Coconut fish curry with basmati rice
Large pieces of white fish marinated with turmeric and lemon, poached in a sauce of golden onion, tomatoes reduced to a paste and coconut milk, scented with cumin and cardamom sizzled in oil. A mild but deeply flavoured curry in the spirit of the Kerala fish curries brought to Israel by Cochin’s Jewish communities, served with soaked basmati rice whose grains stay separate.
Method
- Prepare the ingredients. Wash the rice in a bowl with plenty of water, rubbing it between your fingers, 3 times until the water is almost clear, then cover with cold water and leave to soak while making the base (15–20 minutes). Squeeze the half lemon (25 g juice). Pat the fish dry with kitchen paper and mix in a bowl with 2 g salt, 1 g turmeric and 5 g lemon juice; leave to marinate in the fridge. Finely chop the onion and crush the cardamom pods.
- Heat the oil in a 26 cm sauté pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and cardamom and cook for 30 seconds, until sizzling and fragrant. Add the onion and fry for 10–12 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, until light golden without blackening. Meanwhile, grate the garlic and ginger, slit and deseed the chilli, and chop the coriander. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir for 1 minute; then add the remaining turmeric, paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander and pepper and stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant but not catching.
- Add the tomatoes and 4 g salt. Cook over a medium heat for 10–12 minutes, stirring often and scraping the bottom: the tomatoes should become a thick, glossy paste that comes away from the bottom when pushed with the spoon, with beads of oil around the edges. As soon as the tomatoes go into the sauté pan, drain the rice and put it in an 18 cm saucepan with 280 g water and 3 g salt. Bring to the boil, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 12 minutes, then turn off and leave covered without lifting the lid until serving: the water will be absorbed and small holes appear on the surface.
- Pour the coconut milk into the tomato paste, scrape the bottom and return to a gentle simmer for 2–3 minutes: the sauce should be orange, smooth and coat the spoon. If too thick, loosen with the 50 g hot water. Taste: it should be well seasoned, as the rice will dilute it.
- Lay the fish in a single layer and spoon sauce over it. Cover and poach over a low heat for 6–8 minutes without stirring; gently shake the pan halfway through. It is ready when the flesh is opaque in the centre and separates into pearly flakes under the tip of a knife (63°C in the centre of the largest piece).
- Off the heat, sprinkle with the garam masala, drizzle with the remaining 20 g lemon juice, add the chopped coriander and leave covered for 2 minutes. Remove the chilli for a mild curry and the 2 cardamom pods. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve in two shallow bowls, with the fish and sauce alongside the rice.
Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.
Fish-free
- Thick, fresh Nile perch fillets → Boneless skinless chicken thighs (pargiyot) 450 g (about 4 chicken thighs, cut into 4 cm pieces by a kosher butcher)
- For two fish-free plates, use the meat sauté pan. In step 1, marinate the chicken exactly as for the fish, with 2 g salt, 1 g turmeric and 5 g lemon juice. In step 5, once the coconut milk simmers, add the chicken, cover and cook at a gentle simmer for 13–15 minutes, turning the pieces halfway through. The flesh should be tender and opaque in the centre, with no pink near the middle and clear juices (74°C or above; thighs stay tender up to 80°C). Finish as in step 6.
- For one plate of each: 225 g fish and 225 g chicken, marinated in separate bowls with 1 g salt, 0.5 g turmeric and 2.5 g lemon juice each. At the end of step 4, before any contact with raw fish or chicken, pour half the sauce, without loosening it, into the small meat saucepan. Add the chicken, cover and simmer gently for 13–15 minutes. Pour the 50 g hot water into the half of the sauce left in the sauté pan. After 6 minutes, add the fish, grouping the pieces in the centre where the sauce is deepest, and cook as in step 5. Since half the sauce is quite shallow, spoon sauce over the pieces once more halfway through.
- Check the fish first, then wash the thermometer probe in hot soapy water before checking the chicken; keep two separate spoons. Turn off the chicken’s heat as soon as it reaches 74°C and keep covered: it will stay hot for 5 minutes. Finish both pans at the same time, adding 1 g garam masala, 10 g lemon juice and half the coriander to each. Serve half the rice on each plate.
The same golden base, pareve coconut and tomato sauce, and rice; chicken thighs stay tender where breast meat would dry out. For a mixed meal, cook the fish and chicken in two separate pans.
Lighter version
The sauce is less creamy, with less coconut sweetness, bringing the tomato and spices forward. With less rice to absorb it, this brighter sauce takes up more of each mouthful.
- Sunflower oil, for frying or as a neutral oil : 12 g
- Unsweetened coconut milk : 150 g
- Basmati rice : 130 g
- Water : 265 g
- Fine salt : 8.5 g
In step 2, using 12 g oil, brown the onion over a medium-low heat for 12–14 minutes; add 1 tbsp water if it catches. In step 3, cook the rice with 215 g water and 2.5 g salt.
Less fat and rice, with the same golden base and masala: the sauce still coats the spoon.
On your plate
Recipe
890 kcal · protein 57 g · carbs 86 g · fat 33 g
Quantities per person
- 225 g Thick, fresh Nile perch fillets
- 85 g Basmati rice
- 100 g Unsweetened coconut milk
- 200 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin)
- 75 g Yellow onions
- 7.5 g Garlic
- 7.5 g Fresh ginger
- 7.5 g Hot green chillies
- 10 g Sunflower oil, for frying or as a neutral oil
- 1 g Cumin seeds
- 0.25 g Green cardamom pods
- 1 g Turmeric
- 2 g Sweet paprika
- 1 g Ground cumin
- 1.5 g Ground coriander
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 1 g Garam masala
- 5 g Fresh coriander
- 4.5 g Fine salt
- 165 g Water
- 30 g Lemon
Fish-free version
966 kcal · protein 58 g · carbs 86 g · fat 41 g
Quantities per person
- 85 g Basmati rice
- 100 g Unsweetened coconut milk
- 200 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin)
- 75 g Yellow onions
- 7.5 g Garlic
- 7.5 g Fresh ginger
- 7.5 g Hot green chillies
- 10 g Sunflower oil, for frying or as a neutral oil
- 1 g Cumin seeds
- 0.25 g Green cardamom pods
- 1 g Turmeric
- 2 g Sweet paprika
- 1 g Ground cumin
- 1.5 g Ground coriander
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 1 g Garam masala
- 5 g Fresh coriander
- 4.5 g Fine salt
- 165 g Water
- 30 g Lemon
- 225 g Boneless skinless chicken thighs (pargiyot)
Cooking tips
Two stages build the flavour and must not be rushed: the onion turning light golden, then the tomatoes reducing to a paste until beads of oil appear. Coconut milk should simmer gently, never boil hard, or it will split. For a hotter curry, leave the chilli and its seeds in until serving. A Cochin Jewish variation: replace 10 g of the finishing lemon juice with 15 g tamarind purée, stirring it into the sauce with the coconut milk. Freeze the remaining coconut milk in an ice-cube tray for the next curry. Choose a certified gluten-free garam masala.
Inspired by Kerala fish curries with coconut milk, turmeric and tamarind or lemon, as cooked by Cochin’s Jewish communities in Israel; a golden onion base, tomatoes reduced to a masala and a garam masala finish in the style of northern India.
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