Leatherjacket curry

To eat more sustainably, eat lower on the food chain (these fish regenerate more quickly) and give popular species a break to preserve the balance of the ocean and ensure that future generations can enjoy them too. This leatherjacket curry is the perfect start.

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 4 leatherjacket, filleted (ask your fishmonger to fillet them for you)
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 pinches salt
• 5 makrut lime leaves
• 100 ml water
• 250 ml coconut milk
• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 small handful green beans, tops trimmed
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp palm sugar, grated

Paste

• 4 shallots
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 lemongrass stalk
• 2 cm piece ginger
• 2 long red chillies
• 4 cm piece fresh turmeric or ½ tsp ground
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• ½ bunch coriander stalks, plus leaves to serve
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Recipe by Oliver Edwards, chef and GoodFishBadFish founder, as featured in Sustainable Table’s Give a Fork! e-Cookbook.

Instructions

Pat the pieces of fish dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large, heavy based pan. Fry fish until golden, turning once. Remove and set aside.

Roughly chop the paste ingredients and blend until smooth. Add the blended paste, salt and whole makrut lime leaves to the pan. Fry the paste, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until fragrant. Add the water and coconut milk.

Cover and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Next, place the pieces of seared fish, cherry tomatoes and beans into the sauce. Simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes or until the fish is just cooked through.

Season the curry sauce to taste using lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Photography by Matt Burke Photography

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.