FRAGRANT SAUCE, FLUFFY RICE & POPPADOMS
Delicious, gentle and fragrant, this curry sauce can hero any wonderful fish. I’ve kept it simple and accessible with salmon and prawns, but you can also flake in crabmeat, lobster, bass or whatever is at its seasonal best. Enjoy.
SERVES 10
1 HOUR 10 MINUTES
750g brown basmati rice
1kg side of salmon*, scaled, skin off and reserved, pin-boned
400g frozen raw peeled prawns*
10 uncooked poppadoms
2 lemons
CURRY SAUCE
4 fresh green chillies
4 cloves of garlic
4 x 5cm pieces of ginger
1 bunch of fresh coriander (30g)
4 onions
vegetable oil
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
1 large handful of curry leaves
1 stick of cinnamon
4 whole cloves
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
2 x 400ml tins of light coconut milk
2 tablespoons mango chutney
*from sustainable sources
♥ Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/gas 4. To make the sauce, deseed the chillies, peel the garlic and ginger, and finely chop it all with the coriander stalks. Peel and finely chop the onions, keeping them separate. Heat 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large casserole pan on a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and once they start to pop, add the fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, coriander stalks and most of the chilli. Stir and fry for 5 minutes, then stir in the onions. Cook for another 10 minutes, or until the onions are soft and golden, then stir in the cloves and turmeric. Tip in the tinned tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon, pour in the coconut milk with 1 tin’s worth of water and add the mango chutney. Bring to the boil, simmer for 10 minutes, or until slightly thickened and creamy, then taste and season to perfection.
♥ Cook the rice in a pan of boiling salted water, according to the packet instructions, then drain. Meanwhile, halve the salmon and place in the sauce with the prawns, making sure it’s all submerged. Lightly rub the salmon skin with oil and lay on a baking tray. Put the curry and the tray of skin in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the salmon is just tender and the skin is crisp and golden. One by one, puff up the dry poppadoms in the microwave for around 30 seconds each.
♥ Serve the curry with the rice, poppadoms, the snapped-up crispy skin, lemon wedges, and the reserved chilli and coriander leaves, then tuck in.
GET AHEAD
Make the sauce, let it cool, then cover and place in the fridge ready to cook the next day. Simply bring it up to a good simmer, pop in the salmon and prawns and cook as above. You can even freeze the sauce: reheating it in a pan with a splash of water.
NUTRITION PER SERVING
732 kcal; 32.7g fat (9g saturated); 38.2g protein; 76.1g carbs; 12.1g sugars; 1.6g salt; 6.3g fibre