Kenyan Fish Curry

Kenyan Fish Curry

Kenyan Fish Curry
Took our friends to have Indian, I guess Indian is what we call everything. Sometimes it is not really Indian, for example in the UK it is usually Bangladeshi or Pakistani. Here in NY Indian is usually Indian but this place was Kashmiri. Alright why am I mumbling this because Indian immigrated all over the colonies, so the Indians in Kenya came up with this recipe.
It is not very hot so don't worry, you don't need yogurt and a simple cup of juice will go well with it.

Kenyan Fish Curry.
Let's start.
Get a mortar and pestle I got mine for 10$ a wooden one. Mix
2 dried red chilies ( I throw out the seeds, you can leave them for extra hotness)
3/4 tsp Coriander
3/4 cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/3 tsp turmeric.
I did not have everything in seeds some was powder in general the seeds make it nicer as the smell they release as you pestle them in the mortar.
When you are done, drop them in the frying pan a non stick one and fry them for 60 seconds to release more taste

 On a separate note grind 1 tsp of peppercorns to smaller bits

 Squeeze on lime and add the peppercorns to it.

 Cut the fish into big bite size, you don't want to make them small as then they will cook too fast and flake on you. So chunks!!
The fish needs to hold its form, I went for Grouper, the recipe calls for haddock you can also try Monkfish which is great for stews. Basically ask the fish monger which fish is NOT delicate and has BIG flakes if he doesn't know then fire him and get another.

 Mix the fish with the lime/peppercorn mix and let it sit for 30 seconds then soak the moisture with some paper towels, the reason is when you fry something it fries better when it is drier.

 Fry it in oil I used my trusty cast iron frying pan. I'd say 40 seconds for this fish aka grouper. Monkfish can handle more. The goal is just to get some brown up on the frying pan for the sauce.

 Remove the fish and put it to the side, add onion. This is important, when you add onions LOWER the heat because if you don't the moisture from the onions does not come out and they burn instead of caramelize. Give them 5-10 minutes.
I forgot - 1 onion

 Add 4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 red chili chopped  (no seeds)
1 red bell pepper chopped (no seeds)
cook for 10 minutes make sure to mix every 2 minutes as the onion is probably starting to stick.

 Add the spice mixture from the beginning.
Then let it mix for a minute

 Add 9 oz   250 gm  of tomato, I just use whole canned or chopped canned, the tomatoes in the market these days are usually not the best. They are usually not ripe or TOO ripe. Plus I am lazy on the chopping.
Add 1 cup of water and leave on low heat.
So the longer you leave it the more the ingredients will taste the same, the less then they will have some of their original structure taste. It's a question of choice. Try different times and see.

 This is Tamarind, you can get it at every Oriental, Middle easterner,Mexican amazon , online etc.
It is translated to TAMAR =  date in Arabic and Hebrew
Ind  =  short for indian.

 This is what it looks like, if you can't find any just used a regular date mixture.

 Add it to 1 cup of coconut, it won't mix well.

 So I just use my trusty Cuisinart, since my kitchen is the size of a small yacht kitchen my appliances work triple time. This smart stick does the trick simply run it for a minute and it will dice and mix the tamarind into the coconut milk.

Add the coconut/tamarind to the sauce, leave it for 5 minutes, then add the fish. This is important. As you won't know how flaky is the fish in advance I suggest you stick your fork in every 2 minutes, when it flakes a little it is time to close the heat and prep the table. The time from shutting the heat to table will cook the rest.

 I used a bed of Bulgur wheat but you can use rice, brown rice couscous etc. Sprinkle some coriander or parsley for some freshness and maybe squeeze a lime. When you make it too spicy just add some yogurt or get the camera and take a photo of the guest changing colors. 

Curry at its best