Fish Head Curry

The Singapore dish a Keralan cook invented in 1949, a snapper head in a tamarind and curry leaf gravy

Origin: Singapore

From the journey of Curry Leaf.

This dish could only have been invented in a city where two kitchens shared a street, and it has a date and a name attached. Around 1949, M. J. Gomez, a cook from Kerala running a small restaurant on Sungei Road in Singapore, noticed that Chinese customers prized the head of a large fish, which South Indian cooking had traditionally discarded or used for stock. He put a whole red snapper head into a South Indian tamarind fish curry and sold it to them. It is now served in Chinese, Malay, and Indian restaurants across Singapore and Malaysia, and it is one of the small number of dishes that genuinely belongs to all three communities. The gravy is South Indian in structure: a tamarind and coconut base, a tempering of mustard seed and curry leaves, and the sour-hot balance of a Keralan or Tamil fish curry. What is not Indian is the centrepiece, and what is not Chinese is the spicing. Okra and aubergine go in, and often tomato, and the head is served whole in the pot with everyone digging for the cheek, which is the prized part. Daun kari is the Malay name for the leaf, and its presence beyond the Indian community is one of the clearest markers of how completely Tamil labour migration reshaped the Malayan kitchen. Curry leaves now appear in Chinese-Malaysian butter prawns and salted egg dishes, fried crisp, a use no Indian cook would recognise. Singapore and Penang between them hold the largest curry leaf culture outside South Asia.

Ingredients

Fish

1 whole red snapper head, about 1 kg, halved
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt

Souring

40 g tamarind, soaked in 400 ml warm water

Base

4 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
3 sprigs fresh curry leaves
2 whole onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste

Spices

4 tbsp fish curry powder, or 3 tbsp coriander with 1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric

Vegetables

2 whole tomatoes, quartered
8 whole okra, topped
1 whole aubergine, cut into thick wedges
3 whole green chillies, slit

To Finish

300 ml coconut milk
1.5 tsp salt, or to taste

Method

Rub the fish head with the turmeric and salt and leave for 20 minutes, then rinse and pat dry.
Squeeze and strain the tamarind, discarding the fibre, and reserve the water.
Heat the oil in a wide, deep pan and pop the mustard seeds, then add the fenugreek and the curry leaves.
Add the onions and cook for eight minutes until soft and golden, then the ginger-garlic paste for two minutes.
Stir in the curry powder and turmeric and fry for two minutes with a splash of water so the spices do not catch.
Pour in the tamarind water, bring to a simmer, add the aubergine, and cook for eight minutes.
Add the tomatoes, okra, and green chillies and simmer for a further five minutes.
Lower the fish head into the gravy, spooning it over, cover, and simmer very gently for 10 to 12 minutes until the flesh comes away at the cheek.
Pour in the coconut milk, warm through for two minutes without boiling, and taste for salt and sourness.
Serve in the pan with plenty of rice, and let people dig for the cheek.

Notes

Ask a fishmonger for a large snapper or grouper head and have it halved. It is usually cheap and is the whole point; fillets make a perfectly good curry that is not this dish. Malaysian and Singaporean fish curry powder (Baba's is the standard brand) is coriander-heavy and mild. It is worth buying rather than approximating. Three sprigs of curry leaves is a Malayan quantity rather than an Indian one, and it is correct. It does not keep well; fish head curry is made and eaten. Serve with plain rice, and traditionally with a plate of sliced cucumber and pineapple to cool the mouth.

The Gastrographer

Name: Fish Head Curry
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Singapore
Ingredients: 1 whole red snapper head, about 1 kg, halved; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp salt; 40 g tamarind, soaked in 400 ml warm water; 4 tbsp groundnut oil; 1 tsp black mustard seeds; 1 tsp fenugreek seeds; 3 sprigs fresh curry leaves; 2 whole onions, thinly sliced; 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste; 4 tbsp fish curry powder, or 3 tbsp coriander with 1 tbsp chilli powder; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 2 whole tomatoes, quartered; 8 whole okra, topped; 1 whole aubergine, cut into thick wedges; 3 whole green chillies, slit; 300 ml coconut milk; 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control