Fish Meatball and Coconut Milk Curry Recipe

As this is a blog, it's not just for reporting the recipes that I cook, it's also for culinary experimentation that I undertake.

This recipe comes from last night's supper. I had some quite boring white fish fillets in the freezer and a tin of coconut milk in the cupboard. As I've been writing curry recipes this past week I decided to create a new, Kerala-style curry of my own invention using the fish to make lightly-spiced meatballs and to finish then in a coconut milk curry sauce. The recipe below is what I came up with:

Fish Meatball and Coconut Milk Curry Recipe

Ingredients:

For the Massala:
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp hot chilli powder
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1cm length of cinnamon
2 tbsp coriander stems, finely chopped

For the Curry:
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
400ml coconut milk
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp grated lime zest
4 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
groundnut oil for frying

For the Fish Meatballs:
500g fish fillets, thawed if frozen and skinned
100g sweetcorn kernels, stripped from the cob, from a tin, or defrosted from frozen
1 small egg, beaten (you may not need all of it)
2 tbsp mixed parsley and coriander, finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely chopped
pinch of ground cumin
pinch of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
Plenty of salt and freshly-ground black pepper
A little plain flour for dusting
A little oil for shallow frying
Method: Coarsely chop the fish then place in a food processor and chop finely (but do not purée. Turn the fish into a large bowl and mix in the sweetcorn, herbs, spring onions and spices.

Method:
Begin with the massala. Separately toast the whole spices in a dry frying pan for about 90 seconds, or until aromatic. Turn into a spice or coffee grinder, add the other spices and grind until you have a fine powder. Turn the spice mix onto a plate and set aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan, add the onions and fry for 6 minutes. Add the garlic, scatter over the massala powder and fry for 2 minutes more. Stir in the chillies, lime juice and lime zest and fry for 1 minute more before adding the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, and set aside to cook gently whilst you prepare the meatballs.

Coarsely chop the fish then place in a food processor and chop finely (but do not purée. Turn the fish into a large bowl and mix in the sweetcorn, herbs, spring onions and spices.

Mix well with your hands and season with salt and black pepper. Add the egg (just enough to bind) and mix with our hands again. Now shape into meatballs about 3cm in diameter.

Place a little flour on a plate and roll each meatball in it.

Heat oil in a frying pan and use to fry the meatballs until golden brown all over. You do not need to cook them all the way through if you are going to finish in a sauce.

Thin down the curry sauce if it's a little thick then place the fish meatballs in the sauce. Increase the heat slightly and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the meatballs are thoroughly heated through.

Serve hot, accompanied by rice.


For more curry recipes, see the Celtnet Curry recipes page or the Celtnet Recipes Forum.

For all the curry recipes on this blog, see the curry history and curry recipes page.