Indian Cookery - the Best Halibut Curry

The flavours are amazing: unlike anything you could ever expect to get in most curry houses. This recipe was introduced to me by a customer who was originally from Goa in southern India. He has a restaurant just outside of Birmingham England and this item is never off his menu. It can be as mild or as spicy as you like. Simply decrease or increase the quantity of chillies you use. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have over the years! By the way, this recipe uses on piece of process cheese. Don't let that scare you off! Trust me, it works here.

Serves 4

Ingredients (For the halibut)

4 x 8oz/250g thick cut pieces of halibut

1 Tablespoon corn oil.

1 Tablespoon garlic and 1T ginger smashed to a pulp with a little water.

2 Tablespoons sea salt

1 Tablespoon freshly ground white pepper.

1 piece of processed cheese such as those you use on cheese burgers or Laughing Cow cheese.

3 Tablespoons Greek Yogurt

1 jalapeno chilli finely chopped

1 teaspoon cardamom and 1 teaspoon mace ground together into a powder.

1 handful chopped cilantro.

2 Tablespoons cream

Ingredients (For the curry sauce)

2 Tablespoon ghee or clarified butter (You could also use corn oil.)

A few curry leaves - If you cannot find fresh buy dried.

1 Onion finely chopped

6 jalapenos cut down the middle

2" piece of ginger cut into fine strips

2 ½ cups / 600ml coconut

1 teaspoon turmeric

4 limes to serve.

In a bowl, mix 1 tablespoon salt, the corn oil and ginger/garlic pulp and white pepper into the halibut pieces and let sit for an hour.

While the fish is marinating, mash the cheese until it is creamy. Then add the yogurt, chopped jalapeno, the cardamom and mace powder, cream and chopped cilantro. Mix until very smooth.

Heat some oil in a frying pan until very hot then sear the fish on both sides for a few seconds. Then cover the fish in the bowl with the yogurt mixture and let it sit for about half an hour.

Heat you oven to 400 Fahrenheit/200 Celsius.

For the sauce, heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the ghee. Fry the onion until soft. Add the curry leaves and the rest of the ingredients except the turmeric. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. The sauce will begin to thicken. Set aside.

Now, put the fish on the top shelf of the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the fish is just cooked through. When the fish is cooked, put each piece on a warm plate, reheat the sauce, check the seasoning and add the turmeric.

Pour the sauce over the fish and serve with rice and lime wedges. Garnish with shopped cilantro.

If you are a cookery fanatic like me, please let me know how you get on with this recipe! I would be happy to offer any advice so please do not hesitate to contact me.

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