Topic: Mild Coconut Yellow Seafood Curry

[livo]

Sri Lankan / Thai / Indian??  I'm not sure, but it was good.  You could do this with just fish or just prawns.  This was inspired by the Sri Lankan Seafood Curry I ate at a restaurant last week (it was a very tiny serving and was still hungry afterwards).

I started here so credit where it's due.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt7cfod4uTU.  I had no Brindle Berry (never heard of it to be honest) so I substituted in Tamarind for sour notes.  I saw no reason why I couldn't add a bit of the MDB's base gravy I had left over in the fridge, so I did.  I've also been really enjoying my daughter's Thai yellow fish curry (usually barramundi) and I had some Thai Yellow Curry Paste so it went in as well.

Anyway, this is what I did.

I started in a 5 cm deep non-stick fry pan and then had to transfer to a cast iron enamelled casserole type dish. When I do it next time I'll go straight to the casserole.
Add to the pan:

1/2 small onion fine dice
2 green chilli chopped
1 large cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp fenugreek seed (crushed but the video uses whole)
Red Chilli powder to taste (I used 1/2 tsp Kashmiri)
1/2 tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste (I used about 1 level tsp)
1 chopped fresh tomato
1 TBSP of Tamarind puree / concentrate (could have gone 2 but the Lemon Juice to serve fixed this).
1 1/2 cups of water.

Bring all of this to a boil and then allow to simmer away, stirring occasionally for a while.

While this was going on I added about 1 cup of the base gravy. 

In a small fry pan I heated 1 TBSP vegetable oil and briefly fried 1 rounded TBSP of Thai yellow curry paste and then added it to the main pan. (This is where I realised, I need a bigger pot).

I then added 2 cups (500 ml) of thick coconut milk (made from powder and water as it was all I had).

After this had cooked for a while, probably 30 minutes, I added the fish which was about 500g of Spanish Mackerel I had in the freezer and cooked this until done, about 10 - 15 minutes.  Leave the fish in big pieces to prevent them breaking up and be gentle.  I then turned it off and allowed it to sit for about 30 minutes while I prepared Coconut Rice.
(Recipetin Eats https://www.recipetineats.com/fluffy-coconut-rice/ but it didn't take 40 minutes in the oven.  More like 20 so keep an eye on it.)

Just prior to serving I turned the heat back up and once hot again, I added the other seafood. Raw prawns, shelled NZ mussels and a few pieces of thinly sliced calamari (squid rings). I cooked this for a few minutes until the prawns were done.  The additional seafood was a Marinara mix from the shop with some additional shelled prawn meat.  The smaller pieces of fish in the marinara mix broke up but that doesn't matter.

The sauce was bit thin, so I mixed 2 TBSP of Corn Flour (starch) in 1/3 cup of cold water and added this in while stirring very gently to avoid breaking up the fish.

Served with the cocounut rice and steamed asian vegetables, this was every bit as good as the restaurant dish I was served last week (better in my opinion, and I had a much bigger serve  ).  A squeeze of fresh lemon juice just sets it right off. Delicious! It served 4 and there are leftovers.  I have some live NZ green lipped mussels, in the shell, in the fridge that I didn't use.  I'll be adding them in tonight when I re-heat it.