Simple Goan Fish Curry

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, we are onto a spice trail that allows us to use exotic and aromatic spices in our cooking or baking. Being the predictable me, I immediately thought of curry. It's understandable that many people will shun away from the idea of cooking curry due to the numerous ingredients used. Despite that, people still love a good ol' curry on their dinner plate with piping hot rice to go along. Does all of this strike a chord in your heart? :) For Mr G, he says rice and curry always reminds him of home. And that's how I won his heart through his stomach hehe!!

Diana Henry shows us through this Goan fish curry how easy it can be to make curry. It need not be a day of pounding spices, prepping and cooking. Incidentally, do you know that people in Goa (the smallest state in India) eat rice with fish curry as their main staple? 

See my modifications I made in blue below.

Ingredients:

4 tsp coriander seeds I used coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds I used cumin powder
4 dried red Kashmiri chillis I used 4 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp fish curry powder2cm sq (¾in) piece root ginger, peeled and grated 
4 garlic cloves, crushed, finely chopped
1 tsp turmeric I used 2 tbsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil 
1 onion, finely chopped I used 3 red onions
1 large plum tomato, finely chopped I used 2 tomatoes
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk I used 250ml fresh coconut milk
1 tbsp palm sugar (or soft light-brown sugar) 
2 tsp tamarind paste **
1 green chilli, halved, deseeded and finely sliced 
500g (1lb 2oz) firm white fish fillets, skin removed and flesh cut into chunks about 3cm sq (1¼in) I used 2 big stingray slices, chopped into big chunks
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1/2 chicken stock cube

**I used 2 tbsp tamarind paste and mixed it with 1/2 bowl of hot water. I strained the tamarind seeds and added the tamarind water to the curry.

Method:

Toast the coriander seeds, cumin and dried chillis in a dry frying-pan for about a minute. Grind in a mini food processor or pestle and mortar, then mix in the ginger, garlic, turmeric and 1 tsp salt. This time, I simply used coriander powder, cumin powder, chilli powder, fish curry powder and mixed it with ginger, garlic, turmeric powder.

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat, then add the onion and fry until soft and golden. I love sweating onions in my curry. It always gives the curry a sweet base. Stir in the spice mix. Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes, then add the tomato and cook until it has lost most of its moisture.

Add the coconut milk, sugar, tamarind and green chilli and bring to just under the boil. Immediately turn down the heat and simmer for about five minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly. Taste for seasoning. Season the fish with salt, then add it to the sauce and simmer gently for about four minutes until the fish is cooked through. Check again for seasoning. Add the coriander and serve.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the tomatoes 'melt' into the curry gravy. I also love how this fish curry tastes with all the spicy, sweet, sour and salty notes. Best of all, the texture of the stingray slices simply melts in the mouth. Both Mr G and I love this fish curry a lot. Psst, do you even know that cooking seafood has never been easy for me but with this fish curry, it boost my confidence to cook seafood more.

I'm submitting this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs - Along with the Spice Trail.

I'm also submitting this post to Cooking with Herbs - The Great British Store Cupboard.