Unlike Thai food, the green curry in Parsi food is often seen as the poor cousin of the red curry.
I am not really sure why but you will never see it at family celebrations or dinners where someone special has been invited. In most Parsi households the green curry is also a fall back dinner option for a Wednesday night when mums don’t know what to cook next.
Food relations aside, the beauty of this curry is in its simplicity and ease to make. It is also very versatile and tastes great with fish, mutton or even with some potatoes and peas as a vegetarian option. Moreover, because it uses almost the same ingredients as a green chutney, you can even just use some leftover chutney, add the missing spices and voila! you have a whole new dish – amazing eh?
For those that are a fan of the Green Thai Curry – a caution. This neither tastes nor looks anything like the Thai version – this one is 100% Parsi style. Below, I’ve made my curry with some fresh Surmai I got from the market. However, you can also make it with mutton (account for longer cooking times) or with prawns. Here’s how you make it – ingredient at the end as always.
The first step for any curry is to make the curry paste. This is where you put in most of the raw spices, coconut, coriander, garlic and so on. I suggest that you grind the coconut and garlic first with plenty of water before adding in the other ingredients.
Once you have a fine paste, in a heavy bottomed pan add some oil and heat. Add in the wheat flour and fry it until it is of a bread crumb consistency. The wheat flour acts as the binding agent for your curry and ensures that the coconut doesn’t separate from the spices. Once the flour is crumbled add the curry paste. Fry until the masala is no longer coating the sides of the pan.
Most of the work for your curry is now done. Next, add in atleast 2 – 3 cups water based on the consistency you prefer as well as the potatoes, curry patta and the spices. Let the curry simmer on slow until the potatoes are half cooked.
Meanwhile, marinate your fish in some ginger-garlic paste and salt and let it sit for 10 – 15 mins while the curry simmers
When the potatoes are half cooked, carefully drop in the fish pieces into the curry and give it a slow stir. If you stir the curry too much you risk the fish pieces breaking so be careful. A quick note that if you are making this curry with mutton then you must marinate it atleast 3 – 4 hours before cooking the curry and add it in the earlier step itself with the potatoes. I prefer not pressure cooking my mutton as I feel it dies a second death in there. However, if you want a quick fix dinner then you can pressure cook the mutton separately and add it in now.
Half-cover the pan and let the curry simmer on slow for another 10 – 15 minutes until the fish is cooked. You can also add in eggs if you’d like some boiled egg with your curry (and which Parsi is going to refuse that!) or some green peas if you are a vegetarian.
Enjoy the curry with some freshly steamed rice and some tangy Kachubar. And, don’t listen to the critics… this curry is a great lunch or dinner anytime during the week – not only Wednesday’s!
To make enough for 6 you will need:
Half coconut grated
1 bunch of fresh coriander
2 tsp jeera
6 green chillies
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 pod of garlic (10 – 12 cloves)
1 fresh tomato chopped
1.5 tsp each of turmeric, red chilli and curry powders
2 stalks of fresh curry leaves (optional)
2 potatoes
1 serving spoon wheat flour
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste
YUM!!! will try it out. want more info about your dhansak to Dubai. have told my parsi friend in Mumbai about you hope she gets her food from you, she is not mad about cooking, so gets food delivered.
Hi Louise,
Thanks so much for stopping by and also for the recommendation. Well the Dhansak to Dubai was for a Dhansak fan based there. He had someone coming down to Mumbai so I cooked and freezed all of it for him. The friend then took it to Dubai and considering it is quite a short flight it was still frozen when he received it. He continued to then unfreeze and eat it as required 🙂 For your friend in Mumbai, do tell her to drop me a line – I would love to explore how we can serve up some Parsi food as well as dips and desserts to her!
is there a site for votes, can I vote for you?
Thanks Louise for wanting to vote but don’t think there is one like that quite yet. Your comments and repeat visits are more than enough to make me happy. Glad you liked the blog!
Hello
All the curries i’ve ever made (just the one prawn curry), has me chopping up the coconut, putting it in the mixer and then using the milk. You’re saying to grind the coconut and the garlic together so it looks like the consistency of fat chutney?
In parsi curries we basically grind all the ingredients except for the dry masalas together before cooking. It will be easier to first grind the coconut, then add in the garlic and grind that and then add in the coriander etc. That’s just the order I prefer – you can dump everything in and try grinding it too but that makes it hard to make it into a smooth paste and hence the one at a time formula.
Hi Perzen
Just tried the recipe today! The curry has turned out awesome!! Keep up the good work on your blog!
Thanks so much Monaz – glad the curry came out well for you 🙂
Can I make replace the fish with chicken.. If so how much time should I marinate the chicken..
Ps- all your recipes are such a success that everybody is always asking for more 🙂
Hi Payal,
Yes you can replace though green curry will probably taste better with mutton rather than chicken. If you’re using chicken its the same marinade of a little turmeric and red chilli powder but make sure you poke a few holes in the chicken so the masala can penetrate. If you’re using mutton then once you fry the masala and add water I suggest you empty the curry and the marinated mutton into a cooker and cook the meat until tender (about 2 whistles and 15 mins on slow). Thanks so much for your great feedback!
Tashnu here 🙂 I tried your green curry recipe and it turned our real yummy. Also have made the mawa cakes and they were also a success. The kids loved them too. Keep posting!
Hello:
Thanks for the great website and recipes. Is there a way to print a recipe?
hi again perzen,
loved the curry.
although i must admit, due to a little less coriander on hand, it wasn’t as green as 1 would have liked.
but the taste was just YUM!!!!!!
made it yesterday and my every1 just raved and raved.
thank u so very much.
thanks to your website, i stay in touch with my roots and learn our cuisine w/o having ever stepped into a kitchen at home when i was younger.
love,
delshad
Hi what is curry powders? Is there a recipe for it?
Its basically a dry masala like a red chilli powder would be and should be available at any Indian store.
Hi Perzen,
Thanks a heap for this receipe, it turned out super delicious. Im a Goan (from Goa) and we too make a similar green fish curry which actually is not served at special occasions, so true. However we do add a bit of tamarind pulp towards the end just to cut down on the sweetness of the coconut.
Your receipe really stands out. So keep the recipes rolling.