Thai Coconut Fish Curry
Aromatic and zesty, this Thai coconut fish curry is light but intensely flavorful and perfect served with rice for dinner.
Ingredients needed
- Oil. I used avocado oil but coconut oil or olive oil can also be used.
- Onion.
- Fresh garlic cloves.
- Fresh ginger.
- Thai red curry paste. You can substitute the curry paste with spices like turmeric, chili powder, cumin and Garam Masala if you want more of an Indian-inspired dish.
- Coconut milk.
- Fish sauce.
- Brown sugar.
- Fresh lime juice. Lemon juice can also be used.
- White fish. Hake, snapper, mahi-mahi, cod, haddock, tilapia, halibut, bass.
- Fresh herbs: basil, cilantro/coriander and mint.
- Rice, to serve.
- Lime wedges, to serve.
- Fresh sliced chillies, to serve. Fresno, bird’s eye chillies, etc.
How to make Thai red coconut fish curry
- Sear the fish: Pat the fish dry with paper towels then drizzle with a little oil and season with salt. Sear in a hot pan until golden brown on both sides then remove and set aside.
- Make the curry: In the same pan, sauté the onion, garlic and ginger until soft and translucent. Add the curry paste and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Pour in the coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes, until slightly thicker. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Add the fish fillets to the curry sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes until the fish is fully cooked.
- Serve: Scatter over fresh herbs and finely sliced chillies then serve with lime wedges and steamed rice.
Can I add vegetables to this curry?
Absolutely. Red bell peppers, sugar snap or snow peas, broccoli, bok choy, spinach or green beans would all be delicious in this fish curry. Cook the vegetables with the onion and simmer in the sauce to allow time to cook thoroughly before adding the fish.
Can I make this ahead?
The sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept in the fridge. Reheat in the pan and add the fish to cook through. Leftover curry can be kept in the fridge for a day and reheated over gentle heat.
Serving suggestions
This fish curry is absolutely delicious served with rice (use cauliflower rice for a low carb/keto meal). I also love adding a side dish of sautéed vegetables and crispy potatoes would be delicious too.
Easy fish recipes
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 500 g (1lb) white fish
- 1 tsp salt
For the Thai red curry
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 400 g (14oz) coconut milk
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp lime juice
- handful fresh herbs Basil, coriander/cilantro, mint
To serve
- steamed rice
- lime wedges
- sliced chillies
Instructions
- Pat the fish dry with paper towels then drizzle with a little oil and season with salt.
- Sear in a hot pan until golden brown on both sides then remove and set aside.
- In the same pan, sauté the onion, garlic and ginger until soft and translucent.
- Add the curry paste and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Pour in the coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar.
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes, until slightly thicker. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Add the fish to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until the fish is fully cooked.
- Scatter over fresh herbs and finely sliced chillies then serve with lime wedges and steamed rice.
Perfect blend of hot /salty/ sweet. Great recipe!
Made on the camping stove top in cast iron pot. Easy peasy with deep flavouring THANKS
That sounds dreamy!
Outstanding! Might try the sauce with chicken or shrimp as an alternative to fish! But the fish was delicious!
Absolutely delishious!!! Fragrant, flavourfull umami dish. I added a teaspoon of miso paste to my sauce and also garnished with finely chopped scallions, chopped roasted salted peanuts and just a tiny splash of roasted sesame oil on top as a little bit goes a long way!
Enjoyed this recipe. Very easy to put together, very colorful and great tasting. I will definitely be cooking this recipe again thank you for posting.
Excellent flavor. I blackened the cod on griddle on the BBQ with Hickory Smoke. Also added Bay Leaf for cooking the sauce and Basil and Cilantro garnish at the end with some peanut pieces. Excellent sauce for leftovers as well. Next night did the same with Scallops and Shrimp.
This is now my absolute favourite Thai dish!! Made this last night, followed the recipe exactly just pureed the sauce before adding the fish, as long as my son doesn’t see the onions he will eat it 🙂
Thank you so much!!! Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes!
This turned out AMAZING! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Husband isn’t a big fan of fish, but really enjoyed it. Very flavourful but not overpowering or too intense.
Great recipe Alida! I didn’t fry the fish, and just added it to the sauce, and it was super delicious! It has made it into our family repertoire, and is a great base on which to riff….Thanks!
OMG!! This recipe came out great! I followed the instructions with a little bit extra oil, fish sauce and vegetables and WOW. Full of flavor, bold, spicy and perfect over rice. I’ll be making this again.