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Fish Curry – Balti

A hearty fish curry with Balti seasoning, and vegetables enough to make a single bowl meal.

Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 45 mins
Total Time 1 hr
Cuisine:
Difficulty: Intermediate
Servings: 4
Description

This recipe is easy to keep on hand, as it is great to use with frozen cod filets. The carrots and kale are usually available year round. You can substitute spinach for the kale, or add no vegetables and just have a fish curry in a tomato base.

The Balti seasoning from Penzeys has a little heat, so you may want to adjust for more or less as per your taste.

Ingredients
  • 1 Medium Onion (Yellow or Sweet)
  • 3 Cloves Garlic
  • 1 Can Diced Tomatoes (14 or 16 oz)
  • 1 Bunch Kale (Lacinato or Dinosaur, or chard, spinach)
  • 2 Carrot (Optional)
  • 1 pound Cod (frozen or fresh)
    • Spices
  • 2 Tablespoons Ghee
  • 1 Tsp Turmeric
  • 1 Tsp Penzey's Balti Seasoning (Balti is a particular Indian curry blend or masala.)
  • 1 Tsp Salt (to taste)
Instructions
    Prepare the curry base and prep vegetables
  1. 1
    Prepare the onion base
    • add the ghee to a 4-6 quart saucepan (with a lid).  Heat on medium.
    • Peel and rough dice the onion.  It will be pureed later so don't worry about the dicing too much.  Add to pan.
    • Peel and chop the garlic, add to pan.
    • Saute, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and starting to brown.  You don't want a lot of browning, so keep the heat low enough to cook without much browning.  It has been described as "cook until the oil comes back out of the onions.  This is an important step - undercooked onions just don't taste right.
  2. 2
    Add Spices and Tomato
    • Add 1 teaspoon Turmeric.  Stir into the onion mixture and let cook for about 1 minute.  Uncooked turmeric can be bitter.
    • Add 1 teaspoon Balti seasoning.  Let it cook/brown for about 1 minute as well.
    • Add the can of tomatoes, and 1/2 can of water.
    • Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes.

  3. 3
    Puree with Immersion Blender
    • Remove the pot from the heat. 
    • Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture in the pan.  If you do not have an immersion blender, you can skip this step - it will just be a more rustic texture, but tastes just as good!
    • Return to medium heat.
    4. Add final curry ingredients
  4. 4
    Prep the Vegetables

    This step can be done at any point in the recipe.

    • Wash the kale.  Strip the leaves from the stem, discard the stems and rough chop the leaves.
    • Wash the carrots.  Cut into medium slices.
  5. 5
    Add and cook the vegetables
    • Add carrots and kale to the curry base.
    • Add 1 teaspoon salt.  You will adjust the salt at the end after the fish - a little salty at this point is ok since the fish will soak it up.
    • Cover and heat for 20 minutes or until the kale and carrots are tender.  Stir every 5 minutes.
  6. 6
    Add the fish

    The fish itself doesn't take that long to cook.  You can put it in right before serving, or cook it and then turn off the heat to let the flavors develop.

    • Take either fresh cod or thawed frozen cod, and dice into large chunks.  It's going to fall apart anyway, so they don't have to be small.  2" x 2" is good.
    • After the kale is tender and carrots are cooked, add the fish.  Cook for 8 minutes. 
    • Adjust salt.  If you want more curry flavor, add up to another 1/4 teaspoon of the Balti seasoning - too much and it will taste raw.
    • Serve over rice.
  7. 7
    Serving

    Plate over brown or white Basmati rice.  Serve with yogurt and Indian pickles if you have any.

Read it online: https://recipes.chandhok.net/recipe/fish-curry-balti/