Delia Smith’s Thai fish curry with mango

Delia Smith’s Thai fish curry with mango, made here with cod fillet.

Some people are little dubious when it comes to adding fruit to savoury dishes such as a curry, I’m not one of those people, I love fruit for dinner! The mango in this dish provides a sweet acidity to the dish that contrasts well with the fish. Though the cod and the mango are the only really identifiable main ingredients in this dish, there is a lot going on in the sauce with the coconut and the curry paste. I love how fragrant this dish is, and how it is a really satisfying curry, yet is also a light and fresh dish.

This is a recipe which I adapted from Delia Smith’s How to Cook,  it is also on her website here.

Time 30 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients

Though this recipe is still similar to the original from Delia, I have adapted it more to my tastes, mainly playing around with the quantities e.g. more ginger, more coriander etc. For the link to the original recipe see above.

• 450g firm fish fillet e.g. cod, haddock, halibut, chopped in to chunky pieces around 4cm chunks

• 1 large mango, peeled and cut in to bitesize chunks, about 2cm pieces

• 400ml can of coconut milk

Curry paste

• 1 medium red chilli, deseeded

• Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

• 1 stem of lemongrass, roughly chopped

• Approximately 2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled

• 1 small onion, peeled and quartered

• ½ tsp shrimp paste

• 1 ½ tbsp Thai fish sauce

Garnish

• About half a small handful fresh coriander, stems chopped and leaves roughly torn or chopped

• Lime slices

Method

Delia’s original recipe suggests you should stir the coconut milk in your pan or wok and bring to the boil then let simmer for about 20 minutes until the fats separate from the solids. To be honest when I tried to do this, I just found the coconut milk reduced and nothing really separated. I therefore just skip this step, I don’t think it’s needed. I just pour the coconut milk in to the pan and stir so the coconut milk is nicely mixed together and simmering.

Put all the curry paste ingredients in to a food processor and blitz until it turns in to a coarse paste.  You may need to scrape down the sides of the mixture a couple of times to make sure everything gets chopped up and blended.  

Over a medium heat, add the curry paste to the coconut milk and stir, then add the fish and allow to simmer gently for 4 minutes.

Chop the coriander stems finely and add to the pan along with the mango. Cook for a further 2 minutes and stir everything very gently, be careful as the fish will easily start to flake and break down.

Gently simmer the fish, in the coconut curry sauce along with the mango and fresh coriander stems.

Serve the curry with steamed rice and a couple of lime wedges on the side. Scatter some coriander leaves over the dish for garnish.  

Serve the fish curry with steamed rice, yum!