Malaysian Monkfish Curry

Another Asian dish and this one is a great alternative to chicken or red meat if you fancy something a little more healthy… Well apart from the battered fish bit! The good thing about this recipe is the paste you make from scratch can be frozen and used later. This recipe will serve 2.

You will need:

400g Monkfish Tail (Get the fishmonger to remove the red membrane)
200g Coconut Milk
2 tbs Grated Coconut
150g Passata Rustica
Pack of Fine Beans
2 Banana Shallots
1 tsp Chopped Chives
4 Cloves Garlic
1 Inch Ginger
1 tbs Fish Sauce
2 Limes
1 tsp Fennel Seeds
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Tumeric
1 Tbs Fresh Coriander Stalks
1 tsp Coriander
2 Lemongrass Stalks
2 Whole Chillies (Plus Bird Eye for Dressing)
2 tsp Sesame Oil
3 tbs Plain Flour
1 tbs Cornfour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
Ice cold Soda Water
Knob of Butter

To prepare the curry paste:

In a blender add:

Coriander Stalks, Coriander, Fennel Seeds, Garlic, Ginger, Juice and zest of 1 Lime, Chillies, Sesame Oil, Lemongrass, Shallots, Tumeric, Cumin and Fish Sauce. Blitz until you have a paste. Set aside in the fridge for about an hour to let the flavours develop.

1. Take the paste out of the fridge and put 2 heaped tablespoons in a frying pan with a little oil and sweat off until the paste has dried out and cooked the rawness from the onions. Then add the coconut milk and stir. Add the passata then season with 1 tbs light soy, salt and pepper. You will need to gently reduce the sauce by about half on a low/moderate heat (stir occasionally to stop the sauce getting lumpy)If you find you need a little more depth of flavour you can add more paste and stir in.

2. While the sauce is reducing prepare the batter for the goujon. Add the plain flour, cornflour with 1 heaped tbs of fresh coconut a good pinch of salt and pepper. Slowly add the sparkling water until you have the consistency of double cream. Heat your deep fat frier or pan to 180 degrees.

3. Cut a couple of longer strips for the goujons and set to one side. Cut the remaining fish in to good sized chunks then cook in the simmering sauce for about 10 minutes. A couple of minutes from the end of the cooking time finely chop a handful off fine beans and add to the sauce along with a couple of knobs of butter and the juice of half a lime.

4. Dust the goujons in seasoned plain flour then dip in your batter and fry in the oil until golden brown. This should take about 5 minutes.

5. Assemble the dish then dress with some fresh chilli, chopped chives and coconut. Add a final squeeze of lime then tuck in.

Enjoy!