Halibut with curry sauce and stuffed chilli
- Prepare
- 1-2 hours
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
A rich, spiced fish curry served with pan-fried halibut, crisp stuffed chillies and fresh sambal. This is a restaurant-style dish that’s best made in stages and suits a special occasion.
Ingredients
For the curry sauce
- 1 litre/1¾ pints fish stock
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1 handful curry leaves
- 4 banana shallots, roughly chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled
- 6 lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
- 100g/3½oz galangal, roughly chopped
- 100g/3½oz ginger, roughly chopped
- 10 dried Kashmiri chillies, soaked
- 2 tsp Malay curry powder
- 400ml/14fl oz coconut milk
- 50g/1¾oz jaggery
- 100ml/3½fl oz tamarind water
- 1 aubergine, cut into 3cm pieces
- 200g/7oz okra, trimmed
- 100ml/3½fl oz neutral oil
- salt and pepper
For the halibut
- 4 halibut fillets (150g/5½oz each), skin off and pin boned
- 70g/2½oz salt
- 1 litre/1¾ pints water
- 100g/3½oz unsalted butter
- 1 handful curry leaves
For the cucumber and mango sambal
For the vegetable garnish
- 200g/7oz okra, sliced
- 5 baby aubergines, cut into wedges
- pinch salt
- handful micro purple shiso (optional)
For the stuffed chillies
- 12 long green chillies, mild
- 2 large potatoes
- 200g/7oz desiccated coconut
- 10g/½oz Thai basil, leaves picked
- 10g/½oz coriander, roughly chopped
- 10 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
- 20g ginger, chopped
- 100g/3½oz caster sugar
- 100ml/3½fl oz fish sauce
- 2-3 small green chillies
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- 100g/3½oz plain flour
- 100g/3½oz cornflour
- 300ml/10fl oz sparkling water
- pinch salt
Method
To make the curry sauce, blend the soaked dried chillies, shallots, garlic, half the lemongrass, galangal, ginger, curry powder and a splash of water into a smooth paste.
Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and fry until fragrant.
Add the curry paste and cook, stirring, until dark and the oil starts to separate.
Spoon off the thick coconut cream from the top of the coconut milk and add to the pan. Cook until it splits and releases oil.
Add the remaining coconut milk and fish stock, then add the remaining lemongrass, aubergine and okra. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.
Stir in the jaggery and tamarind water. Season with salt and pepper, then simmer for a few more minutes. Strain through a fine sieve and keep warm.
For the halibut, mix the salt and water until dissolved to make a brine. Submerge the fish for 20 minutes, then remove and pat dry.
Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the fish and sear on one side until golden.
Add the butter and curry leaves and baste the fish. Turn and cook until just cooked through. The flesh should be opaque and flake easily.
To make the cucumber and mango sambal, combine the cucumber, mango and shallot in a bowl.
Add the sambal, lime juice and fish sauce to taste. Mix well and chill until ready to serve.
For the vegetable garnish, salt the aubergine and leave for 10 minutes, then rinse and pat dry.
Heat oil for deep frying. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)
Fry the okra and aubergine separately until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.
To make the stuffed chillies, roast the potatoes until tender, then pass through a ricer while hot.
Blend the ginger and small green chillies into a paste.
Pulse the coconut, herbs, kaffir lime leaves, ginger paste, chilli paste, sugar and fish sauce in a food processor until combined.
Mix in enough potato to bind, then stir in the diced shallot.
Cut a slit down each large chilli and remove the seeds.
Stuff with the potato mixture.
Mix the plain flour, cornflour, salt and enough sparkling water to make a light batter.
Dust the chillies in cornflour, dip into the batter, then deep fry until golden and crisp. Drain well.
To serve, spoon the curry sauce into bowls, top with the halibut and arrange the stuffed chillies, sambal and fried vegetables alongside.
