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Caribbean fish curry with sweet potato wafers
Serves 4-6 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 1 each small yellow, orange and red Romano peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped into 1cm pieces
- 3cm-piece ginger, scraped and grated
- 1 long red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 4 tbsp Caribbean Poudre de Colombo spice blend
- 15g small, good-quality sun-dried tomatoes, seeds removed
- 150ml good-quality fish stock
- 250ml coconut cream
- juice 1 lime
- 2-4 x 180g gurnard fillets, skinned and cut into chunks
- 10g flat-leaf parsley, leaves only
For the sweet potato wafers
- 1 sweet potato (around 150g), peeled
- sunflower oil, for deep-frying
Method
First prepare the wafers. Thinly slice the sweet potato using a mandolin, vegetable peeler
or a very sharp, thin knife and arrange the slices on a few baking sheets in a single layer to air-dry. This can be done a day in advance and the sweet potato slices stored in a cold oven. While not essential, this does help to intensify the colour and ensure a good, crisp finish.
To fry the wafers, heat the oil to 190-200C/375-400F – again, this can be done a day in advance. Fry in batches and have ready a large tray lined with kitchen paper. Fry for 1 minute until curled but not coloured. Tip onto the lined tray and continue to fry the remainder. When the wafers are cold, store in an airtight container for up to 24 hours.
Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/Gas 4. Heat the oil in an ovenproof casserole and add the onion, peppers, sweet potato, ginger and chilli. Cover the mixture with a sheet of scrunched- up baking paper and sweat them together for around 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent the mixture browning. Remove the paper, increase the heat and stir in the garlic and spices. Cook for around 5 minutes, then add the sun-dried tomatoes, pour in the coconut cream and season with sea salt crystals. Cover the mixture again with the baking paper and a lid. Cook in the heated oven for around 20 minutes until bubbling and thick and the sweet potato is fork-tender.
Stir in the lime juice, then add the pieces of gurnard and bake for a further 4 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of the fish. Serve scattered with the parsley leaves along with some of the sweet potato wafers, serving the remainder in a separate bowl.
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