My cholesterol is up and guess what? Fish needs to make a strong presence in my diet; I think about 70% presence perhaps ? Arbitrary - but its a start.
Fish is more a pain to shop for because the best fish is purchased fresh but how many of you wage slaves have time to visit the butcher daily for fresh fish? Fish freezes but it's ideal if cooked within 48 hours of being caught. Fish recipes don't pop in my head as quickly as recipes with meat and so I don't have much creativity with cooking it. I constantly flip recipe books looking for something. Good quality fish like salmon and tuna - are most enjoyable eaten raw with a dab of wasabi and soy sauce. Perhaps I should dig further into my heritage - which hails from a tiny state in India called: Goa- renowned for "Goan fish curry" among other things. That should help.
Goan dishes that mom used to make usually had a sour, vinegary taste to it. As a result, I utilize vinegar in many stews and curries. Steve is always chiding me whenever I added a little vinegar to some dishes. Funny, he doesn't complain how much better it ends up tasting. Goan dishes also tend to have coconut milk or fresh grated; the latter I don't mind. I think I will try to avoid coconut milk or at least limit its use because it has a bit of unnecessary cholesterol and fat.
The Goan potato chop is one of many dishes my mother makes quite well; thus, I am quite fond of it. Mom is not one to pass down her recipes - unless of course the price is right. So rather than beg her, I took to improvising many of the Goan dishes I grew up with. The Goan dishes I improvised wouldn't come out exactly like mom's but then... it didn't taste bad either.
Today, I experimented with Goan potato chops. It's normally made with minced meat (lamb or beef). I used a local yet common white fish mixed with some shrimp; it's a healthier alternative and it is so "Goan":)
The masala (spice mix) is the key. Many parts of India as well as many Indian families have their own secret masala recipes. In my opinion, masalas are flexible - you can heighten the particular spice you fancy within that masala and call it your own special mix. For me - my favourite spice is cumin.
The recipe below is for a large amount of fish - either use the same amount or use a smaller amount and adjust the spices as required. If you end up using a lot of fish and have extra the mixture freezes well for use in another dish at a later time.
The spice mix I used was the following:
Masala:
- 2.0 Tbsp cumin seed
- 0.5 Tbsp Harissa (French Market in Parnell)
- 1.0 Tbsp Paprika
- 1.5 tsp clove powder
- 1.5 tsp tumeric
- 3 Tbsp white vinegar
The remainder of the ingredients are as follows:
- 400g of cod- chopped
- 100g of shrimp- chopped
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large tomato; de-seeded and chopped
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
- 2 large cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander
- 1 tsp fresh curry leaves
- salt to taste
- 2 large (hot) chilies - adjust or eliminate to your liking.
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 8 large russet potatoes - boiled in salt water, skinned, salted and mashed with chopped fresh parsley.
In a large skillet, sauté onions, ginger, garlic, curry leaves - until onions are soft or brown. Add chilies and masala and sauté for 5 minutes then add all the fish and sauté on medium-low heat for 7 minutes. Add tomatoes and coriander and adjust for salt. Stir and cover; turn stove to a lower heat to avoid overcooking. Best results are obtained if much if the mixture is thickened (reduced liquid). Cod withstands overcooking to a certain degree and that is why I chose such a fish.
Take about 3.0 Tbsp of mashed potatoes in the palm of your hand and pat flat on a cutting board:
Add a small tsp of curry fish mixuture:
Pat another Tbsp of potato mash and cover the fish mixture:
Then mold to create a flat disc shaped potato patty.
Then cover with panko or bread crumbs and fry lightly in a pan of olive oil or ghee (clarified butter):
Lay to rest on an absorbent paper towel and when cooled, serve on a bed of salad for a nice meal.
Coma bem!
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