Indian green fish curry

This is a slightly unusual recipe but it is absolutely delicious

Fresh coriander and mint leaves make for a colourful, zingy fresh tasting curry that makes a change to bog standard tomato or coconut based recipes.

Ingredients: Fresh mint leaves (bunch), fresh coriander leaves (bunch), almonds, cashews, garlic, root ginger, green chilli. Spice mix: black pepper, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cardamon pods. 

You can make the paste with a pestle and mortar but a food blender makes things a lot easier.

Add equal bunches of mint and coriander leaves, a squeeze of lemon, a small handful each of cashew nuts and almonds, garlic (about 4 cloves) root ginger (a thumb sized bit) a green chilli or 3 depending on your heat tolerance.

Add water to help the blender mix everything into a thin paste like consistency. you should end up with a lurid green liquid, similar in consistency to soup. It will thicken a bit when you start cooking.

In a hot dry pan, add green cardamom pods, coriander seeds, black pepper corns, fennel and cumin seeds. A teaspoon of each will do then gently toast them in the pan. Crush into a powder with a pestle and mortar. Powdered equivalents are obviously allowed instead. 

In a heavy sauce pan, add you green paste with some oil. As it warms the nut element of the paste will suck up water so add more if it thickens beyond your preference. Let it simmer gently for 20 min adding salt to taste.

once simmering add your powdered spice mix and stir it in 

Add your fish to the curry mix and it will be done in about 10 min. I fried the salmon in this one to crisp the skin before finishing it in the sauce but you could easily put frozen salmon in- just extend the cooking time.

Garnish with coriander, toasted almonds and red onion quick pickled in lime or deep fried onions.

Fragrant jasmine rice goes very well with this.