Garfish, Saffron Rice and Vadouvan - Chef Recipe by Nixson Thambithurai

Ingredients

4 x 200 g garfish, butterflied, deboned and seasoned with sea salt
200 g long grain rice
100 g fresh peas
100 g diced carrots, same size as peas
50 g diced shallot, same size as peas
0.25 g saffron
1 Tbs olive oil
Salt to taste
200mL coconut cream
200mL fish or vegetable stock
50 g diced shallots
1 steam curry leaves
1 Tbs French curry powder
1 Tbs olive oil

Method

Butterfly the fish from the top side, debone. Sprinkle some sea salt and set aside while preparing other ingredients.

Cook the rice with saffron, sea salt, olive oil and 400mL water on high heat. Once the water starts to boil, reduce the heat and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until the rice is cooked.

While the rice is cooking, fry the shallots, curry leaves with 1 tablespoon of oil on low heat until shallots are partially cooked then add the French curry powder. Add the stock, bring to boil. Finally add the coconut cream and salt. Simmer for a few minutes.

Blitz the sauce using a stick blender and pass it through a fine sieve.

In a small fry pan, fry the shallots, carrots and peas until they are all cooked then add the saffron rice and mix well.

In a large fry pan, fry the garfish top side down for 2 minutes before transferring to pre-heated oven. Cook for 6-10 minutes on 180 C fan forced.

To serve:

Place the fish on the plate. Saffron rice on top of the fish while making sure the rice does not fall to the plate.

Garnish with cherry tomato, coriander, radish and lemon wedge.

Serve the Vadouvan sauce in a small jar.

Recipe provided by Boathouse Daylesford