Aromatic sumptuous and fragrant Panang Curry, cold water Atlantic prawns and loin of cod gently poached in a coconut infused lemongrass and ginger aromatic curry sauce. Simple to make and quite therapeutic with the pounding of the base ingredients in a pestle and mortar, this really does make a difference in the overall flavour and texture, but not essential and a food processor will do.
I like to make my own fish stock, coconut milk and flat breads for this recipe, however if you don't want to then store bought is just fine, so skip some of the instructions and go straight to the cooking method.
Prep Time 30 minutes / Cooking Time 10 minutes / Onion Pakoras 10 minutes
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
The Panang Curry Paste
6 cardamon pods seeds only
2 dried scotch bonnets
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
6 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp sea salt
30g ginger finely chopped
1 lemongrass bashed finely chopped
8 garlic cloves chopped
5 shallots diced
2 tsp grated turmeric OR
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp fish sauce
The Curry
1 tbsp coconut oil
16 raw shell on king prawns
12oz cod loin
5 fresh kaffir lime leaves
1 green pepper diced
1 small bunch coriander chopped
1/2 tsp un refined sugar
400ml coconut creamy milk
(to make your own see below)
300ml fish stock made from the prawn shells
(method see below)
1 tbsp ghee or butter or coconut oil
Flat Breads
500g 00 flour
10g sea salt
50g olive oil
320g water
Flatbreads are really simple to make and deliver outstanding flavour, place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and either by hand or using a dough hook bring the flour together to form a dough and work for seven minutes, leave to rest for around an hour, when ready to cook, cut the dough into eight portions and roll out a thin disk around 8 inch's in diameter, leave to one side and cook the flatbreads while the curry is cooking, heat a dry frying pan hot and cook each side for around one minute, I like to let the flat bread catch a little adding extra flavour.
Making your own Coconut Milk
Take your coconut and locate the 3 eyes on one end, turn the coconut until the 3 eyes form a trinangle and the point is at the top, this is the eye to pierce with a point of a knife, do this over a bowl and drip out all the coconut water. Crack open the coconut and remove all the flesh, grate or blitz until fine, place all the grated coconut in a glass bowl and pour over 400ml of boiling water, leave to infuse for ten minutes. Either in a muslin bag or by hand squeeze out all of the water from the coconut, this is your coconut milk, if you every want coconut cream then leave the milk to settle in a fridge and the cream will set on the top of the milk.
The Curry Paste
Firstly make the curry paste, this only takes a few minutes and I find it very therapeutic, heat a non stick pan and toast the cumin, coriander, black peppercorns and dried chillies, take care not to burn, place the rest of the ingredients in the mortar, add the toasted seeds and pound away with the pestle until you have a glorious curry paste.
Peel and de vein the prawns keeping all the heads and shells for making the fish stock.
Homemade Fish Stock
In a pan melt some ghee or butter or coconut oil, ghee is my favourite in this case, pan fry the shells for a couple of minutes, add 400ml of water and simmer gently for around five minutes, using the back of a spoon or my favourite the end of a rolling pin to pound the prawn shells helping to release and squeeze out all of their juices and flavour, strain through a sieve and return the stock to the pan.
Panang Curry
Add to the stock the coconut milk and bashed curry paste, bring to a gently simmer and reduce by half to thicken the sauce then add the cod loins and prawns, turn the cod loins after 2 minutes and after a further two minutes take off the heat, leave to rest for five minutes while you cook the flat breads and then serve.
Onion Pakoras
1 large Spanish onion
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 fresh chillies chopped
1 hand full fresh coriander chopped
1 cup chic pea flour
100ml water
400ml nut oil to cook with
If you have time sprinkle the sea salt over the sliced onions a hour ahead of time, this releases liquid from the onions and makes a better more flavoured pakora batter.
Makes approx 6
Place all the nut oil in a pan and bring up to a medium hot heat, 170-180 C, meanwhile in a large mixing bowl add all the ingredients except the water and coat the onions with the chic pea flour, add most of the water and stir to combine, you want a thick batter consistency, add a little more water if needed.
Scoop up a large golf ball size and shape in to a firm ball using two spoons, gently place the pakora in the oil and fry for around 2 minutes on each side, turning only once. Remove and place on kitchen paper to drain, repeat with the rest of the mixture, you can cook more than one at at time, just don't overload the pan or the temperature will lower and the pakoras will soak up oil and be greasy.
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