Coconut cod curry

Spice level: (Keep Kalm & Korma on, Kinda Krazy, KAAHHMAGAD)

Feeds: 4

At the tender age of 16, I made a coconut cod curry for my mum out of odds and ends in the house. To this day, she says it's the best home-cooked fish curry she's ever had... and what did I do? I went and lost the recipe.

So, when I saw some white fish in the reduced section of my local supermarket last week, I took it home and made a vow to myself; I will make *the* best fish curry since that fateful day 9 years ago. And after searching and searching, I've found a recipe that comes pretty damn close to the original.

I got quite annoyed with the half measures of everything (less than half a tin of coconut milk? What a waste!) so I ended up swapping tinned toms for a couple of tablespoons of tomato puree. Oh, and I was all out of coconut oil, so I used olive oil. Same for mustard seeds, I've swapped those for cumin. Aside from that, I stayed fairly true to the recipe, which is adapted from Debbie Major's 'Roast cod with coconut Curry':

http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/roast-cod-with-coconut-curry-sauce/

Ingredients:

• 4 x 200g skin-on sustainable cod fillets, cut 3-4cm thick

• ¼ tsp mild curry powder

• A sprinkle of cumin seeds

• 1 tbsp coconut oil (olive oil)

• 1 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander to garnish

• 50g shallots, roughly chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, sliced

• 3cm piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped

• 1 medium-hot red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped

• 2 tbsp tomato passata or tinned chopped tomatoes

• 1 tsp kashmiri (medium-hot) chilli powder (if unavailable use mild chilli powder), or to taste

• ½ tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tsp ground turmeric

• 50g creamed coconut

• 300ml fish or fresh vegetable stock

• 100ml coconut milk

• ½ tsp light muscovado (brown) sugar

• A handful of fresh or freeze-dried curry leaves (see know-how)

Method:

• For the curry sauce, put the shallots, garlic, ginger, chilli and tomato puree in a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Add the chilli powder, salt, black pepper and turmeric, then bend briefly.

• Heat the 2 tbsp oil or ghee in a heavy-based saucepan (or wok) over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and when they sizzle, add the curry paste. Fry gently for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.

• Add the creamed coconut and as soon as it has melted, add the fish or vegetable stock, coconut milk, sugar and curry leaves.

• Simmer gently for 15 minutes. Taste, adjust the seasoning and keep warm while you cook the fish.

• Season the cod all over with a little salt, pepper and the curry powder. Heat a little more oil in a non-stick ovenproof frying pan, add the cod skin-side up and cook for 4 minutes or until nicely golden. Flip and cook for 1 minute.

• Bring the coconut curry sauce back to a simmer before adding cod. Serve with rice and scatter with chopped coriander.