curry

here is a post from stefan writing about a most flavourful curry dish.

curry. a simple word for what can be a very complex dish. the amount of flavor that can be packed into a rich sauce with any combination of fish, meat and/or vegetables is amazing.  connie and kai both love curries; he devours butter chicken and she pretty much loves any curry as long as it has plenty of sauce!

we are lucky to live near one of vancouver's very authentic indian restaurants, raga, that serves up great comforting bowls of curry.  we have been going there ever since we moved to vancouver back in 1998.  kai often gets a free dessert or drink.  they celebrated their 30-year anniversary two years ago now making raga the longest-lived restaurant i know of!

what is even better is that making curry is relatively simple.  here is a favourite recipe that i make every now and then; it comes from the cookbook 50 great curries from india by camellia panjabi:

 

not sure how it happened but connie forgot to take a photo of the curry dish :)

fish in mustard gravy

1.5 pounds of white fish fillets, rinsed off and cut into bite-sized chunks.

curry paste:

2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 tablespoons brown mustard seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
3/4 inch piece of ginger, peeled
6 garlic cloves
2 green chilies, serranos for fruity heat or jalapenos for less of a spicy kick
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons coriander powder
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less if you prefer a less spicy curry)

sauce:

1 small can pureed tomatoes
the juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tablespoons coriander leaves
1 can coconut milk

steamed white rice and any other goodies like naan bread and chutney.

what to do:

 

toss the fish pieces with 1.5 teaspoon salt and set aside. 

in a dry skillet, toast the poppy seeds for a couple of minutes until fragrant. crush in a mortar and pestle. in the food processor (or mortar and pestle), combine all the curry paste ingredients, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup of water. puree until smooth.

in a large pot heat about 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil and fry the paste for 6-7 minutes until nice and fragrant. add water when it gets too dry. add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. then add the coconut milk and lime juice, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. turn the heat off and drop in the fish pieces. they will cook in the hot sauce. sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves (or omit if you are cooking for connie since she does not like coriander at all) and serve.

this makes lots of sauce so you could split the sauce in two before adding the fish then use the leftover with something else.

it has abundant flavor and yields a nice rich sauce that can be mopped up with much gusto. it goes well with white fish but chicken also works. this recipe has no vegetables but it is easy to mix some peas into the rice or to add some steamed green beans or other favorite vegetables of your choice to the dish before serving. plenty of options!

watching my little family devour this curry makes it very much worth the time spent in the kitchen! 

 

stefan

thanks stefan!  i challenge you to cook all 50 recipes from the cookbook... 50 days of curry would be awesome :)