Monkfish Cheek Colombo Curry
Monkfish is one of my favourite fish. It’s called “poor man’s lobster” because the meat is very similar in texture to lobster tail. Its taste lends itself to all sorts of flavour combinations, from pesto and cream to vaguely Thai and curry flavours. Monkfish cheeks were on special today at our local supermarket in Sancerre, France, and we snapped some up along with a few large prawns and made a delicious Monkfish Cheek with Colombo Curry Sauce for dinner this evening. If you can’t find monkfish cheeks – and I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if you couldn’t, LOL – you can use any firm white fish, either fillets or steaks, and it will be equally delicious.
Monkfish Cheek/White Fish Colombo Curry
I threw together this cheeky little recipe (sorry, I couldn’t pass up the gratuitous corny humour) at dinner time this evening using what I found in the veg drawer and my supermarket promotion find of monkfish cheeks. Any firm white fish will be equally delicious in this fast and easy dish. Serves 2 and can easily be doubled.
Ingredients
2 cloves garlic
2 onions, peeled
5-cm/2-inch piece fresh ginger, cut into 2-mm “coins” along the lines of the skin
1 small red chili, seeds removed
15 g sunflower or other neutral oil
1/2 a red pepper/capiscum, cut into 4 chunks
1/2 a yellow pepper/capiscum, cut into 4 chunks
1/2 a courgette/zucchini, cut into 4 chunks
1 Tbsp Colombo Spice Powder
1 x 400 g tin coconut milk
200 g fish stock – or – water
1 tsp soy sauce or to taste
1 tsp fish sauce or to taste
juice of half a lime
4 large sprigs of basil (green, Thai or purple, or a mixture of these)
6 monkfish cheeks or 250 g firm white fish, fillets or steaks
6 large raw prawns, peeled and deveined*
To garnish:
fresh basil and coriander leaves
lime juice
To accompany:
Chinese-style rice noodles – or – cooked white, brown or Basmati rice – or – zucchini/courgette spaghetti
Method
- Peel garlic 4 seconds/Speed 4 1/2 / Reverse Blade Function.
- Remove skins, weigh in oil and then drop onions and ginger onto running blades on Speed 6. Turn off immediately. Scrape down sides of TM bowl with spatula.
- Add red chili, chunks of red and yellow pepper and courgette and chop 2 seconds/Speed 5. Scrape down sides of TM bowl with spatula. Add Colombo Spice Powder and sauté 100° C/5 minutes/Speed Spoon.
- Add coconut milk, stock, basil, soy sauce and fish sauce to TM bowl. Place cod cheeks in simmering basket and insert into TM bowl. Cook 100° C/10 minutes/Speed 1. During this time, boil some water in the kettle and “cook” your rice noodles according to the packet instructions. If you’re making zucchini/courgette spaghetti, steam it in the Varoma steamer on top of your Thermomix while the sauce and fish cook in the bowl.
- Carefully remove the TM lid, add the prawns to the simmering basket and cook a further 5 minutes/100° C/Speed 1 or until prawns are just cooked and cod cheeks or fish fillets are cooked through. *If you can’t get raw prawns, use cooked prawns and in this step warm them only 3 or 4 minutes instead of 5.
- If using, carefully remove the Varoma lid and place it upside down on your worktop as a dripcatcher. Then place the Varoma dish on top of the upturned lid. Remove the TM lid and turn it upside down on your worktop. Use the handy notch in the spatula to carefully remove the simmering basket containing the fish and prawns and place it on the upturned TM lid. Taste the sauce and adjust to taste with more soy and/or fish sauce if you’d like. If you need to cook some rice, keep your curry warm in a Thermoserver on the worktop or in an ovenproof dish in a 120° C oven. Don’t bother washing the TM bowl to cook your rice as the curry sauce will flavour it beautifully – and save on washing up 😉
Serve the fish and prawns in warmed bowls on top of rice noodles or rice or zucchini/courgette spaghetti. Pour the curry sauce over the fish and noodles/rice/zucchini, garnish with fresh basil and coriander leaves and a few drops of lime juice and enjoy!
Bon appétit !
