Goan Fish Curry

This may sound a little strange… but where I live we actually have a mobile fish monger. So basically they drop around a leaflet advising you of the fish they have and prices etc and every couple of months they will give you a call and see what fish you want and how much. So my dad signed up for it and it’s an excellent service, much cheaper than the supermarkets and the fish is caught that morning and then transported around!
Anyway… because of this we ended up having a lot of fish in the freezer and so I wanted to do something different with it and to try a different style of curry, and so Goan it was!
I thought this was an excellent curry, I thought it might have been a bit spicy, but the flavours were brilliant and the fish was so tender and it was just lovely all round, and as an added bonus its ready in less than 30 minutes, a perfect midweek curry!

Serves 2 – ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tsp coriander seeds
  
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
  
• 1 dried red chilli
  
• olive oil
  
• 1 onion , halved and sliced
  
• a small piece root ginger , finely grated
  
• 2 garlic cloves , crushed
  
• ½ tsp turmeric
  
• 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
  
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
  
• 1-2 green chillies , finely sliced
  
• 300g sustainable firm white fish such as haddock , Pollack or cod, cut into chunks
  
• steamed rice to serve

Now for the How To:

• Toast the seeds and dried red chilli, then grind in a pestle and mortar, or spice grinder.
  
• Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the onion with a big pinch of salt until soft and golden.
  
• Add the ginger, garlic, turmeric and ground spices and fry for 1 minute.
  
• Add the coconut, tamarind and green chillies and simmer for 5 minutes.
  
• Add the fish and cook for 3-4 minutes until just cooked. Serve with rice.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Next up is a Lemon Drizzle Cake!
Bye for Now! X

New Recipe : Tomato Soup With Marmite Twists

The latest recipe I tried was “Tomato Soup with Cheese & Marmite Twists” it was a very easy recipe and I must say very tasty, although I would make a couple of amendments if I am to do it again but I’ll come to those later.

Serves 4 - Ready in 50 minutes (it can be done quicker depends how good you are at multi-tasking)

Ingredients:

For the Twists:

• 50g Red Leicester or Cheddar cheese

• 1 sheet of ready to use puff pastry

• 2 tsp of Marmite (or English mustard, I made both)

For the Soup:

• 1 large onion

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 8 large tomatoes

• 400ml vegetable stock

• 4 tbsp tomato ketchup

• ½ tsp dried oregano

• 300 ml double cream

Now for the how to:

• Preheat oven to 200c/180c fan/ gas mark 6. Finely grate the cheese. Unravel the pastry, spread evenly with the marmite (or mustard) then sprinkle the cheese on top. Fold the pastry in half to make a sandwich and press down well.

• Cut the pastry into 12 equal strips, carefully twist each strip and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown, leave for 5 minutes to firm up a little, remove from the baking tray and allow to cool.

• Halve the onion, peel and chop it. Fry in the oil for about 5 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon until soft but not coloured, as this will spoil the colour of the soup later.

• Chop the tomatoes; add to the pan with the stock, ketchup and oregano. Season. Bring to the boil, and then turn to a low heat. Cover the pan, and summer for 15 minutes until tomatoes are soft.

• Tip the cream into the soup, heat gently, stirring with the wooden spoon until it just starts to bubble. Don’t boil as the cream may curdle. Ladle into bowls and serve with the cheese and marmite straws.

The cooking time can be shorter if you prepare the twists as the onions are cooking and the straws can cook as the tomatoes are cooking dramatically reducing the cooking time. After making both the marmite straws and the mustard straws, we found the marmite straws went with the soup better, it mixed really well with the cheese, and they were a firm favourite (in fact we ate the left over straws as a snack later that day)

Another amendment I would make next time is either to peel the tomatoes by scoring the skin and pouring hot water over them, the skin is then easily removed, or I would blend the mixture before adding the cream, I whizzed it slightly with my hand blender, but bit of skin were still present, or the final option is to sift the soup before adding the cream to get rid of any residue skin / seeds. But this didn’t subtract from the taste of the soup, it was very tasty and incredibly filling! It’s a must try!

Not really something to have regularly due to the double cream, it’s a hefty 912 calories per serving! Instead of using double cream, you can always use crème fraiche for a slightly lower calorie option.

I'm still undecided on what to cook this week. I will have to decide soon as I'm supposed to be making it tomorrow!

Bye for now!x

This weeks recipe - Prawn & Pea Risotto!

So today I made a Prawn & Pea risotto! I must say I was impressed! There was a time where I didn’t think the rice was ever going to cook, but I was being impatient and once the rice was cooked, it was amazing! Below are the details for the recipe if you wanted to try it! I would recommend it!


Serves 4 – Ready in 30 minutes (that’s including prep)

Ingredients

• Butter

• Olive Oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 300g carnaroli rice of Arborio rice ( I used Arborio rice heavenly)

• 100ml white win (optional, I left this item out I'm not a big wine fan)

• 800ml of vegetable stock either made up from a cube, a concentrate or fresh (I used oxo vegetable stock cube worked really well!)

• 250g cooked and pealed prawns, if they are frozen, make sure they are defrosted thoroughly

• 100g frozen peas

• 80g parmesan, grated

Now for the how to!

• Melt a knob of butter with a sash of olive oil in a wide, shallow pan and add the onion. Cook until softened, add the garlic and cook for a minute or two, but make sure it doesn’t brown.

• Add the rice and mix well, if you are using wine this is the time to add it, stir the mixture until it evaporates, pour in just enough stock to cover the rice and gently simmer remembering to stir now and again.

• As the stock evaporates and the rice swells, add more stock and stir until all the stock has been used and absorbed, this takes approximately 12-15 minutes (remember to be patient unlike me) finally, add the prawns, peas and season. Simmer for a further two minutes and mix in half the parmesan just before serving followed by sprinkling the remainder over the top of the dish once served (get fresh parmesan, it’s a little bit more expensive, but believe me, it makes the difference!)

It really is worth trying, I was a little bit dubious while making it, because as I said I was impatient, but it was very tasty, and well worth it! Per serving it is 465 calories!

Let me know if you try making prawn and pea risotto, did you come across any problems?

I haven’t decided what to cook next week, I'm thinking maybe, pork, chilli & bean stew, or summer pork and potatoes, or, sticky glazed pork with spring onion couscous! All will be decided shortly! Any suggestions?

Bye for now!x