Posts tagged coconut

Sticky Soy and Sesame Pork

May 9, 2015 Comments Off read Meat

peedy and delicious. If you get embarrassingly excited at the idea of sticky sweetly glazed tender strips of pork on soft oozing coconut rice then I suggest you give this recipe a try. Another long week at work, Friday nights recipe choice had high expectations to satisfy a variety of needs. I craved nothing more than comfort, flavour and relative speed. If you serve this on plain rice then you’ll have an even speedier dinner in minutes but I can never resist a coconut infused creation. Except coconut water. Whats the fad about? Dishwater disguised in a eco-friendly carton. Having been found on numerous occasions unashamedly desperately corkscrewing a hole into a fresh coconut only to slurp the fresh juicy ‘milk’ from inside with a straw this is a far healthier (economical) and dramatic way to get your coconut hit! Its fresh and delicious. Plus you get the joyful task of angrily throwing the empty coconut onto a hard floor (outside recommended) to crack it open to access the meaty pure white flesh. Perfect for grating into curries, porridge, use in cakes (see here) or into your coconut rice!

Serves 2

Sticky Pork

1 pork fillet, sliced into thumb sized slices
1 knob ginger, chopped
1 small red chilli, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1 bunch coriander, stems and leaves chopped separately
1 heaped tsp cornflour
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp rice wine vinegar
Sunflower oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds
50g salted peanuts, crushed lightly

Coconut Rice

4 oz brown rice
1 can coconut milk
Good handful desiccated coconut
1 lime, zest
Handful chopped coriander to serve
Green vegetables to serve

Begin with the rice. Warm the coconut milk in a saucepan with about ½ cup of water (you may need to add more water as it cooks). Bring to a light simmer but be very careful as the milk will boil over if left unattended on a high heat.
Let it simmer on a fast simmer for about 25 minutes. You want to end up with cooked rice that has absorbed mostly all the liquid but is still loose so it oozes on a plate. Keep an eye out and add more water if it dries out before fully cooked.
When cooked and still oozing, add the desiccated coconut, chopped coriander and lime zest and keep warm.
Start on the pork which is a pretty speedy process so have your green vege and warming plate ready to go not soon after!
Combine the cornflour with 2 tbsp of cold water in a jug. Add the soy sauce, sesame, vinegar and honey and mix well.
Heat a frying pan or wok on a medium high heat. Quickly flash fry the chopped chilli, spring onion, garlic, ginger and coriander stalks in a splash of sunflower oil until softened. Add the pork and turn up the heat to get a nice colour on the outside.
Fry for about 5 minutes or so until the pork is just cooked but still soft and not dry. Immediately add the soy mixture and stir quickly.
This will thicken and bubble and glaze the pork. If it turns too thick too quickly loosen with a splash more water!
Remove from the heat to prevent it overcooking and add the chopped peanuts and sesame seeds.
Serve atop your coconut rice scattered with extra coriander, any spare sesame seeds alongside your green vegetables with a wedge of lime.

Seabass in a Fragrant Coconut Sauce

February 11, 2015 Comments Off read Seafood

As an avide foodie I crave and adore nothing more than a night in with a new recipe, ingredient, technique or guest to experiment on for the blog! Cheaper, more fun and far more relaxing. However, since moving to London the expanse of diverse, exciting and vibrant culinary pop-ups, restaurants, cafes and bars has stolen part of my attention which had been held hostage to the blog for a long while. I rarely eat out, only really on occasion. And then, nothing pains and bruises me more than ordering (or eating!) something I could have made myself. Be it better, warmer, larger or cheaper! Hence, I choose my dining locations carefully and my menu choices with thought.

However, as a fellow foodie, my willing sister and I venture out on a monthy or so basis to one of London’s restaurants to excite our taste buds, get inspiration and frankly for a girly catch up. Our list of ‘must try restaurants’ is only growning sadly. It seems that once one is ticked off another is added. We’ve had some great food but last Friday, after long frustrating working weeks, a home cooked delicious meal was in order. A few luxurious king prawns, a little love, time and attention and an aromatic riesling guaranteed and certainly delivered a more relaxing, cheaper, (boozier…..ahem…..) and enjoyable evening. This dish was delicious and hit the spot for flavour, decadence (without being time consuming I add, especially if you miss out the stock infusion at the start) and highly satisfying. Followed by a few too many scoops of my cheats salted caramel ice cream it was agreed that an evening in was far more rewarding and enjoyable than filling London’s bars and tills with our hard earned cash!

Serves 4

4 seabass fillets
8-10 large raw whole king prawns (win heads and shell) Optional – if you want to make a flavoursome stock. Raw cleaned prawns are fine if not.
2 tsp coconut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Thumb sized piece ginger, grated
20g tumeric root, grated
1 large red chilli (heat according to taste)
350ml fish stock
400ml coconut milk
1 stick lemongrass
1 Kaffir lime leaf
2 tbsp fish sauce
Bunch spring onions, chopped
Large bunch coriander, chopped
2 limes, 1 cut into wedges to serve
Around 8oz rice – I used red Camargue rice
Greens to serve e.g. mange tout, pak choi etc.

[This first step is optional and can be skipped. It will add a depth of flavour to the dish by using the shells and heads to enrich your fish stock. Peel the shells and heads from the prawns keeping the prawns for later. Heat a little oil in a saucepan on a medium high heat and add the shells and heads. Fry for about 5-8 minutes until they turn pink and begin to release their flavour and oily orangey juices. After this time, add the hot fish stock and simmer gently for about 4 minutes.
Sieve through a fine sieve into a jug or another saucepan retaining all the liquid but then discard the shells. Keep the stock warm until needed.]
Next, heat a tsp of coconut oil in a heavy based saucepan. Fry the ginger, tumeric, garlic and chilli for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the stock and coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
Bash the lemongrass with the back of a knife a few times to open up the layers and add to the pan with the lime leaf and simmer gently for about 10 minutes to reduce the sauce and let the faours infuse.
Add the fish sauce (I suggest adding it a tbsp at a time and tasting in between as once its in you can’t take it out again!).
I made this a day ahead and I really think it benefitted from some time infusing in the pan while quietly chilling in the fridge (especially using the lime leave and lemongrass which will release thier flavours endlessly). I recommend at this stage to remove from the heat and leave to cool and infuse overnight. If not, continue as below.
Simmer (or reheat, depending on your method) the sauce until you reach the desired creamy consistency you prefer then remove the lemongrass and lime leaf and discard. Stir in the chopped spring onions and coriander. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Keep warm while you prepare the rest.
Cook your rice and add the juice of 1 lime to the drained hot grains and set aside to keep warm.
Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat and add another tsp or so of coconut oil. Cut your seabass fillets in half if you wish, and score the skin to stop them curling up on frying. Fry, skin side down for 2-3 minutes, flipping only whe the skin is crisp and the flesh is almost done which you will see when the majority of it has turned white.
While the seabass is cooking, add your prawns to the hot coconut sauce. Add them when the sauce is barely simmering to gently and lightly cook the prawns. Don’t overcook these or they will go all chewy. They need very little time and heat so a brief blast in the hot sauce until they just turn pink will do sufficiently.
To serve, divide the lime rice among large warmed soup bowls.
Top with the seabass fillets and divide the creamy sauce around the outside. Scatter with any reserved coriander and a juicy zesty wedge of lime!

To serve – I served mine with some briefly blanched sugar snap peas and mange tout. Drained and dressed quickly with a teaspoon of sesame oil while still hot and scattered with nigella seeds.

NOTE: This would also work very well with salmon. Feel free to gently poach the fillets in the coconut sauce for a different technique. Serve with any greens you like. Another addition would be to grate in some fresh coconut for added texture and taste.

WINE: Served with a lovely aromatic riesling to balance with the spice in this dish. Or a beer if you prefer! See here for some lovely suggestions.

To follow if you’re feeling like you need a Friday treat…………

Mix 1 can caramel condensed milk, 300ml single cream, 1 ½ tsp flaky maldon salt, crumbled in a tupperware. Freeze until set and then devour! NO CHURNING INVOLVED! (Crumble in some roasted hazelnuts, walnuts peanuts or pecans if you like)

Lime Curd Bounty Bites

September 27, 2014 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

A little experiment from another Greek treat my sister and I recently collapsed over in owe and love on our recent holiday. ‘Calm down’ you may say, its basically a bounty stuck on a biscuit? Agreed. But a good one and after a 5th evening of baklava, this was most welcome.

On returning home I’ve adapted my own version. I usually use recipes, books and blogs just for inspiration more than a guide and I’m not one to steal recipes like for like without my own twist. But the filling needed a starting point so I’ve used the solid recipe from a fellow blogger (see here….but please return!) and spiked mine with lime curd. Like I say, it was an experiment and apparently lime curd doesn’t freeze? (see recipe for more detail on this) But these still turned out pretty awesome.

PS. No I didn’t stick mine to a biscuit but a ginger snap wouldn’t go a-miss here. Or anywhere for that matter?

Makes about 15

140g unsweetened desiccated coconut (and some for decoration)
40ml coconut oil, melted
30ml maple syrup
Lime curd – optional (enough for 1tsp/bite)
Zest 1 lime
100g Green & Blacks 85% dark chocolate (Also good here would be their lemon flavour bar)

Begin by combining the coconut, 35ml of the coconut oil, syrup and a pinch of salt in a food processor until well combined.
Use a ice cube tray or mini cupcake mould and line with cling film. If using the lime curd, drop a small tsp into each.
Fill each hole with a tsp or so of the coconut and push down until compressed well on top of the curd (if using)
Freeze until set for about 2 hours.
After this, melt the chocolate over simmering water and set aside.
Remove the coconut from the freezer and take each from their wells and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. The lime curd will probably be a bit sticky but go with it if you can.
Dip each piece using two forks into the bowl of melted chocolate until covered fully and place flat side down on the baking parchment
Repeat with the remaining pieces and top with a sprinkle of coconut and lime zest while the chocolate is still not fully set.
Place in the fridge until set and then store in an air tight container so they don’t pick up any nasty fridge odours…!

Sticky Soy Chicken with Baby Chilli Courgettes

August 26, 2014 Comments Off read Poultry, Vegetables and Salads

A sticky ‘packs-a-punch’ glaze for some succulent chicken pieces courtesy of Bill Granger. I’ve managed to make it through my growing culinary life without (shamefully) having had Bill’s influence on any of my dishes? It could be his Australian roots that have kept his foodie inspiration at bay or perhaps (more likely) the Jamie Oliver shaped blinkers strapped to my head that had maintained my tunnel vision since discovering cooking? Who knows? However, with ‘Granger’s & Co’ round the corner from work and a growing love for Asian/Fusion cooking I have been sampling some of his culinary delights from Bills Asian Cookbook which is where this chicken marinade comes in. Baby courgettes courtesy of Portobello Market but normal ones work fine too!

Serves 2

Roasted Courgettes

6 baby courgettes
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
Bunch coriander, finely chopped
Juice ½ lime

Chicken

4 chicken thighs/chicken pieces
30ml dark soy sauce
25ml Fish sauce
55g brown sugar
2 garlic cloves
Light Olive oil

To Serve: Coconut rice (I made mine with red Camargue rice here)

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Heat a frying pan until hot with a little oil and brown the chicken all over until golden. Transfer to a baking dish and bake for about 15 minutes until cooked through.
At the same time, roast the courgettes. Slice in half if using baby courgettes or into chunks if using large ones. Drizzle with oil and place in a roasting tray. Roast with the chicken for about 20 minutes. This can keep roasting until tender while you finish the chicken on the hob. (The courgettes also work amazingly grilled or charred on a griddle pan or BBQ)
To finish the chicken, heat a little oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic lightly. Add the cooked chicken and the soy sauce and cover with a lid. Leave to simmer on a low heat for about 6-7 minutes making sure the pan doesn’t cook dry.
Turn up the heat and add the sugar and fish sauce and stir to dissolve and combine. Heat for just a few minutes until the sauce goes syrupy and glazes the chicken.
Remove the courgettes from the oven and toss with the chopped coriander and red chilli. Squeeze over a little lime juice.
Serve the chicken on creamy coconut rice with the chilli courgettes and coated liberally in any excess glaze.

Banana and Cardamon Loaf

June 25, 2014 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

This is my go-to banana loaf recipe for when those bruising and sweetly turning bananas are slowing deteriorating in the fruit bowl, unaware of their potential. This loaf is easy to knock out and can be kept for a while in the cake tin. Here I’ve added the beautifully pungent ground cardamon but this can be left out or substituted.

I love banana loaf as its one of those ‘cakes’ that is less restricted by Paul and Mary’s dreaded ‘science’ of baking. This recipe for example only has one egg in the entire mixture but still manages to set with a lovely rich texture. The recipe is therefore hugely open to adaptation and I change mine practically every time. Try these little additions which I’ve done in the past:

Ground cardamon, cinnamon or ginger
Replace hazelnuts for your classic walnut
Add chunks of chocolate chips
Add a handful or desiccated coconut
Add a decadent molten layer of peanut butter/salted caramel/Nutella inside
Top the mixture with a crumble mixture before baking
Soak the bananas in rum for a bit…

Makes 1 loaf (Taken from Delia Smith’s ‘All in one Banana Loaf’ with a few adaptations)

75g butter, softened
110g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamon (or other spice of choice)
4 ripe bananas, mashed
70g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped roughly.
Handful demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a loaf tin with parchment.
Place the butter, sugar and egg in a food processor and combine (or use an electric hand whisk)
Sieve over the flour, spices and baking powder and combine (don’t worry if it looks dry!)
Add the bananas to the processor and combine until you have a smooth and creamy batter.
Stir through the nuts (or any chocolate chips, coconuts additions etc)
Pour into the loaf tin and sprinkle generously with the demerara sugar (or crumble) to create a nice crunchy topping. (If adding a layer of peanut butter/caramel etc, add half the batter to the tin, dot with the chosen filling and then spoon on the remaining batter to cover before baking)
Bake for 50-55 minutes until cooked.
Leave to cool in the tin before removing and slicing

Gorgeous sliced, toasted and layered with cinnamon butter

Sweet Potato, Cashew and Coconut Curry

April 2, 2014 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

With half a can of coconut milk left over in the fridge, some potatoes and not much else but a stocked pantry and an unwilling motivation to delve into my skinny looking purse I threw together a vegetarian (and equally as satisfying) version of my Keralan Fish Curry.

Serves 3-4

1 large onion
1 small red chilli, chopped finely
2cm piece of ginger, grated finely
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
Bunch coriander, chopped
400ml coconut milk
200ml water
1 Kaffir lime leaf OR ½ juice of a lime
Handful of desiccated coconut
2-3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tsp tamarind paste
Large handful of cashew nuts
Few large handful of sugar snaps/mange tout/green beans

Par boil your sweet potatoes until just cooked but still a little firm. Drain and set aside.
Heat a little oil in a heavy based pan. Add the mustard, fenugreek and coriander seed and fry until beginning to pop and smell fragrant.
Add the chopped onion and fry on a lowish heat for about 5 minutes until really soft.
Once soft, add the chilli and cook for a few more minutes before adding the ginger and doing the same.
Add the ground dry spices and cook out for 1 minute or so.
Add the coconut milk, the stock and the lime leaf
Simmer gently for about 10-15 minutes until thicker and creamy.
Once nearly at the desired consistency, add a handful or two of dessicated coconut and a handful or chopped coriander, saving most for garnish. Add the tamarind paste for sweetness.
Add the sweet potato, the cashew nuts and throw in your vegetables for a few minutes.
(If not using a Kaffir lime leaf, squeeze in ½ the juice of your lime here)
Serve with rice or naan bread. Garnish with extra chopped coriander, sliced spring onions if you like and an extra handful or two of cashew nuts.

Thai Coquina Squash Soup

March 1, 2014 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

You don’t have to use a Coquine squash here – butternut or any other meaty variety will do- but the animated colour was just so bright and vibrant to resist. The sun was finally glowing today to mark the 1st March (already! where has time gone?) so it seemed appropriate to reflect this.

This soup is like a bowl of spicy chilli flecked lava with wonderful flavours. Butternut squash is the king of soup ingredients I think as it creates such a wonderful silky texture. Feel free to use half stock and half coconut milk here for a deeper coconut flavour and an even creamier texture. I didn’t purely as I didn’t have enough to hand.

NOTE: For both garnish and if using in addition to stock, use a thick good quality coconut milk. The cheap varieties in the ethnic sections of many supermarkets are always better value and are thicker and creamier.

Serves 4

1 large squash
1 onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli (medium hot or half a hot one…depends on taste), chopped
3-4cm piece ginger, grated
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 fresh Kaffir lime leaf
700ml hot chicken stock
1 lime
Bunch coriander
Coconut milk (to garnish or use 350ml stock and 350ml coconut milk. and half coconut milk for a creamier soup)
2 tbsp desiccated coconut

Heat a splash of oil in a saucepan and gently soften the onion for about 5 minutes.
Once soft, add the garlic, ginger, chilli and mustard seeds and fry for a few more minutes until the flavours have combined.
Meanwhile, peel and deseed the squash reserving the seeds. Chop into chunks and add to the pan and combine with the onion mix.
Add the stock (if you like you can use half stock half coconut milk) and the lime leaf and some seasoning and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 15minutes until the squash is soft.
Remove from the heat and discard the lime leaf. Blend until fine and smooth with a hand blender. Add the juice from the lime and all but a handful of coriander and bend again.Taste to check the seasoning and keep warm.
Heat a frying pan until hot. Remove any pith from the reserved seeds and fry in a tsp of oil for a few minutes. Add the desiccated coconut and fry until toasted. Remove from the heat.
To serve, fill warm soup bowls with the soup, drizzle with some coconut milk and garnish with the toasted seeds and extra coriander.

I served mine with some warm charred flatbreads (see here) spiked with Nigella seeds and smothered in butter.

Plum and Five Spice Duck

January 21, 2014 Comments Off read Poultry

An archived recipe I should have posted back in Autumn…pretend its Autumn and read on…

Slow cooked to perfection – plums are fashionably in season at the moment and duck is frankly deliciously tasty. It was a cold Autumnal evening. Need I say more….?

(Adapted from Jamie O)

Serves 4

4 duck legs
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 tsp five spice
2-3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red chilli, chopped
16 plums, halved and stoned
1 tbsp demerara sugar
2 spring onions, sliced
Handful coriander, chopped
8 oz wild/brown rice
1 lime

Marinade the duck legs in the soy, five spice, oil, star anise and cinnamon for as long as you can.
Preheat the oven to 200°C and get a roasting tray ready.
Place the chopped chillis, plums and sugar in the tray and drizzle over the marinade and mix well. Top with the duck legs, skin side up.
Roast for 1-½ hours, turning the heat down after about 20-30 minutes once the skin is crisp and the fat has rendered a little. Alternatively, roast at a low 160-170°C for about 2 hours until the meat comes away from the bone and is tender.
Meanwhile cook the rice. This is also lovely made with coconut milk (see here).
Once the duck is ready, taste the sauce and adjust with soy to season and remove the cinnamon and star anise. Serve the rice topped with a duck leg and the roasted plums. Scatter with the sliced spring onions and coriander and a generous squeeze of lime.

Spice Roasted Sweet Potato Soup, Lime-cardamon Yoghurt, Coconut Flatbread

January 18, 2014 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

Some relaxing blogging always starts the weekend off well. After a long week, it was nice to slow down and take my time over lunch instead of dashing home from work and being caped in my apron and up to my eyes in ingredients before I could even take off my coat! I love to constantly use different flavours and it really is the easiest thing to inspire a standard recipe by adding a few flavourful touches. If you haven’t got a stocked pantry of store cupboard ingredients then I highly recommend investing in a few essentials to be at hand and add to your cooking (see here). My store cupboard is by no means complete…storage space and budget don’t allow my dream pantry so for now I stick to the most useful ingredients.

This warming soup is smooth, creamy and cinnamon scented. Sweet potatoes have natural sweetness which goes really well with cinnamon and ingredients like maple syrup so the lime and cardamon yoghurt is a lovely fresh addition to top it off. Coconut flatbreads (just because) are heavenly.

Serves 4

Soup

800g sweet potato, peeled, chopped into chunks
2-3 garlic cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, chopped finely
2 pints of good, hot chicken or vegetable stock

Lime Cardamon Yoghurt

150g plain natural yoghurt
½ lime – zest and juice
Few mint/coriander leaves
3-4 cardamon pods

Coconut Flatbreads

15g dessicated coconut
75-80ml coconut milk/water
125g flour
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Peel and chop you sweet potatoes into chunky pieces and add to a large roasting tray. Throw in your garlic cloves, whole and unpeeled.
Drizzle with a couple of generous tablespoons of olive oil or sunflower oil and scatter over the cumin seeds, cinnamon and some generous seasoning. Mix until coated in the spices and roast for 30 minutes. Toss half way through cooking.
Meanwhile, sweat and soften the onion in a little oil in a saucepan over the hob and prepare your stock.
Make the flatbreads by combining the flour, seasoning and coconut in a large bowl. Add in your liquid and mix with a fork until combined. Bring together to form a smooth dough, adding a little more liquid if needed. Knead for a few minutes and then set aside to rest.
For the yoghurt, combine in a bowl with the lime juice, zest, finely chopped mint and some salt and pepper. Bash the cardamon pods to remove the seeds inside. Grind these as fine as you can in a pestle and mortar and add to the yoghurt. Stir to combine then set aside.
Once the potatoes are ready remove from the oven and pick out the garlic cloves. Add the potatoes to the sweating onion. Squeeze the roasted and sweet garlic pulp from their skins and add with the potatoes.
Add the stock and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the flavours are combined and the potatoes are really tender.
Puree with a hand blender until silky and smooth. Add a little more stock to thin the soup if you like.
Keep warm while you cook the flatbreads. Heat a frying pan over a high heat. Divide the dough into four equal pieces and roll each out thinly on a floured surface. Fry each in a the dry hot pan for a few minutes each side until a lightly charred and they begin to puff up slightly.
Serve warm immediately (or keep warm in the oven) with a generous warming bowl of spiced soup drizzled with the fresh yoghurt.

Keralan Fish Curry (and a lime flavoured discovery)

January 14, 2014 Comments Off read Seafood

Coconut is definitely up there in my top 5 favourite ingredients…go ahead and strand me on a dessert island with nothing but this hairy white fleshed treat (FYI..coconut oil also makes a great hair conditioner….I diverge). Keralan curries are notoriously flavoured with coconut along with the stereotypical scents of whole and ground spices. The curries here are different from the Northern region and much fresher for my tastes anyway. This fish curry is spicy but feels light and cleansing. Not stodgy and firey like some can often be.

As for my lime discovery. Once n a while I’ll have a foodie discovery and find an ingredient or cooking tool that just makes me smile and feel inspired. To name a handful off the top of my head…my first taste of black pudding, my first chai tea latte and perhaps (weirdly) my first devils-on-horseback one Christmas eve. I’m unsure whether its the low expectations of a food that make it all the more magical or the moment in which you eat it when you are desperately hungry which make it all the more enjoyable but everyone can name a few times they’ve eaten something memorable. So, fresh Kaffir lime leaves. I’ve only ever used the dried variety as often specified in recipes. After forking out my hard earned pennies for a tiny pot of these dried and parched leaves packaged pretentiously in fancy packaging, I pleasingly discovered the fresh type. Oh my. What a difference one green and chlorophyll packed leaf can make to a dish. I bought a packet of fresh lime leaves from my local Sainsburys (not cheaply when you think you’re buying leaves?) But WELL worth it. Popping just one (be gentle, their powerful) into my simmering and creamy coconut curry sauce for a matter of 15-20 minutes infused it with a fragrant, fresh and amazing flavour. After cutting up a lime for garnish, I aptly threw it aside- not needed here!

So my foodie followers. Find fresh leaves where you can and don’t skimp on them if you want the amazing flavour.

Serves 3-4

1 large onion
1 small red chilli, chopped finely
2cm piece of ginger, grated finely
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp tumeric
Bunch coriander, chopped
400ml coconut milk
200ml water (or see tip below for a light stock*)
1 Kaffir lime leaf OR ½ juice of a lime
Handful of desiccated coconut
400gor about 2 white fish fillets, chopped into large 2inch chunks
12 raw tiger prawns (if bought in their shells- see tip below*)
1 tsp tamarind paste
Handful of sugar snaps/mange tout/green beans enough for (3-4 people)

Heat a little oil in a heavy based pan. Add the mustard, fenugreek and coriander seed and fry until beginning to pop and smell fragrant.
Add the chopped onion and fry on a lowish heat for about 5 minutes until really soft and infused with the spicy flavour.
Once soft, add the chilli and cook for a few more minutes before adding the ginger and doing the same.
Add the dry spices and cook out for 1 minute or so.
Add the coconut milk, the stock and that magic lime leaf.
Simmer gently for about 10-15 minutes. You want to allow enough time to infuse the flavours of the spices and the lime but reduce the sauce until thicker and creamy.
Once nearly at the desired consistency, add a handful or two of dessicated coconut and a handful or chopped coriander, saving most for garnish. Add the tamarind paste for sweetness.
Throw in your vege but don’t overcook- keep it crisp.
Add the fish and turn the heat down to a low simmer so you don’t boil it. Poach the fish gently in the sauce for about 3-4 minutes (don’t be tempted to overdo it- fish will cook so easily, you could even take it off the heat and leave it and it would cook). Add the prawns for the final few minutes until the fish turns opaque and just begins to flake. (If not using a Kaffir lime leaf, squeeze in ½ the juice of your lime here)
Serve warm in large bowls with rice or naan bread. Garnish with extra chopped coriander and sliced spring onions if you like. A handful or two of cashew nuts wouldn’t go amiss here either.

A few tips

Keep the fish chunky as you don’t want it to break up too much. Please don’t be tempted to cook the fish for too long. You want it just flaking but still moist.

Similarly, don’t cook the hell out of the prawns. Overcooking can turn the juiciest and biggest of prawns into tiny, shrived and dry mouthfuls. They only need a minute or so until just turned pink

***If you buy your prawns shelled, don’t throw the shells away! Use that amazing flavour. Feel the shell (and heads if you’re lucky) from the prawns and set them aside. Fry the shells in a little oil until turning pink. Add a splash or white wine and simmer. Add some boiling water and simmer for about 5-10 minutes until fragrant. The amazing flavour from the shells will really make a difference. Sieve and discard the shells and use 200ml of this stock for your curry.

Buy fresh Kaffir lime leaves- see above for reasons

Use whole spices- they’ll really make a difference

Use full fat coconut milk- it will be creamier and more indulgent. Light will work too but it may need further reduction.

And finally, enjoy…and don’t rub chili in your eye like I’ve just done.