I love spices, I love curry, and I love the combination of the oily fish and the potatoes,
I'm going to dedicate this recipe to a good friend of mine Anjula Devi, she's an absolute genius with spicing foods just right, when we finally get to meet, I'll cook this for her, I hope she approves!!!!
The recipe and method seem to be quite complicated, when I suppose we'd normally just throw everything in and let it do it's thing!!! ( sorry Anjula! I know there's more to it than that) but by cooking the fish and potatoes separately you don't end up with a gooey mess
This recipe will feed 4 people
SHOPPING LIST
500g of waxy potatoes ( such as Romano)
4 whole cloves
2 teaspoon of fennel seeds
2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
2 teaspoon of coriander seeds
A cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
250g of mackerel fillets (boneless)
250g of salmon fillet (boneless)
30g of plain flour that has been well seasoned with salt and pepper
A good splash of sunflower oil
2 large onions finely chopped
A 1 inch piece of ginger peeled and grated
5-6 green chilli finely chopped ( keep the seeds in! I love the heat)
200g natural Greek yogurt
400ml fish stock ( buy it! I won't tell anyone)
Good bunch of chopped fresh coriander
METHOD
Firstly boil the unpeeled potatoes until they are tender.
Whilst the potatoes are boiling, in a pan dry roast the cloves, fennel, cumin, coriander seeds and cinnamon stick for about 1 minute, you should have a fantastic aromatic smell.
Tip the spices into a pestle and mortar and grind to a powder.
Now stir in the turmeric.
You can now drain the potatoes and when they are cool enough to handle, peel them carefully and cut into 1 inch pieces.
Cut the mackerel and salmon into nice bite size pieces.
Coat the fish in the seasoned flour.
In a pan cook the fish on all sides until golden.
Remove and keep to one side In the same pan cook the potato pieces until they are golden, do this in batches so not to break the pieces up.
Remove and keep to one side
Now add a splash more oil and cook the onions, chilli and ginger for 5 minutes until soft and slightly browned
Now add the spice mix and cook for 2 minutes
You can now add the yoghurt a spoon at a time, taking time to cook for about 1 minute between each addition
Slowly stir in the fish stock and carefully add the potatoes
Now add the mackerel and salmon
Bring slowly to the simmer with half the chopped coriander
Simmer for 3-4 minutes NO MORE OR YOUR FISH WILL BREAK UP!
Serve immediately with some rice and finish with the rest of the chopped coriander