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Fish curry
Serves 8 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 100g demerara sugar
- 100ml good-quality fish sauce, plus extra if necessary
- 6 litres coconut water
- 8 hake or turbot chops (best alternative is cutting the fish as darnes – see note)
- juice 2 limes
For the pickled red grapes
- 975ml red-wine vinegar
- 375g caster sugar
- 1tbsp salt
- 600g red grapes
For the curry paste
- 2tbsp coriander seeds
- 2tbsp fennel seeds
- 2tbsp black peppercorns
- 1tbsp ground sichuan pepper
- 600g French shallots
- 100g garlic cloves
- 100g peeled ginger
- 4 turmeric leaves or 50g fresh
- turmeric, roughly chopped
- 4 ginger leaves or 50g fresh ginger, roughly chopped
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- 1⁄2 smoked eel, skin and bone intact, cut into 2cm lengths
- 400g mild chilli, seeds removed
- 3 thyme or lemon thyme sprigs, leaves picked
- 750ml grapeseed oil
Method
To pickle the grapes, bring the vinegar, sugar and salt to the boil in a saucepan over a high heat. Pour the hot syrup over the grapes in a plastic container to completely cover. Place baking paper on top to keep the grapes submerged and chill for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight or longer. The grapes will keep in the pickle for months.
For the curry paste, toast all the seeds and peppercorns in separate batches in a frying pan over a medium heat until fragrant, then add half the spices and half the remaining paste ingredients to a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste. Repeat until all the spices are blended and the paste is well mixed.
Heat a wide, heavy-based saucepan over a medium-high heat for 5 minutes, add the curry paste and stir-fry for 15 minutes. The key here is to cook these ingredients thoroughly in the beginning to establish a well- balanced flavour in the final stock.
Add the sugar and garum and cook for 10 minutes to caramelise the sugar. Add the coconut water, then bring the stock to the boil, reduce the heat and cook gently for 45 minutes, or until the stock has reduced by half. Remove from the heat and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes.
Using a large ladle and coarse sieve, push the stock through the sieve, then divide the stock between a larger pot for poaching and a saucepan.
Bring the larger pot for poaching to the boil, then remove from the heat and place 4 of the chops in, cover with a lid and poach for 10 minutes off the heat. Gently reheat the stock in the medium pan, then taste and season with the lime juice and more garum, if necessary.
Once the fish is poached, carefully remove the chops, being careful not to break the skin, and leave to rest on a plate, then cook the rest of the fish in the same way.
Serve with the warmed stock poured over and with a herb salad, brown rice, the pickled grapes and any other pickles of your choice.
NOTE: A darne, also known as a cutlet, is a bone-in steak cut from the lower half of the fish. Being from the lower half means that there is just one central bone, which is easy to eat around. It will also help the fish retain its shape while cooking as well as give you a more flavourful fish and stock.
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