Indian Seafood Recipes: How to make Indian Food at Home

Do you love the exotic tastes of Indian food, but don’t get to go out as much as you would like? Maybe there aren’t any good Indian restaurants near you. My husband and I are passionate about Indian food. We love the spices the Indian people use in fish curry, rice, and sauce to create delicious Indian seafood recipes. Interestingly, some of the best Indian seafood dishes contain ingredients such as potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, and peanuts that are not native to India. Explorers brought these to India from the New World during colonialism.

Which fish is best to cook in a curry?

Indian seafood recipes use a variety of seafoods, such as shrimp, salmon, and white fish. To make Indian seafood curry, you want to use a firm white fish such as halibut, cod, or monkfish. We mostly use halibut. It stays moist and doesn’t dry out when cooking. Plus the fish doesn’t fall apart in the pan. However, I did make a salmon curry recipe in a previous post on homemade Indian food.

I am lucky to live in the suburbs of a metropolitan area where I have access to many of the ingredients needed for these recipes. Although, I have to let you in on a little secret. The creative part of me is really bad at following recipes, because I add a little extra of this, eliminate that, and generally change some of the ingredients to suit my tastes. Also, the part of me with a short attention span condenses steps and takes short cuts. But don’t worry, I am writing this to pass these tips on to you, so you can make these Indian seafood dishes without the traditional hassle.

Bengali fish curry

We love Bengal fish recipes from Southern India. This is one of my favorites that I have adapted to make easier. According to a friend of mine, from India, Indian cooking is extremely time consuming. Most women have servants that help with the cooking, as a matter of necessity, not wealth. You can see why I need to change the way I cook this tasty cuisine.

Ingredients for Bengali seafood recipe

• 2 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 cup peanut oil mixed with 2 tsp dry mustard
• 1 1/2 lbs. halibut cut into chunks
• 2 potatoes cut length wise into several pieces
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• tsp. salt or to taste
• 2 jalapeno chilies, seeded and sliced lengthwise
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 3 cups of water
• cooked coconut rice to serve

Tips: If you don’t have peanut oil, use vegetable or canola oil. Also, I typically use jalapenos because I always have them on hand, but you can use whatever pepper you want, based on your heat threshold. You can also use whatever cooked rice you would like. I heated a teaspoon of butter in a pan and added about 1/3 cup shredded coconut with the rice before adding the water.

Directions for Indian seafood recipe

1. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil mixture in a frying pan over medium high heat. Then toss in the fish and cook for a minute on each side. Remove fish and set aside.
2. Once fish is removed, heat the rest of the oil in the same pan, and cook the potatoes for 2 minutes.
3. After that, add in the rest of the spices, stirring for one minute. Then add the water. When the water boils, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Finally, return the fish to the pan and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Shrimp pooris- Indian seafood recipes

Ingredients for South Indian shrimp recipes

• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 2 crushed cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 14oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 lb. cooked shrimp, peeled
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• pooris or naan to serve
• fresh chopped cilantro to garnish

How to make shrimp Indian seafood recipes

1. Cook spices in oil over medium low heat for 30 seconds, in order to release flavor. Then stir in the onion and cook for about 1 minute
2. After that, add the tomatoes and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes until tomatoes start to break down.
3. Meanwhile, heat the bread in the oven.
4. Once the tomatoes have broken down, add the shrimp to heat through.
5. Serve shrimp mixture on top of bread and garnish with cilantro.

Goan seafood curry

In recipes Indian or Thai that call for coconut milk, I always opt for coconut oil for extra flavor in cooking, instead of vegetable oil. We grow coconuts here and usually make our own coconut milk.

Ingredients for Goan fish curry

• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp black mustard seeds
• 12 curry leaves
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamon
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 1/4 cups coconut milk
• 1 lb. skinless, boneless white fish
• 1/2 lb. de-veined and peeled shrimp
• juice and zest of one lime
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions for Goan fish

1. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Then stir in the mustard seeds, curry leaves, and onion. Cook until onion is translucent.
2. Once the onions are tender, add turmeric, cardamon, and chili powder, stirring to mix well.
3. After that, add the coconut milk and garlic. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium, stirring for about 2 minutes.
4. Next, add the fish, simmering on low for 2 minutes. Finally, add the shrimp, cooking for an additional 4 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and fish flakes easily.
5. Add lime zest and salt and juice to taste. Serve.

You can use a frying pan instead of a wok. However, woks are specially designed for stir frying, because the small base keeps foods from being constantly exposed to the heat. I have included some sponsored links for woks in case you need one.

Fish with Yogurt Sauce

What you need to make fish in yogurt

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 large onion sliced
• 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• full cup plain yogurt
• 2 tbsp chickpea flour
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1 lb firm white fish fillets such as halibut or sole, skin off, and patted dry

How to make fish in yogurt

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Cook the onion in oil until soft and translucent. Then add ginger and continue cooking for another minute. After that, stir in turmeric, cinnamon, and cloves.
2. Once this mixture is well blended, remove to a bowl, and stir in the yogurt.
3. Now, mix the flour, chili powder, and 1/8 tsp salt and pepper each, on a flat plate. Lightly dust both sides of fish fillets with the flour mixture.
4. When fish is ready, heat remaining oil in pan over medium-high. When is is hot, reduce heat to medium and cook fish about 2 minutes per side until the thickest part reaches 145F and outsides are golden brown.
5. Add the sauce to the pan with the fish to reheat. Serve with rice.

Traditionally, once the initial ingredients are mixed with the yogurt, the mixture is supposed to be processed into a smooth sauce. For a weeknight meal, I found this to be too time consuming, so I skipped that step. My sauce was rather thick, partially for that reason and partly because I used Greek yogurt, which is thicker than regular yogurt. I didn’t think of it at the time, but I could have thinned the sauce with a little coconut milk, which would have given additional flavor to the dish.

If you want to process the yogurt mixture for a smoother sauce, here is a sponsored link for my food processor. I have also included links for the spiralizer and pasta maker I use.

Chickpea flat breads to accompany Indian seafood recipes

Of course, you can buy traditional naan in the store or use pitta bread if naan is not available in your area. However, cooking is a creative outlet for me so I like to try out new recipes. I am usually busy during the week, therefore I resort to quick weekday meals. But I like to take one day on the weekend to create a world feast like these Indian seafood recipes.

Ingredients for chickpea flat breads

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 10 oz chickpea flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
• finely chopped jalapeno, to taste
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• melted butter for brushing
• 1 cup cold water

How to make flat breads

1. Begin by mixing the flours, salt, and other seasonings. Then gradually stir in the water. Continue kneading dough with hands until well mixed. After that, let it rest for 10 minutes.
2. When the 10 minutes is up, divide the dough into 8 equal balls. Then roll them out into 5″ circles.
3. Fry breads in a frying pan coated with cooking spray. As they are cooking brush the tops with melted butter. Cook 1-2 minutes on each side until golden brown.

These can be made ahead of time and reheated briefly in the oven before serving.

Raitas & chutneys to accompany Indian seafood recipes

Raitas are cooling yogurt accompaniments to spicy Indian food. Whereas chutneys are more like a relish made from chopped vegetables, onions, and spices. While many chutneys are available in supermarkets now, I think it is fun experimenting with my own.

Cucumber raita

This one is simple as I usually have these ingredients on hand.

• 1 cucumber
• full cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Peel cucumber, and scoop out the seeds. Then chop into small pieces. After that, mix ingredients together, and it is ready to serve.

South Indian peanut raita

This is pictured above with the coconut rice and Bengali seafood curry. Of course, if you don’t have peanut oil, feel free to use canola or vegetable oil.

• 2 tbsp. peanut oil
• 1/2 finely chopped onion
• 1 fresh jalapeno, finely chopped
• 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp. black mustard seeds
• 4 curry leaves
• 1 crushed dried red chili
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• full cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup grated coconut, unsweetened
• 3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tbsp. pomegranate seeds
• 2 tbsp chopped roasted peanuts

Cook the onion in the oil until soft but not browned. Then add peppers, ginger, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and cumin. Once this mixture has cooked for another minute, remove from the heat. Combine in a bowl with the yogurt, salt, coconut, and cilantro. To serve, sprinkle with peanuts and pomegranate seeds.

If you can’t find some of these ingredients it is ok. Play around with the recipe and add something else that is similar. Remember, you are not cooking for Indian royalty. Nobody is going to complain if it isn’t completely authentic. The point is that you enjoy it and have fun.

On the same note, feel free to substitute the pomegranate arils with chopped mango instead. I happened to need pomegranate seeds for an autumn cocktail. It was the worst procedure having to get those stupid seeds out of the pomegranate, so I made sure I saved every last one and froze them for future use.

Chile & onion chutney to accompany Indian seafood recipes

This is another one where I always have the ingredients on hand. If you like things extra spicy, leave the seeds in the peppers.

• 1-2 chopped jalapenos, seeded
• 1 crushed Thai chile, seeded
• 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 2 finely chopped onions
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Pour vinegar over chopped peppers in a bowl, and stir. After that, drain the vinegar. Mix the rest of the ingredients with the peppers and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using.

Please let me know your thoughts if you try any of these recipes. I would love to hear any additional tips or suggestions.

Donna Emperador is a travel and food blogger and copywriter. Donna believes in learning about different cultures while sharing good food and cocktails. She has lived in South Florida for over 20 years and enjoys spending time exploring the road to find unique places to share with readers. She can be found on Facebook,  Instagram, and Pinterest.