Fish Head Curry

One of the great delights of living in Asia is the delicious food that is not often found in the west. When Asian food is found in the west it often is not prepared exactly as it is in Asia. By the way, the same is true in Asia concerning western food. Much so-called western food that is prepared in Asia is not very good. Try to find good old southern cornbread or hush puppies in Asia--no cornmeal--thus, no cornbread!

I enjoy eating Indian food. I like Indian and Chinese food much more than Indonesian food. (I also like Italian, Mexican and German food). Although I have lived in Indonesia for more than seven years, I do not find Indonesian food to be all that good. There are very few Indonesian dishes I enjoy eating. Indonesian food seems to be filled with five to ten times more garlic, onion, and red or green chili peppers than are necessary. Then, when the food is served, Indonesians still want to add a hot chili pepper sauce called "sambal" to the already spicy concoction! So, the flavor of the food is covered up and one cannot taste it. I suspect it maybe because the grade and quality of the food is usually poor, and has little good flavor.

One of the misunderstandings about east Indian food that it is not so much "hot" as it is "spicy." When one travels to Asia he will learn that when fish is served, it is usually served whole--with the head and eyes still intact. There are a couple of great Indian restaurants in Jakarta. And, there are quite a few great Indian restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia. Recently, when I was in Singapore I enjoyed an Indian dish that is unique and wonderfully delicious. I have not found this dish in Jakarta. The dish is fish head curry.

The following ingredients are in this spicy, tasty dish: start with one or two heads of red snapper fish (very large heads the size of a man's hand); onion, sliced thinly; garlic, sliced thinly; stalks of lemon grass, crushed curry leaves, fish curry powder, chilli paste, coconut milk, tamarind juice, okra, eggplant, tomato, salt, and cooking oil. Some of these items are crushed and mixed into a paste before cooking. After the gravy has been made the fish heads are added and cooked. When it is done cooking one ladles out some of the gravy over a bed of rice. Then, one may dig out the delicious fish meat from the head and add it to the rice and gravy. The meat from the fish head is the best. The taste is out of this world! (I suggest doing a search on the WWW for "fish head curry" to get a complete recipe and see a photo of it).

In one of the best Indian restaurants in Singapore, a server puts a big banana leaf on the table for each patron. The banana leaf is your plate! One of the servers will come and put a ladle-full of Indian cabbage, a ladle-full of spicy cooked zucchini, and a huge serving of saffron rice on the banana leaf. On top of that will go a ladle full of curry sauce. Add to that the fish head curry that comes served in a big bowl, and you will have a feast that will "knock your socks off"! Many Indians and others prefer to eat Indian food with the right hand rather than to use a fork or spoon. It is believed that it enhances the natural flavor of the food.