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Coronation salmon curry – a fusion dish that can be cooked and served in 30 minutes

As part of a new initiative to enhance international students’ experience at Birkbeck, our students and staff will be sharing their favourite recipes over the next few months in a series of blogs. In this blog, Professor Sanjib Bhakta, Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry shares the secret to making his home-made fish curry.

Background: Being a Bengali and a foodie, I have always gravitated towards foods like fish curry and our traditional sweets! I spent the first 25 years of my life adjacent to the Bay of Bengal and lived around the river Ganges, where there were a number of natural resources to supply sweet-water fish. Hence, when I came to the UK, a challenge for me was to get the taste of my home-made fish curry; moving from Kolkata to Oxford.

As a Wellcome Trust funded International Fellow living in my College accommodation on the Old Marston Road, I first tried the following recipe. It was a delightful triumph! Without any reservations, I can say that home-cooking has always been a stress-busting experience for me. When a recipe can connect you with your motherland, help you to make new friends, saves money, assist you with healthy living and brings joy to your life, then why not?

Let me know how your trial goes after you transform the following recipe into your evening/weekend meal…

Ingredients:

Essentials:
4 salmon* fillets (500g)
Cooking oil (~30ml)
Natural bio live set yoghurt (1 tablespoon/ tbsp)
Mayonnaise (200g)
Spicy ‘korma’ curry paste (1 tbsp)
Mustard paste (smooth) (1 teaspoon/ tsp)
Mango chutney (2 tbsps)
Juice of 1 lemon
Almond powder (2 tbsp)
Salt (1 tsp/adjust per preference)

(*salmon can be replaced by monk fish, seabass or any other white fish fillet, descaled but skin on)

Optional: Almond flakes, raisins, coriander/ thyme for garnishing.

Cooking method: Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees/gas 4. Marinate salmon fillets with a little salt, lemon juice and cooking oil for 5 minutes. Put them in the oven for 12-15 minutes, skin side up. While the fish is in the oven, lightly mix the mayonnaise, yoghurt, curry paste, almond powder, mango chutney, mustard paste and salt in a bowl. Add a little water to help making the paste smoother if needed.

Drizzle some cooking oil on a pan. When heated, pour the sauce and a cup of water into the pan. When it starts bubbling, put the fish in the sauce, wait for 2-3 minutes and keep the heat on high to boil. After 2-3 minutes of boiling put a cover on the pan and switch off the hob.

Presentation: Garnish the dish with chopped coriander/thyme and almond flakes. Enjoy the dish with rice (basmati/jasmine)/naan/pitta/flat bread.

Further Information

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