Curried Fish with Roasted Sweet Vegetable and Crispy Okra

This recipe is all about the base. Once you have got a good base or “turka” as we call it, you can add anything to it, chicken, fish, beans. Whatever takes your fancy.

This recipe shows parsnip as the sweet vegetable, but go easy on this particularly if you are Pitta balancing as root vegetables can be a little heating. Swap this for sweet potato, butternut squash or regular potato and add plenty of ghee to make it a little more cooling.

You will need

  • Onions. The amount will depend on how much fish you are making. If you are making enough for your whole family, I would suggest about 2-3 large onions finely chopped.

  • 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

  • A thumb size piece of ginger (crushed)

  • 2 tbsp of red pepper paste

  • Tsp of tamarind paste or concentrate

  • Salt and pepper to taste

  • Turmeric powder

  • Cumin powder

  • Ground coriander powder

  • A sweet vegetable, either sweet potato, potato or butternut squash (peeled and chopped)

  • Whole pack of Okra with tops removed.

  • Juice of one whole lime

  • Jaggery (raw cane sugar, you could even use molasses) or maple syrup

  • Basmati rice

  • Ghee

  • Coconut milk (optional)


VEG

  1. First we need to prep our roasting veg. In a roasting tray, place your sweet vegetable, toss it in some ghee and season well with salt and pepper before placing in the oven at about 180 (gas mark 4).

  2. Create a little drizzle for your okra - add a tbsp of melted ghee, juice of one whole lime, half a tsp of jaggery or maple syrup, salt and pepper and a generous pinch of cumin and mix well. Toss the okra in this drizzle and set aside. As this will cook a little faster than the root veg, we need to put this in midway through the fish being cooked.

RICE

  1. Prep your rice, around 200g will be enough for your whole family. Rinse the rice a few times, stirring with your hands and draining, repeating this until the water becomes clear. Make sure there is more water than rice as we will be draining and discarding the remaining water when the rice is cooked. Season with salt and place on the stove on a mid heat. Keep checking the rice, the same way you would pasta, once it is at your desired consistency, take it off the heat and drain.

FISH

  1. Whilst your rice is boiling, melt one 1 & ½ tbsp of ghee in a pan on a medium heat. Once melted, add your chopped onions. Keep watching and stirring until the onions are golden brown and caramelised. 

  2. At this point, put the okra in the oven, keep checking and shaking the pan to ensure they are crispy on all sides.

  3. Back to the onions - now they are caramelised, add your ginger and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Next add ½ tsp of turmeric powder and stir well. If the pan begins to get claggy, add a little bit of water to deglaze the pan.

  4. Next add 2 tbsp of red pepper paste and 1 tsp of tamarind. Cook until it begins to look jammy and combined. 

  5. Now add the seasoning with 1 tsp of cumin powder and 1 tsp of ground coriander powder. Stir well and remember to deglaze when necessary, try to keep the sauce nice and silky.

  6. Now it’s time to add the fish (or whatever meat you are cooking with). As we dont want the fish to break up too much, place the fish in the pan and pile the sauce on top. Turn the heat right down and place a lid on the pan. Cook for a further 10 minutes until the fish is cooked through. Then remove the lid and cook for a further 5. You can even add a little coconut milk here if you like and stir through.

  7. The rest of your vegetables and rice should be ready by now, serve together and enjoy!

Avi Sehmbi