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Tray-bake Fish Curry: A quick, easy dinner with minimal washing up




Tray-bake Trout Curry ready to cook

I am never one to shy away from washing up, but even I like to make meals which only require one pan. This curry could equally be made with chicken or just vegetables, or maybe lamb fillet or pork chops. I am in the habit of making it on a Friday night, as I love a curry, and making it in the oven means that the fish does not have to be stirred in a pan and potentially spoilt. Friday for us is nearly always fish, as old habits die hard! It is also the day we tend to do our shopping, and I like to have fish as fresh as possible. Plus, Waitrose has a 20% off fish offer on Fridays!

Tray-bake Fish Curry for 4 people

Ingredients

Fish pieces weighing about 1 1/2 lbs  (600g) – I used trout, but you could use salmon, cod, hake or other white fish. Something chunky works well

3 Portobello mushrooms

4 medium-sized tomatoes, quartered

1 can of chickpeas

A few handfuls of spinach – about 4oz (100g)

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

3 medium-sized new potatoes, cut into big slices or chunks

1 large onion

Half a 400g of chopped tomatoes

2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 fresh chilli, deseeded and sliced

small piece of fresh ginger

1 tsp turmeric or a lump of fresh turmeric if available

2 tsp garam masala

Half a large can of coconut milk

3 tabs full-fat Greek yoghurt

Oil such as rapeseed or sunflower

Tray-bake Trout Curry

Method

Put your sweet potatoes, onions and potatoes into a large roasting tin – mine measures 30 x 22 x 6cm (length, width, depth). Scatter over the spices. I bash up the ginger and turmeric in a pestle and mortar. Mix in some oil and coat well. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. The vegetables will not be fully cooked – all the other ingredients cook more quickly, so you need to give the potatoes and onions a head start. Take the tin out of the oven and add the mushrooms, chickpeas and fish. You can cut the fish into four pieces or leave it as one big piece. Sprinkle over some more oil and roast for another 20 minutes.

By this time, everything should be more or less cooked and smelling good. Add the canned and fresh tomatoes, spinach and coconut milk and mix them gently into the vegetables. Leave the fish exposed. Roast for another 5 minutes. It should all be cooked by now, but do check that everything is soft. Mix in the Greek yoghurt.

I served this with beetroot raita (a grated, raw beetroot mixed with 3 tabs yoghurt and a tsp of cumin seeds) and a freshly cooked poppadum.

Tray-bake Trout Curry with Poppadom and Beetroot Raita

 

 

 



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Pot-Roast Spiced Chicken




 

 

Chicken ready to go into the oven

This is a recipe which I adapted from BBC Good Food Magazine, April 2017 issue. The original recipe is for Pot-Roast Bombay Chicken. I have changed it quite a bit, so give you my version below. My main changes were to add more vegetables for extra goodness, and to make my own spice paste. I also add Greek yoghurt, as I am addicted to it!

Serves about 4 People

1 Chicken weighing about 1.5kg or 3lbs

2 cloves garlic

2 fresh red chillis

small piece of ginger

2 tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp spice mix such as garam masala

2 tsp turmeric

1 tab fenugreek seeds

6 tabs full-fat Greek Yoghurt

4 tabs sunflower or other oil (not extra virgin olive oil)

2 onions – I used one red and one ordinary – cut into big chunks

3 carrots – cut into large chunks or slices

750g new potatoes – halved or cut into chunky slices

Half a cauliflower – broken into big florets

100g spinach

About 6 medium tomatoes – quartered

Fresh coriander – a handful

4 tabs dessicated coconut or a can of coconut milk

Method

You need a large roasting tin or a big casserole which will hold all your ingrdients with the vegetables around the chicken. Sear your vegetables in the hot tin/dish. Add the fenugreek seeds and some grated ginger. Meanwhile make a spice paste with the all of the spices apart from the fenugreek and just half of the ginger. I put them into a mini blender with 2 tabs yogurt and 2 tabs oil and blitz into a paste. Smear half of this over the chicken.  Boil some water and soak the coconut in about half a pint of water.

Remove the vegetables from the pan and sear the chicken on its own until nicely browned on both sides. Add the rest of the spice paste and put the vegetables back in the pan. Strain the coconut liquid over the vegetables and chicken, or pour in a can of cooconut milk. Season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the rest of the yoghurt and mix in. Add the tomatoes. Cook this uncovered in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 180 degrees and cook for a further hour or so, basting occasionally.  Check that the chicken is cooked by pulling a leg to see that it comes away easily.

Add the spinach to the tin and stir until it is wilted. Leave the chicken to rest for about 10 minutes. I put it onto a carving plate and kept the vegetables warm over a  low heat on the hob. Sprinkle the vegetables with some fresh coriander. Carve the chicken and serve with the vegetables and amazing gravy which will be in the tin.

Cooked Chicken ready to serve