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Restaurant Style Curry & Tandoori Recipes | BIR Curries

Monkfish Curry

By 27 Comments

Monkfish curry just plain gets it!

I’m a big fan of monkfish. In fact I wasn’t sure if I should cook it into a curry the first time I did.

I needn’t have worried. This monkfish curry is one of my all time favourite curry house style curries.

If you’re looking for something really different and better than you’ll find on most curry house menus, this is one you’ve got to try.

monkfish curry

Any firm white fish can be used in this curry.

FORWARD PREPARATION

You will need to make my base curry sauce before starting this recipe. You could try the small portion which is enough for this recipe or the large batch which will make many curries.

Once you’ve mastered the quick and easy art of making curry sauce, you’ll be eating like this all the time! 

With that magic base sauce, you can throw this together very quickly without having to chop onions or anything else for that matter. 

It is also a good idea to get your ingredients together before starting cooking. This makes everything a lot easier.

 

Monkfish curry is one of the fastest BIR curries to make

Monkfish is a delicious and meaty fish. The sauce, however is great with many other seafood varieties. 

Mussels, clams, seabass… you name it, it will probably be really good. 

Seafood cooks really quickly so there is no need to pre-cook it as in other restaurant style curries. Be sure to watch it carefully. You just want to cook the monkfish through. Perfect monkfish curry every time!

WHAT TO SERVE THIS MONKFISH CURRY WITH

You could serve this delicious curry on its own or together some of the other British Indian restaurant (BIR) curries on my site.

There is so much lovely flavour in the curry you won’t need anything else but a portion of fluffy white rice or chapati and perhaps a good cold beer or two to wash it down.

To make this monkfish curry recipe easier, I have included step by step photos of the cooking process below. 

Adding garlic and ginger paste to the pan

Heat the oil over medium high heat in the pan and then stir in the garlic and ginger paste.

Adding spices to pan

Stir in the ground spices.

Stirring in the tomato puree

Stir in the tomato puree and bring to a rolling simmer.

Adding base sauce to pan

Stir in a ladle or so of the base sauce and bring to simmer. Add more when your curry is looking dry.

Adding monkfish to the pan

Now stir in the monkfish and ensure it is coated with the bubbling sauce.

Stirring the coconut milk into the pan

Add the coconut milk and stir well.

Monkfish curry

Add the kasoori methi (dried fenugreek) leaves and coriander (cilantro) and stir these in.

monkfish curry restaurant style

See the crusty bit around the edges? This is caramelised base sauce. Scrape and stir this in for fantastic flavour.

If you like the look of this restaurant style monkfish curry recipe, you might like to try some of these too…

Seafood curry
Easy monkfish curry (no base)
Easy prawn curry
Keralan fish curry
Prawn Pathia – restaurant style

monkfish curry

So good with an ice cold beer!

The finished curry

Dig in!

Yield: 2

How To Make Monkfish Curry Just Like They Do At The Fancy Indian Restaurants

monkfish curry
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
  • 1/2 - 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tbsp mixed powder
  • 70ml (1/4 cup) tomato puree
  • 300ml (1 1/4 cup) heated curry sauce - Here is how I make mine
  • 300g (11 oz) monkfish cut into pieces
  • 60ml (scant 1/4 cup) thick coconut milk
  • 1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro)
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat the ghee/oil in a frying pan.
  2. Stir in the garlic and ginger paste and let it sizzle for about 30 seconds.
  3. Pour in the turmeric, cumin, coriander powder, red chilli powder and mixed powder.
  4. Allow to sizzle for about twenty seconds and then add the tomato puree.
  5. Let these fry for a further 30 seconds and then add 1 to 2 ladles of base curry sauce. Only stir if the base sauce is sticking to the pan. The base will caramelise to the sides of the pan as it cooks. Stir this back in for additional flavour. Add more base sauce whenever your curry is looking dry.
  6. Add the monkfish pieces and coat then with the sauce to cook through.
  7. Allow to cook for 3 to 5 minutes until the fish is cooked through and the curry sauce is hot. Stir in the coconut milk.
  8. Check for seasoning and sprinkle with salt to taste.
  9. Squeeze the lemon/lime juice (if using) over the top and garnish with freshly chopped coriander and garam masala. Serve immediately.

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© Dan Toombs
Cuisine: British Indian Restaurant (BIR)

 
I hope you enjoy this monkfish curry. If you do give it a try, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

 

Comments

  4. emly says

    Tried this for dinner and it was fantastic..added king prawns for a bit of different texture and it worked really well. Will definitely be batch cooking the curry sauce. Thanks for a great recipe.

    Reply

  5. hayley says

    Lush recipe. I added finely chopped spring onion stems to the sauce and fried sliced white onion before the monk fish. A few mins before serving, added chopped plum tomatoes.

    Probably one of the best curries I’ve made to date, thank you!

    Reply

  7. Rob says

    Hi Dan I love making curry and have bought some monkfish to use for a change. I saw this recipe and thought that it looked extremely nice. I’m just a little confused about the three cups of curry sauce it specifies using in the ingredients list.
    What curry sauce do you use? Please could you help me on the matter as I’m really geared up to cook this dish..
    Many thanks rob?

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Hi Rob

      Thanks for your question. Just use the base curry sauce on my site. It is on the home page. You could also type base curry sauce into the search.

      Dan

      Reply

  8. r. sewell says

    So where does the lemon juice figure? Why do you say cook the fish with the sauce, then state that you should part-cook the fish seporately THEN add the sauce? Some attention to detail wouldn’t go amiss.

    Reply

  9. Bob Small says

    That was exceptional one of the most tasty currys I have made and that is saying something as I live in Leicester and my daughter in law is Goan.

    Reply

  10. Patty says

    I have to agree with r.sewell’s comments 24.10.16 ….
    Your method does not follow the list of ingredients so it’s not clear whether additional spices are used prior to adding the curry sauce, which if you’re cooking in the pan as you go, will be warm. You mention pre-made sauce but the method comes across unclear.
    I’ll give it a go, but as r.sewell said, it needs attention to detail which was a fair comment but you haven’t picked up on that in your response. Only wanting to help. How many (confused) others haven’t made your recipe I wonder.

    Reply

  12. Spencer Leak says

    Hi Dan – what is the ‘mixed powder’ you refer to in the e ingredients please.

    Many Thanks

    Spencer

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Mixed powder is widely available in Asian shops inexpensively or you could make your own.
      If you really can’t get any use curry powder.
      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply

  13. Chris Phillips says

    I just made this and turned out really good. Made a few changes though as I added more heat in extra hot chilli powder. Also I mixed monkfish, cod, prawns and squid and it was really good so thanks for the recipe.

    I also added fennel to the base sauce and I guess you can put any vegetables in there? Diluted it with homemade fish stock which was perfect for a seafood curry!

    Which book are the recipes for these in- the chicken tikka, lamb vindaloo etc. I would like to get that to try some more and I think I might get the Thai one to try those too.

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      I am glad you enjoyed the monkfish curry, great to make changes to suit your own taste.
      Sounds great with fennel, good idea.
      The Curry Guy Bible has most of the popular recipes in it like tikka and vindaloo but the monkfish curry one is just online.
      My Thai book is out 15 April but available now for pre order on Amazon.
      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply

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