Vietnamese Turmeric and Dill Fish Curry

, from Issue #67. July, 2016
Photography by Kelly Gibney.
Vietnamese Turmeric and Dill Fish Curry

This is one of my absolute favourite curries. The rich turmeric flavour plays deliciously with the freshness of dill. It’s surprisingly simple to put together and is great for dinner parties.

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

500 grams firm white fish fillets (I used trevally)
4 spring onions
2 garlic cloves
1¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
1¼ teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons full-fat yoghurt
45ml fish sauce

2 tablespoons coconut sugar/demerara sugar
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 bunch dill

250 grams green beans, trimmed
½ cup fish stock
To serve

lime wedges bean sprouts 

METHOD

Cut the fish into 3cm pieces. Separate the white and green parts of the spring onion, set aside the green part until needed. Using a mortar and pestle, grind the white part of the spring onions and the garlic cloves together to a rough paste.

In a large bowl, combine the spring onion paste with the fish, turmeric, curry powder, yoghurt, fish sauce, sugar and oil. Mix well. Roughly chop ⅓ of the dill and stir through. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour or up to 8 hours.

Just before you cook the fish, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Blanch the beans for 1 minute. Drain well and set aside.

Heat a spoonful of oil in a pan over a high heat. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer fish from the marinade and into the pan. You don’t want to have all the marinade enter the pan as the end result will be too salty. Cook fish for one minute before turning. Add the fish stock, reduce to a medium heat and cook for 3–5 minutes.

To serve: Lay the beans out on a platter or large plate. Spoon the fish and liquid over top. Scatter a handful of bean sprouts on top. Finely slice the leftover green parts of the spring onions and roughly chop the remaining dill. Sprinkle on top of the fish and serve immediately with lime wedges and either broccoli "rice" or vermicelli rice noodles.