This fish fry has to be one of my favourite ways to prepare fish.
My wife and I hired an overnight riverboat in Alleppey, Kerala and it was fantastic!
The scenery was simply amazing and the food out of this world! This fish fry was prepared for us by the chef that evening on a barbecue at the back of the boat.
I watched him make it and knew I had to make it when I got home.
In Kerala, the fish fry is made with silver pomfret which is delicious but difficult to get in England outside of London. So here I prepared it with sea bream for my wife and we weren’t disappointed.

Currently my favourite fish recipe!
About the recipe…
So the chef lit up the barbecue and when the coals were flaming hot, he placed a frying pan on the grill and poured a large amount to coconut oil into it and brought it to a bubble.
The amount of oil used was crazy but it added so much to the dish. I guess when you figure how much we love fish and chips here in the UK, the amount of oil used there was fine.
He brought out some small silver pomfret that had been scored and marinated with his special marinade and he placed them into the oil to fry.
The technique for cooking the fish fry was really unique…
As the marinated fish fried in the coconut oil, the chef continued to coat it with more marinade.
He spooned and marinade that had fallen into the oil back onto the fish.
Then he flipped them over and continued adding more marinade and spooning hot oil over the fish fry.
More and more marinade went into the pan and he kept coating the fish before letting it rain with fresh curry leaves.
Curry leaves play an important roll in this Kerala fish fry…
The two flavours that really hit you when you eat this fish fry are curry leaves and coconut oil.
You can of course taste the delicious marinade but it plays second fiddle to those fresh curry leaves and hot coconut oil.
You really can’t add too many curry leaves. Just take a few large handfuls and let them fall onto the fish and into the oil to flavour it.
If there’s one fish fry you’ve got to try, it’s this one!
Does this fish fry have to be cooked on a BBQ?
No. Cooking outdoors for me is a lot more fun. It is also the way I saw this fish fry cooked.
Feel free to take it indoors if you like and cook in a pan over medium-high heat.
Step by step photos…

Score the fish on both sides so that they soak up the flavour of the marinade and oil.

Marinate the fish for at least 20 minutes, rubbing the marinade right into the fish.

Melt a lot of oil. I used 8 tbsp spoons but the chef I learned this recipe from used a lot more.

Once the oil is hot, place the marinated fish in the oil and fry for about 5 minutes.

Flip the fish over and top with more marinade. You can continue adding more as needed, Don’t forget to keep basting the fish with marinade and oil.

Let in rain curry leaves as the fish cooks through. Notice how much more marinade I added.

The fish takes about 10 minutes to cook. Continue spooning oil and more of the marinade over the fish.
If you like this Kerala fish fry recipe, you might like to try some of these too…
Keralan prawn curry
Keralan fish curry
Keralan Lamb curry
Stir fried crispy lamb

Dig in! This is so good!
I have given details instruction on how to make the marinade below. If you would like to see step by step photos of the process, click here.
Alleppey Fish Fry
Ingredients
Instructions