Thai Fish Curry
By Chef Fregz:
As a guy, picture this: The woman in your life is away and you would like to impress your kids with your culinary skills. Or you want to show your friends how catching up at yours can be fun for both the mind and the stomach. Fret not this easy to prepare meal will surely have you looking like a cordon blue chef.
For the ladies, if you want a treat, leave this lying around and your guy just might surprise you with this sumptuous meal!
Ingredients
4-8 Fish fillet portions. (Other protein can be used)
1/2 tablespoon Sesame oil
1 tablespoon Red curry paste (it’s available in green and yellow but red takes the win for me)
300-400ml Coconut milk or 1 can (all coconut milk, usually comes in 400ml cans)
Half a lime
1 large green pepper (ground or finely chopped) (optional)
1 large red bell pepper (ground) (optional)
A handful of coriander leaves
Fresh Thai or birds eye chilies for garnish (green and/or red)
For The Rice
1 1/2 cups Long grain rice or basmati rice or fragrant Thai rice
2 Cloves of garlic smashed open
1 stalk Lemongrass bashed open
A pinch of salt to taste (if you use the fragrant rice you may not even need to salt)
1 Medium onion chopped
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Water to cover
Method
- Massage the curry paste into the fish or whatever protein you’re using, along with the sesame oil. Leave to marinade.
- Proceed to make the rice.
- In a saucepan or pot, place the oil and when hot add the onions, garlic, and lemongrass and stir fry till lightly fragrant and add the rice. Stir fry the rice till it’s evenly coated/glistening in the oil.
- At this stage add the water making sure it’s about 2 inches above the rice. Cook on a low heat till the water dries out and the rice is just done and fluffy but not too soft. This should take about 15 minutes
(Please note: if you are cooking the Thai fragrant rice or basmati rice it would require less cooking time and probably a little less liquid because the idea with this rice recipe is to allow the steam do the cooking once the water has dried out.)
For The Curry
- While the rice is cooking, in a hot frying pan, add about a 100ml of the coconut milk and the tablespoon of the curry paste (be prepared to sneeze and cough a little). Fry the paste until the coconut milk almost starts to dry out, and the paste is bubbly. Be careful not to burn the paste.
- Add the remaining milk and let simmer for about 10 minutes till it thickens. If you’re using any vegetables you can add at this point, let it cool down before adding your fish.
For the fish
- In some oil sear the fish on both sides but don’t allow cook all the way through as you want it to finish off in the curry.
- Add the coriander and chilies at the very end and vegetables like green pepper for it to retain its freshness for as long as possible.
Serve hot, and pair with the coldest drink you can find.
*If you don’t like spicy just add a bit more coconut milk and less of the paste and a pinch of brown sugar or palm sugar to cool it down and also omit the extra chilies.
Culled from TW July 2018 edition
