The Cookbook Challenge - Week 2 - Indian

The theme for week 2 of The Cookbook Challenge is Indian.  Following on from week 1 I made another recipe from Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer,  Keralan Fish Curry.  Kerala is a state in South Western India & though Nigella admits it might not be entirely authentic I thought it fit the theme perfectly & it was meant to go with the rice I made for week 1 which I had stashed in the freezer so that part was out of the way at least.  The rice defrosted perfectly too so no issues in making ahead. I used some fresh yellow belly that my brother caught, & then generously scaled & filleted for me.  The curry is really light & fresh so perfect for a summer meal, hence the fact that it's in her Forever Summer book I guess.  The whole mellow yellow look & feel of the dish was exactly as it tasted, a good quick curry to whip up for a yummy mid week meal.

Keralan Fish Curry - From Nigella Lawson Forever Summer

Ingredients

1.25kg firm white fish
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions, halved and cut into thin half-moons
2 long red chillies
4 cm piece fresh ginger
pinch ground cumin
400ml tin unsweetened coconut milk
1–2 tablespoons concentrated tamarind
1 tablespoon liquid fish stock

Method

Cut the fish into bite-sized chunks, put them into a large bowl, and rub with a little salt and 1 teaspoon turmeric. Heat the oil in a large, shallow pan and peel and tip in your fine half-moons of onion; sprinkle them with a little salt to stop them browning and then cook, stirring, until they’ve softened; this should take scarcely 5 minutes.
Cut the whole, unseeded chillies into thin slices across (although if you really don’t want this at all hot, you can seed and then just chop them) and then toss them into the pan of softened onions. Peel the ginger and slice it, then cut the slices into straw-like strips and add them, too, along with the remaining teaspoon of turmeric and the cumin. Fry them with the onions for a few minutes.
Pour the can of coconut milk into a large glass measuring cup and add a tablespoon of tamarind paste and the fish stock, using boiling water from the kettle to bring the liquid up to the 4-cup mark. Pour it into the pan, stirring it in to make the delicate curry sauce. Taste and add more tamarind paste if you want to. And actually you can do all this hours in advance if it helps.
When you are absolutely ready to eat, add the fish to the hot sauce and heat for a couple of minutes until it’s cooked through, but still tender.

Serves 4-6