11th Feb 2021
Embracing fish? Try this pescatarian curry and spice things up tonight.
Fresh fish and rich-tasting coconut take up spices beautifully in this fragrant broth. This recipe has a traditional Goan edge with the additional sour ingredient, sometimes tamarind but in this case vinegar. Eat from a deep bowl fresh with the final flurry of coriander leaves and a squeeze of lime juice.
Goan Coconut Fish Curry
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the curry paste
- 30g cashew nuts
- 3 shallots, chopped
- 1 large red chilli, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- medium bunch of coriander
For the curry
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp hot chilli powder
- 5 curry leaves
- 400ml tin coconut milk
- 160ml coconut cream
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 100g baby spinach
- 200g raw peeled prawns
- 200g cod fillet, skinned, cut into chunks
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- juice of 1 lime
Method
1 To make the curry paste, toast the cashew nuts in a dry frying pan until just charred, then remove from the heat and put into a blender or food processor with the shallots, chilli, garlic, ginger, vinegar and half the coriander. Blitz to a thick mush, adding a little water until you have a loose, aromatic paste. Scrape into a small bowl.
2 To make the curry, heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat and add the red peppers while the oil warms. Cook for about 5 minutes until beginning to soften. Once the peppers have collapsed, stir through the curry paste and continue to fry gently for a further few minutes. Add the spices and stir again – keep the heat up while they cook for another minute or so.
3 Add the curry leaves, coconut milk and cream and 100ml cold water. Increase the heat and bring to the boil, before lowering the temperature and simmering for 10-15 minutes. Add the chickpeas and cook gently for a further 5 minutes.
4 Finally, add the spinach, prawns and cod to the pan and poach for 2-3 minutes until the fish is just opaque. Garnish with the mustard seeds and the remaining coriander and squeeze over some lime juice to serve.