Spanish mackerel dry red curry with a green papaya salad

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Cooking difficulty: Medium

Serves: 6

Preparation: 2.5 hours

Cooking: 20 mins

Tips for shallow frying

If flour is the only coating used, apply it immediately prior to cooking.

Prevent sticking by ensuring that the oil is hot before adding the seafood. But make sure the oil is not so hot that it smokes (unless preparing a Cajun-style "blackened" fish).
Tips for serving seafood cold

If the seafood is to be served cold, it should be covered to retain moisture and flavour and then placed in a chiller for an hour or even overnight.
Tips for Steaming

Seafood can be steamed over plain water, but a concentrated stock flavoured with vegetables, herbs or citrus, for example, will impart a subtle flavour.
Tips for seasoning

The seafood can be lightly seasoned with herbs, salt and pepper, sprinkled with lemon juice or white wine and dotted with butter or basted with oil. Low-salt soy sauce and coriander can also be used.
Tips for seafood batter

A chilled batter may produce a crisper coating. A light tempura batter and beer batter are particularly suited to seafood.

Ingredients

600 g Spanish mackerel fillets, skin off

Peanut oil, to coat

1 cup Spanish onion, finely diced

½ cup cracked coriander seeds

1 cup roughly chopped fresh coriander

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 stalk lemongrass, minced

2 tablespoons red curry paste

1 small can coconut cream

1 cup dry white wine

Green papaya salad

1 green papaya, skin and seeds removed

1 cup shredded carrot

2 cloves garlic

1 birds eye chilli, seeded and minced

1 tablespoon fish sauce

½ cup white wine vinegar

Cut mackerel fillets in half lengthways, remove bloodline and cut straight across into 2 cm strips.

Place in a bowl, add just enough peanut oil to coat and toss through the remaining marinade ingredients.

Cover for 2 hours to 4 days - it should be quite dry and well coated.

Heat a heavy-based non-stick frying pan that has a lid, add a little oil and fry the mackerel until browned on both sides.

Add the coconut cream and dry white wine, cover and cook for a further 4 minutes.

Remove from sauce and keep warm. Reduce sauce to a thick consistency and decorate with green papaya salad and fresh coriander.

Cut papaya and carrot into julienne strips and place in a bowl.

Combine remaining ingredients in a screw top jar and shake to combine (this is best made ahead of time for flavours to develop).

Pour dressing over salad and toss lightly just before serving.