Seafood Recipes: John Dory With Lemongrass Curry Sause, Enoki Mushroom, And Curry Leaf
A south-east Asian flavour.
Thai and Vietnamese cuisines pair incredibly well with seafood. The bright, vibrant flavours really elevate the seafood, the spice and acidity providing a nice accent to the sweet and delicate flavours of quality seafood.
A few years back I was fortunate to host a charity event at a former workplace with a visiting chef from Cambodia, and among her dishes was a version of this curry sauce. She was very vague when describing the recipe and process, but I instantly fell in love with it, and set about recreating it. After about half a dozen attempts over the course of a few weeks I arrived at a result I was happy with, and it’s continued to evolve over the years with some tweaks here and there.
It’s an incredibly versatile sauce that can be used as a base of a terrific fish or prawn curry with the addition of some steamed potatoes and green vegetables, as a sauce to steam mussels or pippies, or simply to dress grilled fish or shellfish.
This dish is very simple to throw together and combines just a few elements that all work really well with each other. If you can’t find fresh curry leaves to fry, fresh leaves of Thai basil, mint or coriander all work very well.
The sauce is the heart of this dish, and this recipe will make far more than you need, but it keeps very well in the fridge in a sealed container and can be used for a myriad of different things.
Ingredients
Lemongrass Curry Sause
- 3 Stalks Lemongrass
- 1 Long red chilli
- 65g Peeled garlic
- 20g Ginger
- 50ml Lime juice
- 110g Palm sugar
- 120ml Fish sauce
- 30g tamarind paste
- 1L Coconut cream (Kara brand is preferred for consistency and flavour)
- 15g Turmeric powder
Meal
- Fried Enoki Mushrooms
- 1 bunch enoki mushroom
- 100g potato starch
- 500ml vegetable oil
- 4 x 600g John Dory, or other whole fish, cleaned, scaled, and scored to the bone with a sharp knife.
- Fresh Curry leaves, fried until crispy, for garnish
Method:
1. For the sauce, finely chop all ingredients, and transfer to a food processor. Blend with the fish sauce and a little of the coconut cream to a smooth paste, around 4–5 minutes. Add all ingredients to a pot and bring to a simmer, stirring regularly to avoid scorching the sauce. Strain through a fine sieve to remove large particles and yield a smooth silky sauce. Taste and adjust for seasoning with additional lime juice, palm sugar and fish sauce as needed.
2. Heat the vegetable oil to 180C in a large pot. Trim and break the enoki mushrooms into small clusters and toss well with the potato starch to coat. Fry in small batches until golden brown, stirring to avoid them clumping together.
3. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels, seasoning generously with salt. Reserve in a warm place until ready to serve.
4. Preheat a fan forced oven to 240C, and brush the fish with a little grape seed oil and season generously with flake salt. Roast for 12–15 minutes, or until cooked through.
5. Transfer to a plate, and top with a generous amount of the hot curry sauce, the fried enoki mushroom and garnish with the curry leaves. Serve with half a grilled lime.