This is one of my favourite Indian fish dishes. Monkfish is such a lovely fish to eat, its really meaty and full of flavour. This recipe is so quick and easy and perfect for a midweek meal when you do not have a lot of time on your hands.
"In Europe and North America, the texture of the tail meat of fish is sometimes compared to lobster tail and has been alluded to as the "poor man's lobster,"although today it commands prices equivalent to, and in some cases exceeding, lobster and other marine delicacies.
The Monkfish has to be one of the worlds ugliest fishes but also one of the best to eat with a curry & other dishes due to its flavor and texture.
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Vegetable oil
1 Large Monkfish tail
2 cans of chopped tomatoes (400g per can)
1 Large onion chopped
2 Medium Chilli chopped
1 Lemon
Methi Leaves (If you have them)
4 Cloves of Garlic minced
Handful of Fresh Coriander + more for serving
Good curry paste (Madras/Vindaloo)
Tablespoon of Garam Masala
Hot chilli powder to taste.
Salt to taste
Method
* Method pictures to be added at a later date
1. Heat oil in a pan and add the onions & cook for 5 minutes until soft
2. Next add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute or so
3. Add the Garam Masala and chilli powder for a further minute and mix together.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of curry paste and mix together with the rest of the ingredients in the pan.
5. Add the cans of tomatoes and the juice of one lemon and mix together (At this point you should have a nice chunky tomato curry sauce.
6. Add the methi leaves if you have some then add the fresh chopped coriander including the stalks and cook for 20 minutes on a low simmer.
7. Taste and add salt if required.
8. Remove the bone from the monkfish tail and and chop into chunks.
9. Add the chunks of monkfish to your sauce for 5 minutes turning occasionally.
10. Serve with plain boiled rice and some fresh chopped coriander.
The great thing with this dish is that you can can do all the prep work in advance like making the sauce then when you want to eat it its just a matter of heating the sauce and adding the monkfish.
Note -
If you find the sauce is a bit dry or you want more liquid just add some water but remember when you add the fish some moisture will come out of the fish into the sauce anyway.
The reason I use plain boiled rice instead of a pilau rice or another kind of rice is because there is some much aromatic flavour already in the curry you don't want to overpower it with a flavoured rice in my opinion.
The Vindaloo part of this recipe can be toned down to your liking, you can have it as hot or as mild as you want, just change the paste from a madras/vindaloo paste to a mild/medium paste found at all good supermarkets or make your own, and just don't add as much of the chilli powder.
Enjoy!
