Celebrate National Curry Week with this delicious Maldivian tuna dish

Take a look at this curry recipe that’s perfect for a midweek meal.

It’s National Curry Week this week and we’ve got just the recipe to help you celebrate with aplomb.

If this inspires you, be sure to take a look at our other recipes in this series and liven up your weeknights.

Courtesy of The Island Kitchen: Recipes From Mauritius And The Indian Ocean by Selina Periampillai is published by Bloomsbury, priced £26.

Maldivian tuna curry

(Serves 2-4) 

Ingredients

• Sea salt
• 500g tuna steak, cut into 2 ½cm pieces
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 cardamom pods, seeds only, crushed
• 2 ½cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 10 curry leaves, finely chopped
• 1 green chilli, finely sliced
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• ½ tsp ground fennel seeds
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 400ml tin coconut milk
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Coriander, to garnish

Method

1. Lightly salt the fish and set aside. In a large saucepan, warm the coconut oil over a medium heat until simmering. Add in the garlic, cardamom, ginger, curry leaves and chilli.
2. Let this sauté until fragrant – usually around 30 seconds. Add the onion slices and cook until softened, around five to seven minutes. Add the rest of the spices: the fennel, cumin, turmeric and black pepper.
3. After around a minute they will mingle together and become aromatic.
4. At this point, transfer everything into a food processor and blend to a coarse paste. Return the paste back to the pan over a medium heat, pour in the coconut milk, holding back one tablespoon for drizzling at the end, and pop in the cinnamon stick and half a teaspoon of salt.
5. Bring to a simmer and gently add the fish pieces to the sauce. They will cook fairly quickly.
6. After five minutes, the fish should be tender, opaque and cooked throughout and the curry will be ready to serve.
7. Drizzle over the extra coconut milk, scatter with the coriander and serve with a heap of rice.

Read more in this series…

Midweek Meal: How to make this scrumptious pasta carbonara with a rosy red salad