Easy Monkfish Curry Recipe

You’ll love this Easy Monkfish Curry Recipe made with coconut milk. This Monkfish Curry Indian Style is easy, delicious and you can make it several times during weeknight dinners.

Monkfish Curry Indian Style

You’ll love the meaty texture and sweet subtle flavor of Monkfish in a light & extremely delicious coconut milk based curry sauce.

The texture and taste of Monkfish is similar to that of Lobster. Perhaps, that’s why Monkfish is also called “a poor man’s lobster.”

We love it’s meatiness and always buy wild caught Monkfish, alas! it’s certainly odd to trace wild caught fishes here in the USA on a regular basis.

If you are eager to find a similar variety do look at your local Whole Foods Market.

Also, you can cook Monkfish fillet in a wide variety of way & the meaty, firm texture makes the fish easier to handle in different kinds of recipes.

That’s what we love the most about Monkfish! A winner in everyway.

You too will love this Indian Style Monkfish fillet recipe because it extremely approachable & all the more weeknight dinner friendly.

And the best part is that you can fix this Monkfish curry recipe with pantry staple ingredients.

If you love rice as an accompaniment you may make the curry sauce a little thinner just like today’s easy Monkfish curry recipe.

Or else, if you fancy some crusty bread as a side I would recommend a thicker curry sauce.

You can cook this Monkfish fillet recipe with any neutral oil and also skip the curry leaves & mustard if you are not familiar with them.

They do add a lovely aroma and Indianize the recipe way more. Therefore, I will recommend them but again the curry won’t be any less tasty without them!

Monkfish Curry Recipe Ingredients

As I promised, the ingredients are all pantry staples 🙂

1. Monkfish Fillet: Go for wild caught Monkfish Fillet and dice it according to your preference. We love 2″ or 2.5″ chunks.
2. Onion: Made into fine paste.
3. Ginger Garlic paste: Try my homemade Ginger Garlic paste recipe. It’ll last you the longest, you can freeze it and it won’t turn green. You’ll love it.
4. Tomatoes: Boiled, de skinned and made into a paste. Or you can make raw tomatoes paste too.
5. Tomato paste.
6. Coconut milk: Make it fresh at home or use store bought. Both methods work well for the recipe. I used store bought.
7. Spices: Turmeric powder, chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder.
8. Any neutral oil.
9. For tempering: Whole black mustard seeds and curry leaves (Skip them if you want).

Easy Monkfish Curry Recipe – Tips & Tricks

1. Fry the Monkfish: 5 mins is all you need to fry the Monkfish fillets. This easy process adds tons of good flavors to the curry sauce.
2. Fry each ingredient until oil oozes out: This is a very important technique of Indian cooking. You must roast the spices, the onion, tomato and ginger garlic paste until oil begins to leave the sides of the pan. This in return will intensify the flavor of each ingredient & kill the raw smell too.
3. Mix well after adding the coconut milk: There should not be any masala lumps. Stir the sauce vigorously in clockwise motion and mix eveything well.
4. Do not over simmer the fish: This is extremely important. For flaky, meaty, juicy Monkfish simmer the fish in the curry sauce for not more than 5 mins on low heat.

How to cook Monkfish curry?

Steps in words below pics

What does Monkfish taste like?

Monkfish tastes like crab meat. It’s meaty, subtly sweet, quiet dense, firm and a flaky fish with a texture also like crab meat.

How long to cook Monkfish Curry?

You need to cook Monkfish Curry until the curry sauce is done and the fish is cooked through. It took me 20 minutes approximately from start to finish.

How do you know when Monkfish is cooked?

The best way to judge whether a Monkfish is well cooked is by looking at the texture of the flesh. The flesh will become springy to the touch, the fish fillet pieces will also shrink a bit.

This is what you can do to check the doneness of Monkfish.

Insert a knife or a fork in the fish fillet and check if the knife comes out hot, that means that the fish is all cooked through.

Is Monkfish saltwater fish?

Yes, Monkfish is saltwater fish. Here’s a good read all about Monkfish.

What to serve with Monkfish curry?

You can wash down a Monkfish curry with fluffy white rice, choose any variety that you love.

We also love it with white crusty sour dough bread and in that case I make the curry sauce a little thicker.

Can you freeze Monkfish Curry?

Yes, you can freeze Monkfish curry.

Here’s how you can do so:

1. Cool the curry completely.
2. Make the curry sauce thicker, add less water. You can always add more water while re-heating the easy Monkfish curry.
3. Transfer it into freezer safe containers. We always love portion size containers, so easy to grab and re heat.
4. Freeze the Monkfish curry up to 3 months.

Note: If you use reduced fat coconut milk in the recipe there’s always a slight risk that the sauce might separate a bit when you thaw it. But, in that case when you reheat the sauce it might re-amalgamate, if not it will still remain edible and will taste just as good.

Can you reheat Monkfish curry?

Yes, you can reheat Monkfish Curry just like any other curry.

Reheat in a pan, wok or saucepan on the stove top or take the help of your micro wave oven.

Pro Tip: If reheating on the stove top:- Thaw the fish curry overnight in the fridge. Bring it to a boil on medium high heat first, as soon as it begins to bubble reduce the heat to low & simmer until the fish is piping hot all the way through. If you let the fish curry boil hard the fish will become chewy & toughen.

Love Fish? Try Easy Fish Recipes from Foodies Terminal.

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