Fish head curry became a popular dish in Malaysia and Singapore around the second half of the 20th century. With South Indian origins, the various ethnic groups of the Malay Peninsula have added their own accents to the dish, and recipes vary from place to place, group to group, family to family and shop to shop. No two recipes are ever the same. My Aunty Chin makes a great fish head curry and this is an adaptation of her recipe; with powerful sweet and sour Nyonya flavours. Every time a bowl of fish head curry comes to the table, I’m reminded of a childhood full of adults goading us kids to eat an eye, closely followed by our groans of disgust when one of the adults finally let us off the hook and ate it themselves. I’m still not keen on it. Go for the cheek instead, that’s where the best meat is.
Fish head curry became a popular dish in Malaysia and Singapore around the second half of the 20th century. With South Indian origins, the various ethnic groups of the Malay Peninsula have added their own accents to the dish, and recipes vary from place to place, group to group, family to family and shop to shop. No two recipes are ever the same. My Aunty Chin makes a great fish head curry and this is an adaptation of her recipe; with powerful sweet and sour Nyonya flavours. Every time a bowl of fish head curry comes to the table, I’m reminded of a childhood full of adults goading us kids to eat an eye, closely followed by our groans of disgust when one of the adults finally let us off the hook and ate it themselves. I’m still not keen on it. Go for the cheek instead, that’s where the best meat is.