Dear LPG, 

I will remind you of the little trip I had planned for a culinary Asian tasting experience this month before telling you that, although I had intended a first-class trip visually, it was more economy. 

As always, I got all my ingredients together in advance, and there were only nine listed. The only one that I did not recognise was the fish itself, and I decided that there was no point in getting that until the day I was ready to cook. I went down to my local fishmonger, who happens to come from that part of the world, secure in the knowledge that he would know what I was talking about, and he did.

That was the good news.  The not-so-good news is that he did not have any.  He told me I would be fortunate to buy an Illish fish in England before suggesting bream as a substitute. 

Then it was off to the kitchen, where I was very lucky because it was already scaled and gutted, and all I had to do was cut it up.  

I have fried a lot of fish in my time, so after adding the seasoning and the prescribed marinating time, I got to work.  Following the recipe for making the sauce was an education in making curry without just throwing in a couple of spoons from a ready-blended jar of the stuff that the supermarkets sell.  I needed to buy more pots and learn a bit about blending myself. I learned a bit about curry making that I can apply to some of my attempts at curry cooking in the future.   

After that, all that was left to do was add the fish to the sauce, but that is when it all went a bit wrong. I must have overcooked the fish because it fell apart as I put it into the sauce, which was surprisingly watery. As you can see from my picture, the presentation was a little lacking. But if you like curry, my taste team agreed that, in spite of what was left for me to photograph, it was good. 

I have just one more thing to say: Turmeric and tea towels are not a good combination. Don’t use your best ones when cooking this…

By the time I open the doors of my would-be international kitchen next month, Lent and my self-imposed need to give up meat will be over for another year. I have decided that Zimbabwe should be our next port of call. The recipe looks easy, but we will only discover when I attempt a plate of Nshima to commemorate their Independence Day on April 18th.

CB, Lewisham.

CB shares another recipe…

(►►►)   (►►►)     (►►►)    (►►►)