[mushroom]

tend to prefer my fish in curries

How about a recipe or two please?  I love curried prawns but wouldn't have thought to use other fish.

Mackerel is great curried. Buy them gutted, with the heads on. Get the fishmonger to take out the gills but leave the heads on, or take the gills out yourself. Chop the fish into 3 or 4 large chunks.

Make a vegetable curry of your choice. If I'm going to add an oily fish like mackerel, I make it a little hotter, as the oily part (very good for you) absorbs some of the caspacin liberated from the fresh chilis. I add a bit of lemongrass to this, and a fair bit (about a glassful) of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add the fish chunks. Gently simmer for 10 ir 15 minutes. Don't stir the pan or the fish will break up. Serve with lemon and lime wedges, and freshly cooked basmati rice.

[WG.]

Buggaaa.  I had 4 fresh line-caught mackeral from my neighbour only last week.

Thanks for the recipe mushroom.

[mushroom]

Buggaaa.  I had 4 fresh line-caught mackeral from my neighbour only last week.

Thanks for the recipe mushroom.

Other fish works, but mackerel works particularly well. BTW the fish are cut perpendicular to the lateral line, straight through the bone.

[WG.]

BTW the fish are cut perpendicular to the lateral line, straight through the bone.

Steaks as opposed to fillets.  Understood.

[Smudgeboy]

tend to prefer my fish in curries

How about a recipe or two please?  I love curried prawns but wouldn't have thought to use other fish.

Sorry for the tardiness, here's a coupla recipes (which are taken from "Fresh Indian", Sunil Vijakayar's wonderful book of healthy Indian cooking recipes).

Note These are, for the want of a better word, proper curries - no "add some curry sauce and cook" - these use specific spices and mixtures.

If you want good healthy, fresh curries, go and stock up on the right spices - believe me, you'll taste the difference. Not only that, fresh spices still contain the theraputic properties lost in modern-day food processing. Among the theraputic properties from currey spices are: boosting the immune system, improving circulation and reducing inflammation.

Righto, poncey Ramsay nonsense out of the way, on to the grub:

Generic recipe for Crispy Grilled Fish Masala paste

In Sunil's book, this is for grilled red masala mackerel - although if you don't wan't to spend the time preparing the mackerel or (like some) don't like the bony-ness of mackerel, I've put this paste on salmon fillets and tuna steaks and it's worked just as well.

This is an ideal recipe for those who aren't fans of the traditional "meat in sauce, with rice" curry.

Ingredients

1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp finely grated root ginger
2 tsp finely grated garlic
2 red chillies deseeded and chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
0.5 tsp turmeric
4 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
juice of 2 lemons
salt

Take all of the above and put in a food processor with a couple of tbsp's of water. Blend to a smooth paste.

Take your fish, and make three or four diagonal slices (both sides if a whole fish like mackerel, top only if salmon fillet etc).

Spread the paste on both sides of the fish, place fish on a grill rack and cook under a hot grill for 6-8 minutes each side, until cooked and lightly charred at the edges. You can do this on a barbecue, but not when the heat's at it's fiercest.

Serve with a salad of cucumber, red onion and tomato.

This is a stupidly easy recipe - the paste will keep for a few days if you wanted to do another one (and you will!) and, of course, when the basic ingredients are fresh fish and spices, this is extremely healthy.

[Smudgeboy]

Right, here's another recipe, for those of you who do like your "meat in sauce, with rice" curries - only this time the meat is fish meat!

This takes a bit of preparation, with a lot of ingredients, but believe me it's well worth it. I often feel that the great meal is the reward of the effort put in beforehand.

Salmon and Tamarind Curry

Tamarind adds a lovely sharp tang to this one - you might have to hunt around a bit for tamarind paste, but at a push you can substitute the juice of a lime instead.

Ingredients Serves 4

2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds (often known as Nigella)
1 tsp mustard seeds (pref black)
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
10-12 curry leaves (fresh if possible)
1.5 lbs salmon fillet, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp tomato puree
0.5 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
large handful of finely chopped fresh coriander
1 red chilli finely sliced across
1 tsp tamarind paste
250ml coconut milk
salt

First off, you need to fry up some of the spices to make the curry base. Take the garlic , cumin seeds, black onion seeds, mustard seeds and coriander seeds and combine in a cup.

Heat the oil in a large (pref nonstick) wok or deep-based pan until very hot. Add the curry base mix above and stir-fry very quickly.

Caution - two things to watch out for. First, the mustard seeds will pop and jump everywhere, a bit like popcorn. For the 15 or so seconds this is happening, best to have a cover at hand. Second, garlic burns very quickly and burnt garlic is nasty.

As soon as the garlic starts to brown, get the pan off the heat and add the curry leaves and salmon peices.

Turn the heat down to medium and while it's colling down, mix the salmon and the base. Return to the heat and stir-fry the salmon for 5 minutes maximum.

In a bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients - a reminder, that would be the tomato puree, caster sugar, garam masala, ground cumin, fresh coriander, chilli, tamarind paste, coconut milk and salt.

Pour this into the fish mixture, turn the heat down to med-low and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring gently so as not to break the fish up too much.

Serve with pilau or steamed basmati rice, garnish with a few coriander leaves and a few black onion seeds.

Note: If you don't like your curries hot, leave out the chopped chilli.

[WG.]

1 tsp black onion seeds (often known as Nigella)

or kalonji

Thanks for recipe BTW

[chrissie B]

Hi  i just tryed the steamed rice pud thismorning and my milk has gone all seperated , tastes ok though , does it normally happen like this or have i c*****d it up again.
chrissie b

[jacnal]

tend to prefer my fish in curries

How about a recipe or two please?  I love curried prawns but wouldn't have thought to use other fish.

Mackerel is great curried. Buy them gutted, with the heads on. Get the fishmonger to take out the gills but leave the heads on, or take the gills out yourself. Chop the fish into 3 or 4 large chunks.

Make a vegetable curry of your choice. If I'm going to add an oily fish like mackerel, I make it a little hotter, as the oily part (very good for you) absorbs some of the caspacin liberated from the fresh chilis. I add a bit of lemongrass to this, and a fair bit (about a glassful) of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add the fish chunks. Gently simmer for 10 ir 15 minutes. Don't stir the pan or the fish will break up. Serve with lemon and lime wedges, and freshly cooked basmati rice.

You cook the heads as well?

That's the first time ever, I've heard of someone not Kenyan cook fish with the head insitu. Do you eat them? We've always foufgt for the head back at home lol, and whoever get's it shares the eyes with another to make others jealous. It's yummy, and all the fat is healthy omega 3, 6 &9 !

[mushroom]

Yep, cook the heads. Suck out the eyes  :shock:  

There's quite a concentration of oily flesh at the top and the back of the head. It's just the gills you don't really want to eat.

I also make a bouillon out of salmon heads, spinach, onion and some spices.

[jacnal]

Yep, cook the heads. Suck out the eyes  :shock:  

There's quite a concentration of oily flesh at the top and the back of the head. It's just the gills you don't really want to eat.

I also make a bouillon out of salmon heads, spinach, onion and some spices.

Buillon recipe please!!!  

I tried making fish stock recently - failed miserably. I followed the classic chicken stock recipe but the end result was so bland! Or was I expecting too much?

[mushroom]

Buillon recipe please!!!  

I made this last night, it is reasonably quick. The quantities feed 2 people with large appetites. This is bullion made with salmon heads. A proper bullion would be filtered at the end of the cooking stage. I've just called it "salmon head bullion" because I can't think of what else to call it.

1. Roughly chop 3 medium onions, and fry gently in a little oil in a large pan/pot. I like to brown mine a little, for more colour/flavour.

2. crush 2 largish garlic cloves, add to onions.

3. grate a thumb of fresh ginger, add to onions.

4. stir in 2 or 3 heaped teaspoons of celery salt <-- this is important

5. mill about 2 heaped teaspoons of black pepper, add to mix.

6. remove the gill tissue from the salmon heads. Try not to slice half of your thumb off like I did.

7. Add the salmon heads to the mix and immediately fill with tap water until the heads are just submerged. I used 2 litres.

8. Slice 2 limes, extract the juice and add to the mix.

8a. Add a splash or 2 of cider vinegar.

8b. I added a pinch or 2 of dried chili flakes.

8c. You might want to add a tablespoon of onion seeds.

9. bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes with the lid on and 10 or 15 with the lid off. Taste, and, if necessary, adjust seasoning. You might have to add more salt.

10. Get together 2 large handfuls of spinach, wash and add to the pot. Shove the lid on and allow to steam/cook for 5 minutes.

11. Serve.

I tried making fish stock recently - failed miserably. I followed the classic chicken stock recipe but the end result was so bland! Or was I expecting too much?

Well, I don't know if my way is the right way or the wrong way!

I think the lime/vinegar/celery-salt medley is important specifically for fish.
I use the onion/garlic/ginger/(regular) salt medley in a few things, particularly in (red) lentils.

I once bought (liquid) fish stock off my fishmonger. It was tasteless/useless. He is, however, a brilliant fishmonger.

[jacnal]

Thanks Mushroom!

I'll look out for celery salt next time I go shopping!

Your fishmonger probably did like I did - maybe even better. My attempt was so bland nobody (even me) wanted it! In the end I didn't even make the fish soup/chowder I wanted to make it with, it was that bad.

[mushroom]

When you make it, you might want to freeze some of it in an ice-cube tray (that is, if you cook the fish etc then filter the liquid). Goes great in a blooming mary (tomato juice + bullion ice cubes + vodka)

... tonight i'm doing grilled mackerel stuffed with chili and ginger, and lentils + rice. If my cold doesn't go by tomorrow, I will threaten it with garlic soup!

[WG.]

garlic soup

Ooooo, recipe please