Hout Bay Linefish Simmered in a Spiced Coconut Gravy

Tamarind water adds a lovely tartness to this creamy, delicately spiced curry. This is a subtle dish which I think is just right without any extra heat, but if you like a bit of a kick, you can spike it with a few chopped fresh green chillis.

I was reluctant to put the word 'curry' in the title of this dish, because an artfully spiced curry is, to my mind, a work of sheer culinary magic, and best left to experts.

 Now that I've provided this disclaimer, I can tell you that I loved this dish - which I came up with after consulting numerous books by my favourite experts, namely Madhur Jaffrey, Atul Kochhar and others - so much that I couldn't stop eating it.

I had made enough for six, but - predictably - my fish-loathing family turned their noses up, without even tasting it.  So I ate it for lunch and supper for two days running, and had the dregs on toast this morning for breakfast. (I know, I know. But these flakes of fresh fish bathed in spicy, aromatic, creamy gravy were just what my brainbuds desperately craved, and who am I to refuse them?).

This dish is better the day after it was made, but do reheat it very gently to avoid over-cooking the fish.

You can use any robust, firm-fleshed, fresh fillets of fish in this dish; I used kabeljou from my local Hout Bay Harbour.  This is my all-time favourite fish, but I try not to buy it too often, as it is ranked orange (meaning 'use with caution') on the South African Seafood Sustainable Initiative (SASSI).

[Postscript, 7 May 2012:  I no longer cook with orange-listed seafood.]

As always, very fresh spices make all the difference to a dish like this.  Please use plenty of oil in which to brown the onions: you will not achieve the right depth of flavour if you use just a lick.  You can always drain off the oil once they're cooked.

Compressed tamarind pulp is available at Asian spice shops. If you can't find it, add 4 teaspoons of prepared, bottled tamarind sauce or the same quantity of freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus 200 ml water, to the dish.

Hout Bay Linefish Simmered in a Spiced Coconut Gravy

1.2 kg fresh, firm-fleshed white fish fillets, skinned and boned
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
1½  tsp (7.5 ml) red chilli powder
1½  tsp (7.5 ml) turmeric
1 tsp (5 ml) salt
30 g pressed tamarind, soaked for 20 minutes in 250 ml warm water
100 ml vegetable oil (sunflower or canola)

1½  tsp (7.5 ml) mustard seeds, brown or blonde

1½  tsp (7.5 ml) whole fenugreek seeds

2 whole cloves

3 whole white cardamom pods

1 quill of cinnamon, about  7 cm long, or a thumb-sized piece of cassia bark

2 large onions (about 400g), peeled and very finely chopped (or grated, or whizzed to a slush in a food processor)

340 ml coconut milk

2 t (10 ml) powdered cumin

freshly milled black pepper

To serve: 

a handful of chopped fresh coriander [cilantro]

Remove all bones from the fish and cut into large (about 5cm x 5cm) chunks.  Place in a bowl and add half the prepared garlic and ginger (reserve the rest) , and all the chilli powder, turmeric and salt.  Toss so that every cube of fish is well coated with the seasonings, cover, and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Put the cube of tamarind pulp in a bowl and add 200 ml warm water. Set aside to soften for 20 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, and when it is very hot, but not smoking, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon quill. Sizzle the spices in the hot oil until the mustard seeds begin to pop and crackle. Add the onions and the reserved ginger and garlic, turn down the flame and fry over a brisk heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions are a rich golden brown.  (At this point, you can, if you want to, tip the mixture into a sieve and drain off any excess oil.)

Using your fingers, mash and crush the now-softened tamarind pulp into its soaking water.  Strain the water into a little clean bowl, pressing down hard on the pulp to extract all the juices. Discard the pulp and add the tamarind water to the fried onions, along with the coconut cream, cumin and milled black pepper.  Stir well and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove the marinated fish from the fridge and tip it into the sauce. Toss gently to combine.  Turn up the heat and simmer, over a low flame, until the fish chunks are just cooked through (about 7 minutes). Do not stir or mash, as this will disturb the fish chunks: rather give the pan a gentle shake.

Serve hot, with a shower of chopped fresh coriander, and Basmati rice.

Serves 4

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All-time top ten brilliant kitchen hints and tips

Cheeky of me, I admit, to claim that these are the top ten, but as a life-long collector the useful hint-'n-tip, I offer these kwik-'n-easy, bright-'n-breezy, hot-'n-tasty suggestions, in the spirit of good house-whiffery.

Mrs Wicks, are you proud of me?

The source of the tip, where I can remember it, is in brackets.

In no particular order:

1. To open a packet of plastic-packaged spaghetti: With one hand, grip the packet vertically, midway down. Slam the bottom of the packet hard against the countertop, and the spaghetti will spring upwards and burst through the top of the packet. [Rick Stein]

2. To make a clean tear in clingfilm [clingwrap or saran wrap]: Take the roll out of the box, and hold it vertically in one hand with the bottom of the roll resting on the counter. With the other hand, take the top edge of the clingwrap and make a swift downward tear. [Nigella Lawson]. Or buy clingwrap with perforations.

3. To get the pulp out of a tomato, without having to peel it and go through the whole boiling-water palaver: Cut the tomato in half, across its waist, and press the cut side against the coarse side of a cheese grater. Vigorously grate it up and down, continuing until the half-tomato has flattened against the grater, leaving only the thin membrane of peel in your hand. Only the pulp will be grated, and you can chuck the peel on the compost heap. [Madhur Jaffrey, I seem to remember.]

4. To get the last bit out of a bottle of tomato sauce [ketchup]: Screw the lid of the bottle on tightly. Hold the bottle firmly in one hand, and wildly swing your arm around, from the shoulder , like a propeller. The centrifugal force will drive the sauce to the mouth of the bottle. [This tip appeared on a cooking programme on telly in South Africa in the Eighties and caused a sensation. I wish I could remember whose tip it was.]

5. To open the metal lid on a glass jar of jam, chutney, pickle or preserve: Hold the jar upside down, and give it a bloody sharp tap against a hard surface, such as a tiled floor or stone/ marble/tiled countertop. I don't know why this works, but it does. Usually. If it doesn't, and the vacuum is too persistent, pierce the lid by stabbing it with the point of a sharp knife.

6. To peel a garlic clove quickly: Place the clove in the microwave oven and cook on high for exactly seven seconds. Now smack it with your fist. The clove will shoot out of its skin like a rat out of an aqueduct. [Also, garlic freezes beautifully, when it's crisp and fresh.]

6a. I forgot this one, so am putting it next to the garlic. The best way to peel fresh ginger is with the edge of a dessert spoon. Hold the ginger in one hand, and the spoon in the other, with the hollow side of its bowl facing you. Now scrape at the skin with the edge of a spoon. Oh, and did I mention that you can freeze ginger?

7. To make perfect, fat-free popcorn with no burned bits or oily residue: place a small handful of popcorn [about 100 ml]in a clean brown or white paper bag. Add no oil or butter. Make two small, neat folds in the top of the bag and microwave on high for one minute, or until you can no longer hear any popping sounds. [More details here]

8. To lift charred, baked-on grease and grime off a roasting dish or pan: Fill the pan with cold water. Add an all-in-one dishwashing tablet and allow it to dissolve completely. [If it's a smallish pot or pan, you won't need the whole tablet: remove it when it's half dissolved, and save the other half for the next gunky pan]. All the burned-on bits will float away. Old-fashioned washing soda also does the trick.

9. To clean kitchen appliances - such as a food processor or cooker hood - covered with gunky grease: Spray oven-cleaning foam on the appliance, leave for a minute or two, then quickly wipe clean with a damp cloth. [My discovery, but don't blame me if the plastic gets eaten up].

10. Reheat a bought fresh or frozen pizza in a pan on your stove top, and get an ultra-crispy base.

That's my top ten eleven.

Oh, I forgot one, from the sainted aunties of 'How Clean is Your House'. If your corners have cobwebs, tie a slightly damp duster or kitchen towel around a tennis ball, and lob it into the corners. A good activity for whiny children. The aunties also suggest - and this works - cleaning disgusting mould out of white fridge seals with an old toothbrush and lots of toothpaste.

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