Fish Curry

Kanga expressed an interest in simmer sauces and, in particular, in fish cooked in simmer sauce as a high protein, flavorful, easily swallowed food for Grandpa.  Simmer sauce is pre-made, store bought, Indian curry or spice sauce which can be used to cook meat or vegetable to make a quick and easy curry.  Our local Giant supermarket features both a fish counter and a relatively (for a suburban supermarket) extensive exotic or foreign food section.  I was able to buy a small piece of cod and a selection of three different simmer sauces and as an added bonus, a jar of ginger chutney to try.

I was very disappointed.  The simmer sauces were all spicy, but none of them was particularly tasty nor did they taste like Indian dishes I have had in Indian restaurants.  The chutney was oily and tasted atrocious, in my opinion - a big surprise as the ingredient list started out with ginger and dates and went on to list all of the things you would expect in a chutney.

I felt I owed the products a full trial, so I heated up a package of Passage to India brand Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce and added half a can of mackerel.  It got better after heating.  I ate it for lunch with some rice and raita.  Not too bad, but I didn't really care for it compared to our homemade curries and would not waste $4.50 buying this product again.

So back to square one.  I perused Fish Curry recipes via Google.  These seemed to be predominantly based on tomato and coconut milk.  I picked one that sounded pretty good as a starting point:

http://steamykitchen.com/14700-indian-fish-coconut-curry.html

I pretty much followed the recipe except I used a whole can of Delmonte Petite cut Tomatoes with Green Chilies for the tomatoes and used the juice from the tomatoes in place of the 1/4 c. of water.  When I was adding the coconut milk, I was inclined to stop after adding about 1/2 c based on taste of the sauce but then went ahead and followed the recipe since it was the first time through.  Since this was an experiment, I did not want to commit the fresh fish, so I added a can of Jack Mackerel and cooked it up.

I took half of this over to K&G to see if they like it.  I ate the other half this morning for mid-morning breakfast/lunch with rice, a sliced apple, and a small lentil-sprout salad.  The sauce is basically spicy tomato and coconut milk with fresh ginger and garam masala.  Chili powder gives it some heat and the fresh ginger adds a delightful high note.  The coconut milk tends towards sweet, but not too very much.  It is not really like anything I have ever tasted before since coconut milk has never really been a staple ingredient in our house, at least not until now.  I thought it was good but it took a little time to grow on me.  Using the Jack Mackerel, the flavor of the fish came through (it might not with a truly bland white fish).  The breakfast reminded me of the fish, rice and salad buffet set up for the Japanese style breakfast each morning at the hotel in Aizu.  The whole combination of flavors is very non-Western.

I think to play with this in the future I will try cutting back on the coconut milk (I tend to not like so much sweet and I expect the coconut flavor will still be there with only half as much), increase the amount of fresh ginger (purely person preference; I just love ginger) and maybe play around with the spice mix, try reducing the garam masala and adding in some other spice flavors.  And if K&G like it, I will try making it with fresh fish instead of canned.

January 25, 2013 Update

Today, I took another crack at this using the fresh cod fish I bought the other day.  Here is where I landed:

1 T oil
1 small to medium onion (66 g) diced fairly fine
2 large cloves of garlic (8 g) minced
Pieces of fresh ginger (23 g) minced, not grated
1/2 t Garam Masala
1/2 t Curry Powder
1/2 t Turmeric
1/8 t Chili Powder
1/2 t salt
1 can Delmonte Petite cut Tomatoes with Green Chilies
Ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Coconut Milk
~ 1/2 lb fresh cod cut into chunks

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and saute until translucent, then add the ginger and garlic.  Cook for ~ 2 minutes, then add spices stirring to make a spice paste.  Use the juice/water from the can of tomatoes to thin as you stir.  Then add the tomatoes and continue to cook maybe 5 minutes or so.  This is the masala.   To this add the chicken broth and coconut milk to make the sauce.  Bring to boil.  Add the chunks of fish and cook until the fish is done.

Serve with rice and raita.

So far, I like Take 2 better than Take 1- not so overpowered by the garam masala flavor, not so sweet from the coconut milk, and not so hot for those who don't like it too hot.  Also, I have to admit, fresh cod is better than canned mackerel.