Creamy North Indian Fish Curry via Anjjum's New Indian

I used fresh Scandinavian Cod 

The other day. I got a fix. It really is like any other form of addiction. My new cookbook arrived.
  Anjum's New Indian by Anjum Anand.   Is just what I needed. A real challenge in the kitchen. A chance to track down hard to find spices, and to really make something authentically Indian. We love Indian food. We try to get out a couple of times a year to our favorite restaurant in Göteborg, but now that I have my new cookbook. I can cook all year round. I ordered most of my spices from the internet and for my Swedish readers you can go to www.kryddlandet.se or your local Indian supermarket to find many of the essential spices you will need to cook Indian food.

I enjoyed this cookbook very much. For the beginner  Indian food cook this is a great cookbook to introduce into your library. Anjjum makes her recipes easy to read, with well thought out cooking directions. I find her books to be really tailored to the "at home cook". It is a lovely book filled with great stories of her personal cooking journey through friends, and family. I have to admit, you need to have time to cook Indian food. It is that time that makes all the difference.Go out and pick yourself up a copy. You will not be disappointed.

CREAMY NORTH INDIAN FISH CURRY
Serves 4-6

5 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves
 2 black cardamom pods
5cm piece of cinnamon stick
1 small-medium onion,peeled and chopped
5 large cloves of garlic, peeled
10 g fresh ginger, peeled'1-2 green chillies, left whole but pricked with the tip of a knife
½ tsp turmeric

everything pre-measured-prepared

frying the whole spices

1 rounded tsp ground cumin plus ½ tsp red chili powder, or to taste
1 rounded tsp ground coriander
1½ tsp garam masala
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
4 medium tomatoes, pureed
50 g cashew  nuts, made into a paste with some water
500g fresh steaks or fillets cut into chunks
handful fresh coriander,leaves and stalks, chopped

NOTE: I pureed the tomatoes first and set aside, as well I pureed the garlic and the ginger paste and the cashew paste, before starting the cooking process. It makes it much easier to pre-measure everything as Indian cooking is a lot of steps.

Heat oil in a large non stick saucepan. Add the whole spices and fry for 20 seconds.Add the onion and cook until golden. Meanwhile, using your handheld blender, make a paste of the garlic and ginger with about 50ml of water. Add this to the pan with the green chilies and cook until the oil comes out, around 4-5 minutes, stirring as it gets thicker.

reducing the water and mixture

Add the powdered spices and salt and stir to incorporate. Add the tomatoes and 100ml water and cook over a medium-high heat until all the water has dried off. Then lower the heat and cook gently, covered, until the masala releases oil, around 6-8 minutes.Stir often as it get's thicker. Your house will smell delicious.

cod steaks, leave the bones in for more flavor

Add the cashew paste and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.Add 300ml water, and bring to the boil and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Taste, the curry it should be well rounded in flavor. Add more hot water for a creamy consistency. Taste again and adjust the seasoning if you want. Add the fish and coriander and cook until just done, around 3-4 minutes.( I used quite large cod steaks so it took much longer to cook, about 20-25 minutes) Shake the pan instead of stirring as to not break up the fish. Serve with a great pilaf or steamed basmatti rice. We had spiced mixed pickle and lime pickle on the side. A chutney would be lovely as well. It was a huge hit in our home. I hope you do not get overwhelmed with the amount of ingredients and time-methods it takes. I assure you, this is better than any take out.

very good indeed. Two thumbs up