 |
| Skinnier Goan Curry Seafood Rice with sugar snap peas
20/9/15
|
In the 80's and 90's, a cavernous but wildly popular Chinese restaurant near the Skating Rink on Queensway (London's second, smaller Chinatown) served a Portuguese dish of curried creamed seafood with rice. (The Chinese love curry if it's yellow, thick and not too spicy.) Delicately flavoured, moist and yummy, it was comfort food of the highest quality but high in fat and calories. And expensive.
67's heart-and wallet-friendly version was developed using frozen fish and dried spices. Yoghurt instead of cream reduces cholesterol.
It's very easy to put together. The sauce can be prepared in advance and the dish assembled later.
Using brown instead of white rice makes it even more healthy.
The recipe is for 2 but is easily doubled.
The quantities of rice and sauce are generous and the dish can be re-heated if treated gently, say in a steamer over gentle heat, or stir-fried. Add more defrosted seafood if you like.
The dish counts as one of the two recommended fish meals a week.
Vegetarians and vegans can replace the fish with chickpeas or butter (lima) beans or firm tofu.
Cost: max £2
Feeds: 2
Ingred:
2/3 cup of basmati rice (brown will be fine )
1 med onion, finely sliced or grated
1/2 green chilli, de-seeded and minced
2 garlic cloves, grated or minced
1 inch/2cm piece peeled ginger, grated
1 tbsp spelt (or wheat) flour
1 1/2- 2 tbsp mild Madras curry powder
1/2-1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp 5-spice powder
1 bay leaf
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
2-3 tbsp yoghurt (to taste)
300 ml stock (pref) or water
juice and zest of 1/2 lime
cornflour & cold water
300-400 gm total of defrosted pollock or other white fish in bite size chunks plus mixed seafood OR chickpeas, tofu or other pulses
Method:
- Wash rice thoroughly. Check cooking times; they'll vary according to the brand. In a large saucepan, boil plenty of lightly salted water. Add rice, bring to the boil, reduce heat to med and cook bubbling gently for 3/4 of time recommended. Drain. Run cold water over. Set aside. The rice should be slightly underdone.
- In a heavy bottomed pan over med heat, cook onions in a tbsp veg oil until translucent (about 10 min) Watch it doesn't burn
- Add garlic, chilli, spices and a bit more oil if needed; stir well, cook for a minute. Reduce heat to med low
- Add stock and yoghurt; stir well; bring to a boil; reduce heat to med, cook 5 mins
- Add juice and zest of 1/2 lime. The sauce should be the thickness of double cream. If not, mix 1-2 tsp cornflour with 3-4 tsp cold water and add to sauce; stir and continue to cook until the sauce reaches the desired thickness.
- At this stage you can cool the sauce and assemble the dish later.
- Blitz sauce with a blender until smooth & pass through a sieve. (opt - 67 doesn't bother)
- Preheat oven to 350f/180c/ gas 4
- Rinse fish and pat dry/drain and rinse pulses/ cube firm tofu
- Cover the bottom of a 24 cm/11 inch roasting dish with half the rice. Pour over a third of the curry sauce; it should flavour but not saturate the rice. Scatter with chosen protein. Add the rest of the rice in a neat layer. Pour another third of the sauce over the rice. Set aside the remainder of the sauce.
- Cover the rice with greaseproof paper; cover dish with foil.
- Bake for 20-25 mins.
- Serve with sugar snap peas cooked in boiling water for 3 minutes.
- A good dish for the elderly or very young -- easy to eat and not bland. If the diner finds it too spicy, stir in a little yoghurt or milk.
- Iceland's offers frozen Seafood Selection (mixed prawns, mussels & calamari; 850 gms for £5)
Sauce adapted from Chinese Expats (http://www.china-expats.com)
This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises. It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment