fresh coconut for this recipe.
Hi Suguna
i m going to try ur goan fish curry but i dont have kodampuli with me so what should i add , will my curry not be tasty if i dont add kodampuli
You will need kodampuli for this recipe. You can use tamarind but the taste wont be the same.
All thanks to you for providing enough info about the berry that I could source it in the US!
Thank you!
Thank you for keeping Floyd’s culinary magic alive!
COVID 19 took him away, he was one of the first casualties… RIP Floyd!
I was looking for teppal/triphal, which we call templa/temphla in Goa and my search brought me to your site.
Kashmiri chillies are practically a staple in Goan cusine.
Looks amazing!! What kind of fish would you recommend for this dish? We tend to eat a lot of snapper, salmon, tuna, basa or barramundi where we’re at.
Tuna and Basa – avoid. Tuna will over power the curry while basa has no flavour. The rest will work.
I have seen your recipe is really good and helpful. Thank you
Thank you so much 🙂
Hello,
Thank you for a great recipe.
I am in the process of making it and seems like I have into an issue.
I used Kashmiri chilies without the seeds and it has become really hot!
The color, it seems, comes only when dip the Kashmiri chilies in water and I didn’t put them so I am not getting any color.
Don’t know what to do- add more coconut, add milk, add haldi!
Kindly help.
If it has become spicy adding some coconut milk will make it mild.
Great recipe. Came pretty close to what I had at Ritz Classic, Panjim.
Thank you very very much for this great dish 🙂
Amazing!
Tried this recipe twice. Once with shrimp and second time with Salmon. It turned out to be great both the times. Kudos to Suguna.
With Salmon, I used both tamarind and kodumpalli(kokum) from ready made pump. I used tamarind bit less to start with and then adjusted the kokum pulp to get right amount of sourness during simmering. I also added dried 2-3 tepple berries in the curry during simmering.
Thanks Suguna.
Thank You!
hi, planning to try – but first i must lay my hands on teppal.
any substitute for this? or is it seasonal?
i know you are very clear, but just want to make sure, because
most recipes use kokum and
kudampulli inerchangeably.
the claw shaped tamarind is the flavour i love for fish curries.
Hi Maria, you can omit the teppal and just use kodampuli. Not kokum
Hi Suguna,
Your recipe is pretty close to what I had in Goa recently. I’d like to mention though it was with Kokum and was fabulous.
Somebody asked if you could without Teppal and my answer would be NO. 🙂 You cannot have a Goan fish curry without this amazing spice. What I had was actually fresh Teppal (they are green small berry like fruits) and flavor was out of the world.
Thanks for sharing.
Keep rocking Kannamma !!
Thanks after a long time found a recipe I loved the taste.. couldn’t upload to your blog
But thank you once again
Sheela (Australia)
Good recipe
I don’t have “teppal berries” handy, What should I replace it with please?
Just omit it.