Greetings Gastronauts! This is Keef Cooks, I'm Keef and today I'm going to show you something
a bit exotic from the south of India, from Goa: Goan Fish Curry.
[ MUSIC ]
So this was requested back in August by J4 ProTech.
And it's taken a while to get round to it, but here we are. And it was also subsequently
requested by Big Steve - in fact, not specifically Goan fish curry, just a general fish curry.
And back in the last century, before I'd ever heard of Goa, or had a Goan fish curry, I
thought - when people were talking about Goan fish curry - that was an instruction, as in
'Go and fish for curry.' Cos I'm stupid! Anyway, it isn't! Goa is a state in the south of India,
and they grow lots of coconuts, so that's a big element in this. And also, they like
a bit of sourness in their curries, so that's where the tamarind comes in. And it's wonderful,
and only about a hundred ingredients, so, quite easy. Let's do it!
So, to start with, I've got a load of spices. Actually not as many as I need. I should have
a couple of teaspoons of coriander seeds but, being a mere mortal, I've run out. However
(!) A teaspoon of cumin seeds, 1/2 teaspoon of dried red chilli flakes, 3 cm (bit over
an inch) - of fresh ginger, four garlic cloves, and a couple of little red chillies. I've
also got a teaspoon of turmeric, two teaspoons of tamarind paste, some oil (rapeseed oil)
to sauté it in. And - a tablespoon of brown sugar. To be more authentic, you would use
palm sugar, but - haven't got any! Four hundred ml can of coconut milk. Couple of hundred
mls of tomato. Two little red onions and a big handful of fresh coriander. I think that's
everythi- oh - fish! White fish, and I've got some prawns. This is actually a fairly
flexible recipe, so the type of fish doesn't matter, which is fortunate, because you can't
get most of the kind of fish they have in India. However, you can get mackerel, and
that is a favourite, but this is haddock. And it'll be wonderful. So let's do it!
So you need to toast your dry spices in a frying pan, without oil. That's the cumin
and the chilli flakes - and it would be the coriander seeds if I had any. And now we need
to peel and crush the garlic. And peel the ginger. And just grate it.
Love the smell of ginger! This isn't all that fresh actually; it's a little bit soggy so it's not grating
very well. So maybe I'll just have to chop it by hand - very, very finely.
So this needs to be, sort of, turned into a paste. I'm going to use my spice mill for
that. You should use a mortar and pestle but - I'm lazy! So I've got my spices and a bit
of salt, and I'm just going to whizz 'em to a pulp. Now I need to just finely - peel and
finely chop the onion. Right, now we're actually ready to start cooking, so I'm going to heat
up some rapeseed oil in a pan, and add the chopped onions and let them cook - for about
five minutes till they're golden, not particularly browned.
Meanwhile, I'll chop these chillies in half and de-seed them. And now we'll add the spice
paste. Stir that in; let that cook for a couple of minutes. Now add the tomato. And this needs
to cook for maybe another five minutes, till it's lost nearly all its liquid. OK, so that's
drying out quite a lot, and now we need to add the coconut milk - oh my god! - which
doesn't have a ring-pull top! Fortunately... (rattle, clatter in drawer) I have a million-year-old
can opener - if I can remember how to work it. I know there's people on YouTube who can
open a can with their thumb - and stuff like that - but I'm not one of them! There we go.
So, you notice the fat from the coconut milk actually sets solid at room temperature. Don't
worry about that, cos - urk! - there's liquid goop in there as well, and it's all good.
Of course, if you were in Goa, you'd just reach out to your nearest coconut tree and
grab a coconut and use that! But I'm not - I'm in Yorkshire. And at this point, if you're
doing rice or anything else, get on with it! (Laughs) It'll thicken in five or ten minutes
, and then we can add the fish - and then we can eat it!
OK, we need to throw in the other bits and bobs, so we've got the chillies, the sugar
- a tablespoon - and the turmeric (Remind me to get some more!) ...that's about a teaspoon!
And the tamarind paste. If you haven't got tamarind paste you can use vinegar - it's
just to give a sour flavour. Two? No... three. Nah - four. Let that cook for a bit, then
taste it. Right, that's looking and tasting good, so now I'm going to throw in - I've
chopped up the fresh coriander - I'm going to chuck most of it in and save a bit for
garnish. And, time to chop up the fish. Well, actually, y'know, chop it into quite big chunks.
I'm leaving the skin on cos I like it. You don't have to if you don't like it. And you
know fish only takes - well - five minutes to cook. That's why you put it in at the end.
You can tell it's cooked when the flesh loses its sort of transparency, becomes solid-looking
and flakes easily away from the skin. And turn the heat up a little bit. And chuck in
the prawns as well. OK, I'm ready for some of this. That won't
score you many points on Masterchef! (laughs) So add a sprinkle of fresh coriander and - and
here we go! Oooh... Ooh that looks good... Goan Fish Curry! Go on! It's lovely!
[ MUSIC ] And that's that, I hope you enjoyed it. Now
you can get the full recipe on my website, keefcooks.com, and there should be a link
kicking around on the screen over there or down there. And if you haven't already done
so please subscribe to my channel, link, link, and talk to me. Leave comments, make requests.
Keep it civil and friendly, otherwise I will BAN you, and thanks for watching, and see you next time.