Search
Login
Foodies Only in your inbox
By clicking "Subscribe", you agree to ourPrivacy Policy and to receive marketing emails from Foodies Only
SearchLoginSearchLoginCopyright © 2025 Foodies Only
7 min
29/12/2025
Each southern region of India has developed distinct ways to treat the same catch – seafood. Kerala focuses more on coconut-based gravies tempered with kudampuli, while Mangalore prefers roasted masalas with coconut and tamarind. The ingredients might be the same, but the marinades and the gravies they are simmered in taste and hit different.
The fish curry in Kerala and Tamil Nadu may look nothing alike, but both have one common factor— they’re absolutely, lip-smacking, delicious. And it’s not just the curries. From the fries to the prawns and every other seafood in between, the catch of the day, week, or month might look the same when caught, but transforms into different results. How? Thanks to different cooking techniques, spice blends, and of course, the secret touch of expert chefs. Here are the coastal states from the south, each with its own signature approach to making its seafood.
In Kerala, cooking seafood is all about striking a balance – their curry bases tend to be coconut-heavy, and they don’t shy away from adding sourness to it too, thanks to the use of kudampuli (Malabar tamarind), specific to the state.
As for its fish curry cooked in local style, it often starts by frying onions, ginger, garlic, and curry leaves in coconut oil, then adding a paste made from spices and coconut milk. Soaked kudampuli is added next to add sourness to the fish curry. Then the fish fillets follow (usually mackerel or seer), and coconut milk is added to finish off the dish.
Moving over to fried fish, one of the standout dishes is crispy masala fish fry with coconut. Here, fish is coated in a dry spice rub (turmeric, red chilli, black pepper) and mixed with grated coconut before shallow frying. Another favourite is a fried fish curry (varutha meen palukari), where fried fish is cooked in a coconut milk gravy with fried onions. Then there’s also meen peera pattichathu, made with small fish, fresh coconut, and kodampuli, cooked in a thick gravy.
Move a little north along the west coast into Goa, and the flavours shift. Goan fish curry owes a lot to its Portuguese colonial past: vinegar is a key souring agent here, often paired with kokum or tamarind. The masala for Goan fish curry typically involves toasting whole spices (like cloves, coriander, cumin) along with dried red chilli and then grinding them into a paste. Onions are sautéed, the spice mix is added, then coconut milk and vinegar are poured in for a punchy gravy.
Goan seafood curries often use fish fillets, but prawns or clams also show up regularly. For instance, Goan curried clams are made by cooking clams in a coconut-milk gravy along with sautéed onion, garlic, and mild spices. Such dishes almost always have one of these, or in combination – vinegar, kokum, or tamarind, whose sourness is doused out by the use of coconut. Goan fish fry also deserves a mention. The ‘rechado’ masala is a very Goan way to fry fish: red chilli, garlic, sometimes jaggery, and vinegar are tuned into a paste that coats the fish before shallow frying.
In Mangalore, part of Karnataka’s coastal belt, the local fish curry, usually called meen gassi, is built around a roasted ground masala. Red chillies (often Byadgi), coriander, cumin, fenugreek, and cumin seeds dominate most preparations, which are dry-roasted, then mixed with freshly grated coconut and tamarind – this makes a thick curry paste. The fish (commonly mackerel, ladyfish, or pomfret) is first marinated in salt and turmeric, then cooked in this rich coconut-tamarind curry.
Mangaloreans also love their anjal (seer) masala fry, where fish is coated in a local spice mix with tamarind extract or lemon juice, and fried until crispy. It is often served with rice or as an evening snack, a staple in the Tulu-speaking coastal communities.
Tamil Nadu loves its tamarind, and most of its seafood preparation, be it fish, prawns, or crabs, uses the flavour extensively. You will also find a mix of fiery spice blends, the most famous being the Chettinad, and occasional use of coconut, giving its coastal dishes a punchy profile. Meen kuzhambu is one of the quintessential Tamil fish curries – the fish is cooked in a tamarind-tomato-spice gravy, tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
In terms of marinades, Tamil coastal cooking often keeps it simple – fish is treated with a rub of salt, turmeric, and red chilli before being simmered in the curry, rather than getting a thorough marination. The spice factor comes largely from the curry base and tempering, not the marinade. For the fried seafood bit, Chettinad fish fry is quite famous – it usually uses a Chettinad spice mix (cardamom, black peppercorns, red chilli, cumin, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cloves, and cinnamon, along with grated coconut) that’s rubbed onto fish before shallow or deep frying.
Another coastal Tamil delicacy is prawn moilee, where prawns simmer in a relatively mild coconut milk-based gravy with green chillies and curry leaves, making for a more delicate, aromatic dish. There’s also nethili varuval, a small-anchovy fry, which is marinated in turmeric, red chilli, ginger–garlic paste, and curry leaves, then shallow- or deep-fried to crispness. Beyond fresh fish, Tamil Nadu also has karuvadu kuzhambu, a dry fish (dried fish) curry – dried fish is cooked in a rich, spicy, and tangy tamarind-based gravy.
Coastal Andhra cuisine brings in its own fierce identity when it comes to seafood. The star is chepala pulusu, a tamarind-based fish stew. In this dish, fish (frequently firm freshwater or sea fish) is lightly marinated with turmeric and salt. The curry base is unapologetically tangy – tamarind pulp, onions and tomatoes are cooked down with mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, and lots of red chilli. Some regional versions don’t rely heavily on coconut; the sourness and spice take centre stage.
That said, coconut does make an appearance in their coastal prawn dishes. For example, the royyala pulusu is a prawn curry where prawns are simmered in a coconut milk-based gravy, spiced with green chillies, garlic, and local tempering. There are also dry fish traditions: in some Andhra coastal homes, dried fish (like dried Bombay duck) is cooked in a tangy tamarind curry, often with green chillies, onions, and garlic.
The same fish can be simmered, fried, or stewed into entirely different experiences depending on where you find it. It encounters coconut milk, tamarind, kokum, or vinegar, and each region uses its spice blends to create specific layered dishes. By understanding the marinades, curry bases, and preparations unique to each region, one can appreciate the local cuisine of the place.