I am trying to recapture the delicious and very subtle flavours from our wonderful trip to Kerala.
We had a fish Molee there, which I really loved, so I tried to recreate it last night.
You need a firm white fish, I think gummy shark would be perfect, but snapper, monkfish or flathead would work too.
• for 4 people
• 1 Spanish onion, finely sliced
• 3 loves of garlic, grated
• a piece of fresh ginger, about 3 cm, grated
• 2 chillies, most seeds removed
• 700 gr white, firm fish, cut into largish pieces
• 300 ml coconut cream
• 2 handfuls of little tomatoes, quartered
• 1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 10 dried curry leaves ( if you can get fresh ones, great!)
• 10 black peppercorns, (try and get hold of ‘tribal pepper’ )
• salt
• juice of half a lemon
• in a little coconut and sunflower oil, fry the mustard seeds until they pop, be careful!
• add the onions, garlic, ginger and chillies
• cook gently for about 5 minutes
• add the turmeric and pepper corns
• now the fish and cook for a few minutes, turning it on each side
• pour in the coconut cream
• curry leaves
• and cut tomatoes
• salt to taste
• cook on low heat for about 7 minutes
• take off the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice
• taste for seasoning
• instead of serving the Molee with the traditional rice, I sautéed some cooked butter beans I had in the fridge. I thought the combination of the fish curry and the beans was perfect! A different take on Molee.