Cook this: Sarah Ali Choudhury’s Fish Coco Curry

Taste columnist Sarah Ali Choudhury will be bringing sharing some of her favouirte home made recipes with us throughout 2017.

This month Sarah, demonstrates how to create enormous flavours in quick time with little effort.

She tells Taste: "My dishes are easy to cook and taste incredible. I am not just a lover of Indian Food but I love the clothes, the colours and the vibrancy of India."

With Sarah's popularity soaring she has been requested to take part in catering for the VIP's at The Shard Festival in July.

Sarah adds: "This is definitely one of the most exclusive events I have been asked to be a part of, and I am so excited about it!"

Sarah runs her own cookery classes and demonstrations as well as her own YouTube Channel where she will be regularly uploading new recipe videos.

Visit YouTube: Sarah Ali Easy Curry or for more information, sarahalieasycurry.com

After Christmas and New Year Celebrations everyone is fed up of seeing left over vegetables and turkey tributes so I thought it would be nice to introduce a very fresh, full flavoured fish recipe. It's really easy to make and it tastes incredible.

Fish Coco Curry

Ingredients:

2tbsp vegetable oil

1tbsp mustard seeds

1/2 inch Ginger (finely chopped or Paste)

4 cloves garlic (finely chopped or a paste)

1 small onion (Finely chopped)

2 fillets firm fleshed, white fish (cut into 2-3 inch pieces)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp chilli powder or 1 whole fresh chilli

1tsp coriander powder

200 ml water

200ml coconut milk

1 tsp tamarind paste

1 tsp chopped coriander

salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in the pan on medium heat, when hot add mustard seeds until they pop.

Add garlic, ginger and onion until onions soften-about 3-4 minutes

Stir in turmeric, chiili and coriander powder and cook for about 2-3 minutes, turn the heat to a low flame.

Add water, coconut milk and tamarind paste.

When sauce is boiling add in the fish, cover and cook for about 5 mins.

Once done, sprinkle with coriander.

What is Tamarind?

Tamarind is a seed pod from native African trees which are extremely tall and used in South Asian and Indian cooking to flavour curries. It is a fruit that is shaped like a long bean in which a sour pulp containing seeds is processed to make a paste. It has a delicious tangy flavour and the name describes it as "Dates of India"

As most ancient foods do, tamarind has a long history of medicinal uses. Many involve easing stomach discomfort, aiding digestion. Tamarind preparations are used for fevers, sore throat, rheumatism, inflammation, and sunstroke.

In the Bahamas, large but still unripe tamarind fruits called "swells" are roasted in coals until their skins burst open. The sizzling pulp is then dipped in wood ashes and eaten as a quick snack.