Kuwaiti Fried Fish with Curry and Garam Masala Cauliflower and Brown Rice
Posted on | March 10, 2009 | No Comments
The Pungent, Spice-infused Oil Makes This Dish
A former colleague recently gave to me a fabulous book about Arab cooking called the Arab Table (check it out on Page 2 of the Culinary Store). My favorite part about it is the front-of-the book section highlighting the myriad of spice preparations emanating from various parts of Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. As you know, I really like to play with recipes. It’s difficult for me to take them at face value, considering – especially with world cuisine – that I never have ALL the necessary ingredients to replicate it exactly. So was the case with a fabulous-looking recipe I found in the book for fried fish.
I had Cod, and thankfully this was among the recommended types of fish for the dish.
The recipe called for a measure of Kuwaiti spice, which is composed of black pepper, cayenne pepper, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and ground nutmeg. I didn’t have all of this. So I used:
1 tbsp black and 1 tbsp cayenne pepper, 1tsp of the following: coriander, cumin, all spice and cloves. Note that the measurements are based on ground spices, so you might have to play with your whole spice amounts a bit to get it right. Just go slow and build. I didn’t have ground ginger, so I used a heaping tablespoon of minced fresh ginger.
For the coriander, cumin, all spice, cloves and pepper (all whole) I toasted them ever so slightly, which releases the oils and truly makes the spice come alive. I then ground them in a mortar and pestle. Add to the ginger and ground cayenne and set aside. This became my working version of Kuwaiti spice mix.
The recipe then called for 6 cloves of garlic, mashed, 1 cup of fresh lemon juice. I used 3 cloves of garlic and a half cup of lemon juice as I was cooking for only 2 people.
Mix the lemon and garlic together with the spice mix above and add to a baking dish. Add the fish, turn to coat and use this as a marinade. Cover the fish and whack it in the fridge for a few hours.
When the fish is marinated, remove from the fridge. Lightly dredge in flour and add to a pan with hot olive or vegetable oil. Enough to immerse the fish. Cook about 3 minutes per side. I added the marinade to the oil as well, which caused it to spatter a bit, but really infused the oil with the incredible spice mixture.
Remove the fish from the oil and serve with lemon and chopped parsley.
For the accompaniements above, I used cauliflower and brown rice. The cauliflower was part of the weekly haul from Washington’s Green Grocer.
Blanch the cauliflower in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes. Remove, drain and add cold water until fully cooled. Drain and set aside.
I then added a quarter cup of oil to small sauce pan with tablespoon of curry powder and ground Garam Masala - a wonderful spice in which I recommend you invest. Infuse the oil with the curry and masala and sest aside. Add the blanced cauliflower to a pot and set to medium, when it starts to come to temp, pour the infusesd oil over the cauliflower. It will give the white florets a beatiful yellow-golden color. Cook until heated, add a pinch of salt and a generous pinch of fresh ground pepper and serve alongside the fish.
For the brown rice, I cooked 2 cups of brown rice to 3.5 cups of water and a half cup of chicken stock. Cook for about 20 minutes until the rice if fluffy and not wet. I then toasted almond slivers in butter and added to the rice to finish.
Serve the fish on top of the rice, with the cauliflower at the outside edges, then drizzle the oil from the fish over the top and serve with the freshly chopped parsley.
NOTE: despite the above instruction, I made the fish LAST, because it came together so quickly once it was in the pan of hot oil.
The spices of this dish were a beautiful, welcome change to the everyday fare. I recommend investing in whole spices, those mentioned above and others, as toasted, and then hand ground – or done in a coffee grinder – they are transformative. Check out The Spice House for an incredible selection of whole spices.
The fish was pungent with spice, with a bit of heat from the cayenne, with a beautiful foundation built on the lemon and garlic.
The cauliflower, while also pungent with spice, was a subtle and welcome addition to the fried fish, but would go well, I’d think, with almost any cuisine from the regions mentioned above, or the Asian and Indian subcontinents.
As for a wine pairing, if you’re into that thing:-) I’d go with a light Gewurztraminer. A bit off the wine lately, I chose Pernod.
Enjoy.
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