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Red Emperor Curry and Rice
- Steps
- Ingredients
Ingredients
Pan Fried Red Emperor
Fish Stock for Curry Sauce
Curry Sauce
Mint Steamed Rice
Cucumber Salsa
Crispy Shallot and Cashew Crumb
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Steps
- For the Pan Fried Red Emperor, fillet the fish and save fish frames for fish stock. Portion fillets into 4 even slices.
- Make slits into the skin of the fillets around ¼ inch deep and season with salt. Season flesh side with a light sprinkle of turmeric.
- Place fillets in the fridge until ready to fry and to help draw out moisture from the skin.
- For the Fish Stock, heat a large frypan on a high heat. Add oil and pan sear the fish frames until browned.
- Add the onion, ginger and garlic and fry until aromatic. Add water.
- Bring to a boil then lower the heat to medium and allow to simmer until stock has been reduced by half. Strain and add to curry sauce base.
- For the Curry Sauce, heat ghee/oil in a medium frypan on a medium high heat and add roughly chopped onions. Sauté until golden brown. Add ginger and garlic. Stir to combine.
- Add roughly chopped tomatoes, finely chopped coriander stems and half of the cashews.
- Cook until the tomatoes and onions are softened.
- Add the ground coriander, chilli powder and cumin to the pan and cook to release the flavours. Add a splash of water, if necessary to avoid burning the spices.
- Allow to cool slightly and add to a food processor to blend to a smooth puree. Return to pan and allow to simmer.
- Place remaining cashews with 500ml water to the blender and blend until smooth. Add to the frypan with the tomatoes. Cook until well combined.
- Season with salt and balance with sugar
- For the Mint Rice, add water to a medium saucepan with salt and ghee and bring to the boil.
- Wash basmati rice in a sieve, under running water. Add to the boiling water and reduce to a simmer.
- Cook for 15 minutes with the lid on or until all the water has been absorbed, fluff the rice with a fork.
- Finely chop mint leaves and toss through the rice.
- For the Cucumber Salsa, peel the cucumber lightly, whilst still maintaining the soft green part of the peel. Halve the cucumber and remove the seeds. Dice into a 3mm brunoise.
- Chop the red onion into a fine brunoise and wash in cold water to remove the bite of the onion. Strain and let onion drain.
- Cut cherry tomatoes into quarters.
- Place the cucumber, onion and tomato in a bowl add in the finger lime ‘caviar’, lime juice and zest and mix together.
- Season to taste and set aside.
- For the Crispy Shallot and Cashew Crumb, heat a large frypan over medium heat and add the oil.
- Add the whole cashews and fry for 3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool on paper towel.
- Using the same oil and pan, fry the shallots for 3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oil and set aside to cool on paper towel.
- Still using the same oil and pan, flash fry the chillies for 30 seconds. Remove from the oil and set aside to cool on paper towel.
- Once the cashews have cooled, chop into crumb size pieces and combine in a bowl with the crispy shallots and chilli. Season to taste.
- When ready to cook, heat a large frypan on a high heat. Add oil and allow to heat up.
- Place fish fillet, skin side down in the pan and place a fish weight or another clean heavy frypan on top of the fish, to prevent skin curling and allow the skin to crisp up. Cook for up to 2 minutes then turn the fillet and cook for a further 30 seconds.
- Allow to rest prior to serving.
- To assemble, place a 12cm ring cutter in the centre of a flat bowl. Place the rice inside the ring cutter. Make a hole in the centre of the rice and add the cucumber salsa. Then pour approximately 1 cup of the curry sauce around the edge of the rice. Place the fish on top of the rice with the crispy skin facing up. Garnish with cashew crumb mixture.
