Tuna Curry

Tuna curry is a spicy dish prepared with Indian spices and slices of Tuna fish. The dish is usually made with the fresh fish available in coastal India but can be equally tasty when prepared with canned tuna. The fish is curried in various ways with the spices and method of cooking differing from region to region.

Curried tuna dishes are extremely popular in the Far Eastern countries of Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, while it is also served with the Japanese curry sauce in Tokyo and parts of Northern Japan. The Filipinos have their own version of the curry whereas the dish of tuna curry over rice is regarded as a standalone dish in America.

Casseroles and salads are often prepared with curried tuna as the main ingredient while the curry is also used extensively as a sandwich filling or a stuffing for tortilla wraps.

The dish is usually served with rice or noodles, particularly when it is gravy based.

Overview of Tuna Curry Recipes

The simplest method for cooking tuna curry in the traditional Indian way involves blending ginger, onion, garlic, coconut, red chilies and tamarind extracts together and frying them in hot oil along with a few slit green chilies. The fried paste is diluted with water and fresh tuna pieces are immersed in it before cooking it slowly for a few minutes. The curry is garnished with a sprinkling of coriander leaves and served hot with plain rice.

The western version of the curry is made even simpler as it uses curry powder along with onions, tomatoes, and chilies for cooking the dish. The fish pieces are fried in butter along with the curry powder, and a little sugar is often added to it in order to lessen the heat of the chilies.

Popular Variations of Tuna Curry Recipes

The most popular variations of the curry include:-
 

• Green Tuna Curry- A traditional Thai dish where the undrained form of canned tuna is cooked with the green curry paste and coconut milk.
   
• Tuna Vattichathu- This is a dish consumed in Kerala where it is prepared by grinding all the spices along with tamarind and coconut in the form of a paste and added to the fresh fish, cooking it slowly by adding a little water. It is flavored with a handful of curry leaves added to the gravy.
   
• Gulai Ikan Tongkol- An Indonesian dish cooked with turmeric, lemongrass, ginger and coconut milk.
   
• Curried Tuna Noodle Casserole- This is a variation of the traditional American dish of tuna casserole prepared with a dash of curry powder.

Trivia

Tuna curry pastes and powders are available commercially across the United States of America.