A whole or halved red snapper head simmered in a fiery South-Indian-style curry with coconut milk, tamarind and vegetables. Created by mamak cooks in Malaysia, a centrepiece of nasi kandar and banana-leaf menus.
Kari kepala ikan, fish head curry, is a South-Indian–Chinese fusion dish of Malaysia and Singapore, not eaten in this form in India, where the fish head is usually discarded. Its best-known origin story credits M.J. Gomez, a Malayalee immigrant from Kerala, who around 1949 cooked a whole red-snapper head in a South-Indian-style curry at his Singapore banana-leaf stall to appeal to Chinese customers who prized the head as a delicacy. The fiery vermillion gravy is built on fish curry powder, coconut milk, tamarind, fenugreek and mustard-seed tempering, with vegetables, and is a centrepiece of nasi kandar and banana-leaf menus, served with rice to soak up the gravy.
A bright, fiery, tangy, coconut-rich curry with deep fish flavour from the bones, the head meat gelatinous and tender, the vegetables soft. Eaten with rice, it is intense, savoury and the gravy is the best part.
The curry base is built by frying a fish curry powder paste (turmeric, coriander, cumin, fennel, chili) in oil with a fenugreek-and-mustard-seed tempering, the South-Indian signature. Coconut milk and tamarind form the gravy, vegetables (eggplant, okra, tomato) are added, and the fish head is slipped in last and simmered gently so it cooks through without falling apart. The head's bones and collagen thicken and enrich the gravy as it simmers.
Variations
A richer version adds more coconut milk. Some cooks use garoupa instead of snapper.
On the Palate
Where Kari Kepala Ikan sits in the Malaysian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
6 steps · 40 min
- 15 min
Mix 4 tbsp fish curry powder with water to a paste; set aside.
- 25 min
Temper 1 tsp fenugreek seeds and 1 tsp mustard seeds in 3 tbsp oil until they pop; add 1 chopped onion and fry 4 minutes.
- 38 min
Add the curry paste, 6 curry leaves and 2cm ginger; fry 5 minutes until the oil splits.
Watch outFry the curry paste until the oil splits out and floats to the edges — that separation is the sign the rawness is cooked off and the base is ready.
- 410 min
Pour in 400ml coconut milk, 200ml water and 2 tbsp tamarind juice; add 1 eggplant, 8 okra and 2 tomatoes; simmer 10 minutes.
- 512 min
Slip in 1 red snapper head (about 800g), cleaned; simmer gently 15 minutes until the head is cooked.
Watch outSlip the fish head in last and simmer gently — a hard boil breaks it apart before the collagen enriches the gravy.
- 64 min
Season with salt, scatter curry leaves, and serve hot with rice.
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