TASTE OF AUTUMN FACT
Celebrating slow cooked food, perfect for a chilly day with our Taste of Autumn recipe.
Kerala is a state in the south-west of India with its own distinctive cuisine that uses a wide range of pungent spices including chilli, ginger, black-pepper, curry leaves, mustard seeds, tamarind and asafoetida. Kerala is also known as the ‘land of spices’ and has traded its spices with visiting ocean-goers for over 2000 years. It has been this meeting of so many cultures that has shaped Keralan cuisine into the ‘melting pot’ of indigenous and adapted foreign dishes that we know today. Interestingly, almost every Keralan dish includes a form of coconut due to it growing abundantly in this part of India. Seafood is also widely eaten in Kerala, so it is not surprising that this famous fish curry cooked in spice and coconut cream was created here!
INGREDIENTS
- 2 x 40ml Grape Seed Oil
- 400gm White Fish Fillets – cut into 6cm long by 3cm wide pieces.
- 40 Curry Leaves – rinse and drain.
- 240gm Brown Onion – peel, halve and finely dice.
- 2 Garlic Cloves – peel and finely dice.
- 20gm Fresh Ginger – peel, finely slice and cut into fine strips.
- 25gm Long Red Chilli – cut in half lengthwise, remove stem, seeds, membrane and finely dice.
- 1¼ tsp Dried Fennel Seeds
- 1tsp Ground Cumin
- 1¼ tsp Ground Turmeric
- 600ml Coconut Cream
- 180ml Water
- 20ml Lime Juice
- 1½ tsp Caster Sugar
- 240gm Ripe Salad Tomatoes – rinse, drain, remove core and cut into a 1cm dice.
- To Taste – Sea Salt
- 20 Coriander Leaves – rinse, drain and roughly tear.
METHOD
- Place a saute-pan over a moderate heat, add the first batch of grape seed oil and allow it to heat. Sear the fish pieces in batches until lightly browned on each side. Once browned, remove each batch from the heat and set to one side.
- Over a moderate heat in a second deep sided saute-pan, heat the second batch of grape seed oil. Add the curry leaves and saute for 1 minute, or until they are fragrant, then add the onion and continue to saute until the onion has softened.
- Add the garlic, ginger, chilli, fennel seeds, cumin and turmeric, continue to saute, stirring continuously for a further minute.
- Add the coconut cream, water and lime juice, and thoroughly combine. Bring the sauce up to the boil, then reduce the heat and allow it to simmer gently for 5 minutes, or until the sauce’s consistency has thickened a little. Mix in the caster sugar.
- Gently add the fish to the sauce, and allow the sauce to gently simmer for a further 3 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and gently combine. Continue to simmer gently for a further 2 minutes or until the fish pieces are just cooked through, the tomato has softened and the sauce has reduced to a consistency that coats the back of a spoon. Season to taste.
TO SERVE
Place the curry into a serving bowl, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with steamed basmati rice and warm roti bread.
