Mild Fish Curry With Coconut Milk, Turmeric and Nigella Seeds

A mild pollock curry with coconut milk, flavored with turmeric, nigella seeds and caraway, served over mashed sweet potato or pumpkin.

A smooth, golden sauce coats the vegetables, the fish falls into large flakes, and the orange mash soaks up every spoonful. Turmeric adds flavor without heat, nigella seeds lend a peppery note, and caraway adds a hint of anise. This mild fish curry combines pollock, cauliflower, napa cabbage and red bell pepper in coconut milk. Everything comes together in one frying pan while the mash cooks alongside.

What Is Mild Fish Curry ?

It’s a pollock curry simmered in coconut milk with vegetables sautéed in coconut oil. The sauce uses no ready-made spice blend : turmeric, nigella seeds and caraway go straight into the coconut milk. The fish goes into the sauce while still frozen, with no thawing beforehand, and its flesh turns opaque before separating into flakes.

The vegetables provide texture : small cauliflower florets that cook evenly, strips of napa cabbage that soak up the sauce, and pieces of red bell pepper for sweetness and color. It is all served over mashed sweet potato or pumpkin in place of rice.

A Homemade Curry With Mild Spices

This fish curry is a homemade dish with no claimed regional origin. It follows the coconut milk curry approach with a mild flavor base : turmeric, nigella seeds and caraway replace chili, while coconut milk mellows the sauce. The sweet potato mash is denser and slightly sweet, holding the sauce well ; pumpkin mash is softer and more moist.

The Main Ingredients

Two frozen pollock fillets are enough for two servings. This flaky white fish cooks gently in the sauce and breaks into tender pieces. The 250 ml of coconut milk provide creaminess : coconut milk intended for cooking coats the ingredients better than a diluted plant-based beverage. Two tablespoons of coconut oil get the vegetables cooking, and one more tablespoon flavors the mash.

Three teaspoons of ground turmeric give the curry its golden color. Two teaspoons of nigella seeds, small black seeds also sold as Nigella sativa, add a peppery note, while the same amount of caraway, sometimes called Persian cumin, brings an earthy, anise-like flavor. You can find these seeds at Middle Eastern grocery stores, natural food stores or spice shops. Be careful not to confuse caraway, cumin and nigella seeds : their flavors are very different.

For the vegetables, 100 g of cauliflower in small florets add body, 200 g of napa cabbage cut into strips soften into the sauce, and the red bell pepper brings a fruity sweetness. Three pressed garlic cloves support the spices. You can leave out the bell pepper for a nightshade-free version ; for an AIP adaptation during the elimination phase, omit the caraway and nigella seeds as well. The mash calls for 300 g of sweet potato or pumpkin, a little coconut oil and salt.

Cooking Tips and Serving

Prepare the mash alongside the curry : allow 15 to 20 minutes of cooking time for sweet potato, or 15 minutes for pumpkin. Drain, let it dry out a little, then mash with the coconut oil and salt. In the frying pan, add the spices and coconut milk to the sautéed vegetables, simmer for 5 minutes, then add the still-frozen fillets and cook for 10 to 15 minutes at most. Keep the sauce at a gentle simmer and stir sparingly : a rolling boil can cause the coconut milk to separate and toughen the fish.

Leftovers cool quickly in shallow containers before going into the refrigerator ; you can also freeze them in portions, preferably with the mash packed separately. Reheat gently, stirring carefully, until everything is piping hot. With sweet potato mash, one serving provides about 52 g of net carbs ; pumpkin mash provides considerably fewer.

Mild Fish Curry with Coconut Milk

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5/5 (13)

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Course: Main course

Cuisine: Asian

Servings: 2 servings

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Mode cuisineEmpêche ton écran de se mettre en veille

Author: Marc Winer

Ingredients

• 2 fillets pollock frozen
• 3 cloves garlic
• 200 g napa cabbage
• 100 g cauliflower
• 1 bell pepper red
• 3 teaspoons turmeric ground
• 2 teaspoons nigella seeds
• 2 teaspoons caraway seeds also called Persian cumin
• 250 ml coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil for cooking

Mash

• 300 g sweet potato or pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• Salt

Add to meal plan

Instructions

• Peel the sweet potato or pumpkin. Cut into chunks. Cook the sweet potato for about 15 to 20 minutes; for pumpkin, 15 minutes is enough. Once cooked, drain, let dry slightly, then mash with a little coconut oil and salt to taste.
  300 g sweet potato, 1 tablespoon coconut oil, Salt
• Heat the oil in a frying pan. Break or cut the cauliflower into small florets and add them to the pan.
  2 tablespoons coconut oil, 100 g cauliflower
• Wash the bell pepper, remove the membranes and seeds, cut into pieces and add to the pan.
  1 bell pepper
• Crush the garlic with a garlic press and add it to the pan.
  3 cloves garlic
• Cut the napa cabbage into strips, wash and add to the pan.
  200 g napa cabbage
• Add the spices and coconut milk. Simmer for 5 minutes.
  3 teaspoons turmeric, 2 teaspoons nigella seeds, 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, 250 ml coconut milk
• Take the fillets out of the freezer (do not thaw them first!) and add them to the pan. Stir occasionally; they will flake apart on their own. Cook everything for another 10 to 15 minutes at most.
  2 fillets pollock

Notes

Nightshade-free variation (strict paleo and AIP version): omit the bell pepper.

Seed-free AIP variation: omit the caraway and nigella seeds.

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