Coconut ginger curry with halibut

Came from this recipe in an issue of Sunset. It came out really good, and not too much work. We’d definitely do this again, with fish or chicken, maybe adding some more hearty vegetables. We couldn’t find curry leaves, but the flavor was good anyway, and a little curry powder helped as well. We couldn’t decide exactly what cuisine this belongs too — it’s sort of like Thai, sort of Indian.

Ingredients

1 tsp tamarind concentrate (or tbsp fresh lime juice)
2 c chopped onion
1.5 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 serrano chiles, one minced, one halved lengthwise
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 13.5 oz can light coconut milk
1 c water
3 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
3 carrots, in thick diagonal slices
1/2 lb halibut, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
4 oz fresh spinach
15-20 curry leaves (or 1/2 tsp yellow curry powder)
1 c frozen peas

Directions

Mix tamarind with 2 tbsp hot water (if using lime juice, add just before serving). Put tamarind, onion, ginger, coriander, minced, chile, turmeric, salt, and coconut in blender and blend until smooth. Pour coconut mixture and water into a wide, deep pot and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes, halved chiles, and carrots. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Add fish, spinach, and curry leaves (or curry powder) and simmer until fish is opaque, about 5 minutes. Stir in peas and simmer 1 more minute. Add salt to taste and lime juice, if using.

Note: we didn’t want to have leftovers with the fish in it, so we poached the whole halibut separately (in a 2:1 mix of water and wine) then broke it into chunks and poured the curry over it with rice. We had leftovers with poached, shredded chicken. We also had to delay serving the dish so turned the heat off after the 30-minute simmer, then turned it back on to add the spinach and peas and finish, which worked fine.