Dinner - Fish Curry Bangladeshi Style

I was inspired by a Rick Stein programme we caught a bit of the other night.  He was in Bangladesh where they cooked two different fish curries over an open fire in the middle of a dry dusty patch of land.  These gorgeous ladies in colourful saris were preparing the food, and had the chopped pieces of fish in a pot of water.  I was amused to find out the reason was purely to keep the flies off the fish!!  I'm not usually a fan of fish in a curry, but something made me want to cook one.   So we bought some beautiful fresh Red Emperor Fillets, which I chopped into fairly large chunks which I refrigerated while I prepared the other ingredients (as against soaking in water - flies not being a problem in our GC apartment).

I chopped way too many Golden Shallots - I wanted them to make the curry thick.  Although I love them, I usually avoid them, as they are a pain to peel, but we'd seen a hint that the easiest way was to put them in a bowl of water, and I must say it worked.  I also grated some fresh Ginger, chopped some fresh Organic Garlic, finely chopped some washed Coriander Roots, finely sliced one chilli, and added a finely chopped White Onion.

 I tossed all in a heavy pan with some Olive Oil and a splash of Sesame Oil.

I then added three tablespoons of Red Vindaloo Curry Powder (which was the closest curry powder I could find that had the ingredients I wanted for the taste I was after),

then some dried Curry Leaves, Ground Cumin Seeds, Ground Coriander Seeds, Ground Cardamon, 6 sliced Tomatoes and 2 large cups of water. Oh - and - three teaspoons of sugar.

 I let this simmer for quite some time, before adding quartered small eggplant.

Meanwhile we fried some Pappadams, and microwaved the rice - which makes it very light and fluffy.

I then added the fish, turned the heat down and put the lid on.

 After five minutes or so I added some of the chopped Coriander, a tablespoon of Garam Masala and a good squeeze of lemon juice.

Before serving, I added the rest of the chopped Coriander.

Very nice indeed - I think I'm now converted to Fish Curry!