Sri Lankan fish curry cooked with creamy coconut milk.

You’ll love this easy fish curry recipe for its simplicity and taste.

Thalalpath fish curry also known as “Malu Kirata” in Sinhalese is packed with flavour and enhanced with the richness of coconut milk giving the fish gravy, its thick creamy taste.

The white fish curry is non-spicy, making it all the easier to feed fussy little eaters.

If you have loved ones suffering from gastritis don’t bother making a separate meal that is suited for them as this coconut Fish Curry and its thick gravy, can be equally enjoyed by them too!

Why you should try this fish curry recipe.

If you make curries, you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry to make this Thalapath(sailfish)curry.

It’s healthy proteins with very little fat and still tastes good.

The perfect curry to serve even to the hardcore fish haters(I should know as I have a few in my family).

Meal ideas for the Sri Lankan fish curry.

• For breakfast.
  • Serve with String Hoppers and a spicy Pol Sambol/Coconut Sambol.
  • Serve with coconut roti and seeni sambol.
  • The mild fish curry pairs well with freshly baked Bread or Hoppers and Seeni Sambol (caramelized onions with a sweet and spicy mix). 
  • Serve with kiribath(milk rice) and a spicy lunumiris sambol.
  • For a healthier option, steamed red/brown rice and any vegetable dish along with the creamy fish curry. 

• A few rice recipes to pair with this mild Sri Lankan fish curry.
  • Sri Lankan Yellow Rice(turmeric rice)
  • Indian fragrant ghee rice(nei choru).
  • Regular white rice.

• Here are a few vegetarian curries you can serve this seafood curry with.
  • Beetroot curry,
  • beans curry,
  • spicy dry potato curry,
  • pumpkin curry,
  • butternut squash curry.

• Salads and sambols to serve with the Thalapath(white fish)curry.
  • Parsley salad(sambol)with coconut.
  • Jackfruit-coconut sambol(kos mallum).
  • Bitter gourd fry(Sri Lankan karawila sambol)
  • gotu kola(pennywort salad)sambol.
  • coconut and beetroot salad(mallum)

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Frequently asked questions: Sri Lankan fish curry

• Types of fish you can use to make the seafood curry.
  • Any Fish that is firm in texture like Yellowfin tuna, seer fish or Spanish mackerel can be substituted with thalapath(sailfish).
  • You can cook the fish with the skin or without the skin.

• How many people can you serve this mildly spiced white fish curry?
  • This recipe will roughly feed 4 people and stretch to include 5 if there are kids as well
  • For 2-3 people reduce the amount of fish to 500g, garlic 1 tablespoon and depending on how much creamy gravy you want to cut it down to half.

• Storing
  • Once the fish curry is completely cool, refrigerate the curry and use it within 2-3 days.
  • Because you are using coconut milk, I would advise you to consume the curry within 2 days.
  • The more you leave it in the fridge the more the texture and taste of the fish curry reduces.

• Freezing the coconut curry.
  • Once cooled, you can freeze it for 3 days but please keep in mind that the taste and texture will definitely change. 

• Reheating.
  • Leave the fish curry to reach room temperature, transfer to a pan and gradually heat the dish.
  • I would advise not to use the microwave to reheat the curry as I find it becomes too dry and leaves the microwave smelling of fish.

• Stop food waste.
  • The fish can also be cooked down to make a leftover curry(use my recipe for leftover curries recipe)and simply eat with a few slices of bread.

Utensils and appliances needed.

Chopping board and knife

Medium-sized deep pan to cook the fish

More fish curry recipes!

Sri Lankan red chilli fish curry.

How to make canned fish curry.

Sri Lankan canned fish stir-fry.

Sri Lankan sour fish curry(ambulthiyal)

RECIPE DIFFICULTY-EASY

How to make fish curry.

The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients to cook the Sri Lankan fish curry.

700g of fish steaks of sailfish cut into large chunks(thalapath, for substitute fish, refer to above notes)

3 tablespoons of oil 

A sprig of curry leaves

2 tablespoons of minced garlic(about 3 cloves of garlic)

1 medium-sized onion finely sliced

1 teaspoon of fenugreek

1 large tomato chopped

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder

2 green chillies

2″ piece of Cinnamon

1/2 cup of thin coconut milk(1/4 cup of thick coconut milk diluted in 1/2 a cup of water)

1 cup of coconut milk(reduce to 1/2 a cup if you want less gravy)

Salt to taste

Method

Make sure you cut the fish into fairly big chunks.

How to wash the fish chunks for the curry.

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Place the fish chunks in a large wide bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder, fill the bowl with water and rinse the fish quickly.

Do not soak the fish longer but rinse twice and completely drain any excess water.

How to cook the fish curry.

Place a pan over the low-medium fire and pour in the oil(3 tbsp)

Once the oil heats, add the curry leaves(1 sprig), minced garlic (2 tbsp), onions(1 finely sliced), and the fenugreek(1 tsp).

Saute the ingredients until the onions turn soft for about 3-5 minutes over low heat, avoid burning the fenugreek seeds, if the fenugreek seeds burn they’ll add bitterness to the fish curry.

Add the tomatoes (1 large, chopped), turmeric(1/2 tsp), chili powder (1/2 tsp), and the green chilies (2), cinnamon piece(2″).

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Reduce heat to low, cook for 3 minutes breaking down the tomatoes.

Pour in the thin coconut milk(1/2 cup, to make thin milk simply mix 1/4 cup thick milk with 1/2 cup of water).

Stir and slow simmer over low fire for 8-10 minutes, season with salt.

Gently add the sailfish chunks into the thin coconut milk and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.

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Add the thick coconut milk (1/2-1 cup as per your preference)to the fish curry. taste and season with salt.

Slow simmer for another 3-5 minutes or until you have a thick creamy coconut milk fish curry.

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